Amiruddin is a diver who worked with a local company in Sabah’s Semporna district from 2017 until March last year, when the Covid-19 pandemic took his job away.
The company retrenched most of its divers after tourists stopped arriving with the closure of the country’s borders due to the movement control order (MCO).
Amiruddin went back to his old job as a fisherman to support his wife and two young children.
“That’s the only trade I know,” the 28-year-old divemaster told FMT.
He said many of the divers in Semporna experienced a fate similar to his after tourism dried up.
The situation improved slightly during the recovery MCO period last year. There were some tourists, but not enough to get Amirudin diving again.
“This is why we’re hoping the government will allow interstate travel once again because most of our guests come from the peninsula. There are also Sabahans, but they account for only a fraction of the guests.
“Allowing interstate travel can help divers get their jobs back.
“My diver friends and I are really desperate. I don’t want to hide this feeling anymore because it’s the truth. Many are affected,” he said.
Amiruddin said his former employer had told divers they might be re-hired when the situation improved. But he does not think that day would come any time soon.
“Looking at the rate of infections now, I fear it’s going to take another one or two years before things get better.
“We used to get plenty of diving groups, especially from overseas and the peninsula, and my income was more than enough. The tips they gave were generous.”
For now, he has to get by with what the sea gives him, that is, if the weather permits in the first place. Occasionally, he will work part-time on fishing trawlers that come by, but only if they do not have enough workers.
“If there is a storm at sea like now, I can’t go out fishing,” he said.
“If the weather is fine, I spend 10 hours at sea trying to catch fish, leaving home at 6am every day. I get somewhere between RM20 and RM30 a day selling my catch to fish sellers at the market. The highest I could get would be RM50.
“Basically, my family and I are living from hand to mouth.”
He said he had used up all his life savings to care for his family.
There are still divers working with companies in Semporna but the number is small and they work only part-time.
Abdul Razak Ismail, an underwater videographer who is the outgoing president of the Semporna Professional Divers Association, said many of the divers were in dire straits and most had returned to fishing or opened small stalls in order to survive.
“The interstate travel ban is really hitting the diving community,” he said.
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