Publication: NSUNT
Date of publication: Jul 4, 2010
Section heading: Main Section
Page number: 030
Byline / Author: By Roy Goh
STANDING on the sidewalk with one ringgit notes clipped between his fingers, bus driver Harris Antaris repeatedly shouts "Kampung Ice Box!"
He was calling for passengers at the central market bus stand in Tawau, Sabah, under the scorching heat. Kampung Ice Box, or Kampung Ais Bok as he pronounced it, is located at the edge of town, his last destination.
There are no street signs pointing to a village of that name but all buses and vans that go there use the name on the signs in front of their vehicles.
"That is the 'glamour' name for the village, which is officially known as Kampung Titingan," Harris said. He said most residents in the east coast district identified the village as Kampung Ice Box.
"Even our buses put up that name. People might get confused if they were to use the new name, which was given in honour of its founder, Datuk Abu Bakar Titingan." The village has about 5,000 residents.
Many agree that the name originated in the 1970s because of the many iceboxes placed by the roadside near an ice factory, which is no longer operating.
Jamal Kiriman, a stall operator selling sanggar, or banana fritters, said the ice factory had been there because the coastal fishing village used to be the main producer of seafood for Tawau then.
"We were a fishing community before and almost every household owned a boat with fishing nets," he said, adding that there were a few such families left but they could hardly match the trawler operators in the district.
He said in the 1980s, as the district began to expand because of the agricultural industry, many young villagers left to work in plantations.
At the same time, immigrants came. They built shacks in empty spaces and gradually grew in numbers to become one of Sabah's most notorious squatter colonies in the 1990s.
Fruit seller Saliha Ismail said she remembered when the area was dominated by Indonesian immigrants, many of whom eventually became permanent citizens.
"They kept coming to the point that this place was known as a 'black area' because of thugs and drugs."
Realising that squatter colonies occupied by immigrants had become a serious threat to the state's security, the government launched a major operation in 2002.
The joint swoop, codenamed Ops Nyah Bersepadu, began simultaneously in 13 coastal districts statewide. It involved deporting the illegal immigrants to their country of origin.
Kampung Ice Box, with its more than 1,000 squatter houses, was the main target in Tawau. Within days it was cleared and, despite strong criticism of the stern action from some quarters, there were many more who commended the decisive action.
Harris vividly recalled how Ops Nyah Bersepadu brought great relief to the local residents.
"We were living in fear before, but now you can come here without any worry."
The vibrant market selling fresh produce and the large number of shops in the area is testament to that. Even some of the fishermen are selling their produce fresh from the sea. Soon they may need the iceboxes again.
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