When it cost millions to vacate Sipadan

Published on: Sunday, August 29, 2021

By: Kan Yaw Chong

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Corals in Sipadan given space to regenerate after 2004.

A PARADOX, which seems absurd at first, proves true in the end. Clement Lee, Sabah’s top dog dive guru, cited the case of Sipadan.

“Strangely, and ironically, Sipadan was saved twice by moving in and moving out,” he quipped.

“Before moving in there were fish dynamiting, but once dive operation started in 1983, fish bombing stopped!”

“So why did we decide to vacate Sipadan in 2004?” he asked. “The environment was saved from disaster after vacating the island in 2004.”

At a cost of multiple millions to Borneo Divers, however, without a sen in compensation, Clement claimed.

Between 1983 and 2004, Sipadan rapidly climbed to world fame as a top 10 dive site in the world, which however got the State Government to worry about something.

By 2003, the State Government was sending out feelers to put a break to rising man-made structures.

July 2004, then Chief Minister Datuk Musa Aman said he had issued directives to the five dive operators to dismantle and move out man-made structures, citing “solid waste problem”.

By that time though, Borneo Divers was operating from a Mabul island resort built a year ago in anticipation of an order like that of Musa.

A Borneo Divers spokesman was quoted as saying: “The ocean environments are our silent partners and when our partners show sign of being sick then we must give it a chance to heal and recuperate.

“But the move actually cost us millions,” Clement confided.

A tribute to Borneo Divers to have saved Sipadan from bombs

As a roving reporter starting 1986, I had credited Borneo Divers’ early presence to have saved Sipadan from fish bombers.

So, a brief history helps.

Borneo Divers was founded by four pioneers: Clement Lee, American Randy Davis, the late Briton Ron Holland and Samson Shak.

Randy Davis once told me in the hey-days how he sped out to sea to chase away incoming fish bombers!

You see, they were surely eyeing to blow the daylight out of Sipadan like what they had done everywhere around Sabah

Therefore, purely private conservation efforts saved the day.

Government action came in much, much later.

So Borneo Divers deserve a special open tribute here, however Johnny Come Lately – that maybe.

“Borneo Divers did not discover Sipadan because it has been there for millions of years but it was true that we were searching for a suitable dive location in Sabah to start the pioneering industry and we found Sipadan in the Chart datum in a map with astonishing 600m depth and so close to the island,” Clement noted.

“So we went to make our exploration dive in 1982. I remember the first words I said on popping out of water was ‘I think we have found our future!’”

Pioneering policies for a flawless dive site

“We started our dive camping trip in 1983 and 1984, hiring a big boat to move in and out of Sipadan with our rations, utensils, dive equipment etc.”

“In terms of marine life, on a scale of 1-10, we rated Sipadan a full 10 at that time!”

“Borneo Divers’ pioneering policies were based on i) Environment ii) Professionalism,” Clement asserted.

“From 1983-1990, we were the only Dive Operator on the island and in 1986/1987 we began to build our ‘Lodge” of simple A-frame hut with bamboo and thatched roof.”

“We recognised Sipadan’s fragile environment and with lots of financial constraint enforced and implemented a lot of diving regulations and policies listed below:

- Enforce use of biodegradable soap

- No laundry on island

- Use of desalination plant to extract water

- All garbage removed to mainland for disposal

- No turtle eggs collection

- Lights are shaded

- Decompression chamber on site

Epic moment – Jacque Cousteau’s visit and his famous quote.

An epic moment in the history of Borneo Divers came when the world famous underwater explorer, conservationist and co-developer of the Aqua-lung, Jacque Cousteau, came visiting.

“In 1987, the late legend Captain Jacque Cousteau’s famous research ship Calypso came to Sipadan and subsequently he came to island and that was when the documentary “Ghost of Sea Turtle” was filmed. The late legend also made a remarkable and famous quote: I have seen Sipadan 45 years ago and no more, now I have found an untouched piece of art”.

“This quote invariably shaped and strengthened our polices on environment conservation and protection!” Clement said.

“As he talked to our group, he stressed the imperative to protect Sipadan at all cost and that actually set our direction because at the time we were only five years into the diving trade.

“We were very green but felt Cousteau was right. We decided to follow his desire as our policy and so Cousteau played a crucial part in Borneo Divers’ company eco-centric philosophy.”

Meanwhile, Cousteau’s famous quote captured the imagination of the diving fraternity around the world.

“In 1988, the world largest Dive Magazine publisher of “Skin Diver” came to Sipadan and published a full colour article in the Skin Diver Magazine.

“The Cousteau’s documentary and the Skin Diver publication are the two main factors that exploded Sipadan’s popularity to American divers and the whole world.

“As a record we must acknowledge the full support of Mr. Fred Siems who was then Malaysia Airlines (MAS) USA Manager for his continuous promotion of Sipadan to American dive market.

“Over the years more and more dive resorts moved in. By then the number of divers and staff had substantially increased, putting lot of pressure on the island both on land and underwater.

“Sadly on a scale of 10, the Sipadan environment especially underwater began to slide and we reckon by the time in 2003, the scale could have dipped below 5!” Clement asserted, citing in particular, coal quality had suffered.

Sipadan is best of the best

“Why do we consider Sipadan one of the best if not the best in the world?”

“Sipadan is an very unique island equal to none.

“Having dived around the world, I can conclude it has the highest concentration of marine life around one single island, which include schools of Barracuda, Jack fish, Giant Parrot fish, sharks, Turtles, and we have the walls, and the Cavern and Cave, then the macro critters like Nudibranch, leaf fish, flamboyant cuttle fish, shrimps, crabs etc.

“Besides there are whale sharks, dolphins, whales like pilot whales, and even Orca and Moon fish been sighted!” Clement pointed out.

“For example, Brian Cronin, son of the late Chairman of Padi World came to Sipadan in our early years. After his first dive and having witnessed the tornado of Barracuda, then came the school of Jack fish, followed by the Giant parrot fish and then the turtles, he popped out of the water asked me: “Clement, how did you make that happened?”

“Another veteran diver from Europe after encountering a giant whale shark in Barracuda Point remarked: ‘My 30 odd years history of diving told in one single dive!’

“There are many great dive destinations all over the world and they do have what we have in Sipadan, but I cannot recall there is one single dive destination having all these marine life in one island.

“This is what I mean by the highest concentration of marine life in the world, there is none like Sipadan.”

“But The astonishing fact is after 38 years of diving I can still see the same marine life as good as I saw 38 years ago, like Barracuda, Jack fish, Turtles, Giant Parrot fish, etc.

“What does this mean? This means the regeneration process of corals is there although coral regeneration takes longer.”

Borneo Divers decided to be

“part of the solution”

“Why did we decide to vacate the Island without a cent of compensation and do I think it is worth it, would the environment and marine life grow back to 10?

“As I have said, we witnessed the best, 10 out of a scale of 10, unfortunately we were looking at the sliding down scale. If we were not part of the solution, we didn’t want to be part of the problem, so we decided to vacate the island.

“At the time of our departure, the mobile marine life were as good as before but it’s the state of the corals which had gone down to maybe 5 for a variety of reasons – sedimentation, waste discharge, breakage by drivers but also the 25 Dec 1996 Greg Storm which did a lot of damage to the Staghorn corals.”

“We cannot equate money to environment, we can earn money somewhere and we must give the natural environment an opportunity to survive and regenerate.”

Will it come back to scale of 10? My answer is always positive yes, given the opportunity to rehabilitate naturally

“Are we still talking about this special and unique island till today?

“For me, the lesson to learn: Apply a ‘less is more’ policy.”

“So, my summary remarks are these: I like to think that Sipadan has been saved twice over the years.

“Before moving in there were fish dynamiting but once diving operation started fish bombing stopped.”

“The environment was saved from disaster after the vacating the island in 2004.”

Massive groupa.

Three of the Borneo Divers founders – Clement Lee, Randy Davies, Samson Shak, with the late Jacques Cousteau in Kota Kinabalu. Not in picture is the late Ron Holland.