A migration, and the pull of home

In 1985, strict fisheries regulations hit Pulau Ketam’s fishing families hard — offenders were fined and had their boats and nets confiscated, wiping out a lifetime’s livelihood. Many islanders were forced to leave, some continuing to fish in Johor’s Sungai Rengit and Sri Lalang or in Kedah and Pahang, wholesalers settling in Selayang, and others moving into the Klang Valley to take up food & beverage, manufacturing, tourism, hardware and small industry. Island youth, too, moved inland to pursue better education and opportunities.

Yet those who resettled inland never lost their longing for the island and its way of life. A group of like-minded elders, catching up over coffee, began to imagine an association open to everyone regardless of dialect group, surname, politics, education or religion — so that Pulau Ketam descendants, now scattered and settled across Malaysia, could stay connected, unite more effectively, and carry forward the founders’ spirit of mutual help, harmony and looking out for one another.

On 30 April 1999, the association was officially registered as KELAB SOSIAL PULAU KETAM KLANG.