By Hj Zulheimy Maamor
ex-crew of KD Sri Negri Sembilan (1987).
On October 1987, I was drafted to KD Sri Negri Sembilan, from 12th Squadron Patrol Craft, base at Lumut, Perak. A Sri Sabah-class Patrol Craft built by Vosper Ltd. in Portsmouth, England and commissioned on 28 September 1964.
I served for five months, from 12 October 1987 to 28 March 1988, under the command of Lt. Mior Rosdi bin Dato' Mior Mohd Jaafar. As a Leading Rate (Laskar Kanan) serving as Senior Radio Operator, our primary operational area was a small dot in the South China Sea, 45 km off the coast of Terengganu — Pulau Bidong.
At that time, I did not fully grasp that I was patrolling what was once the most densely populated place on earth.
The "Little Saigon" of Malaysia
Following the fall of Saigon in 1975, hundreds of thousands fled Vietnam by sea to escape political repression, re-education camps, economic collapse, and ethnic persecution. The world would come to know them as the "Boat People."
Their first small boat carrying 47 refugees landed in Malaysia in May 1975. By August 1978, the numbers were overwhelming, and the Malaysian government officially declared Pulau Bidong a refugee camp.
On an island barely one square kilometre in size, a city rose. At its peak in 1979, over 40,000 people lived there. There were schools, hospitals, shops, coffee shops, churches, pagodas and mosques. For the Vietnamese, it was a city of hope.
For us in the Royal Malaysian Navy, it was a humanitarian mission — patrolling waters, preventing piracy, and managing logistics.
The camp officially closed in 1991. Most refugees were resettled in the United States, Australia, Canada and France. Some were repatriated. In 2017, the island was opened as a heritage site.
What my Photo shows:
Looking back at my photo today, they capture the transition from a bustling city to a silent memorial.
THE BOAT PEOPLE
The term "Boat People" refers to the hundreds of thousands of Vietnamese refugees who fled their country by sea following the end of the Vietnam War in 1975. Their journey is one of the most harrowing chapters of modern migration history.
It is estimated that 200,000 to 250,000 boat people died at sea from storms, starvation, engine failure and pirate attacks in the Gulf of Thailand.
The longhouses clinging to the hilsides. In my time there, you could still see how the refugees had transformed the jungle into a functioning society.
Stone carvings and Buddhist statues left behind. They are not decorations - they are memorials for those who dies at sea or while waiting for a new life that never came.
Why Pulau Bidong Still Matters
Pulau Bidong is often called the "Island of Human Compassion." Over 250,000 refugees landed on Malaysian shores, out of 2 million who fled Vietnam in total.
For Malaysia, it was a defining moment in Cold War humanitarian history. We were a country of first asylum.
For the Vietnamese diaspora — now doctors, engineers, artists and community leaders in the West — it is sacred ground. Many return to pay respects.
For those of us who served aboard KD Sri Negri Sembilan, it will always be a reminder of what we witnessed at 20-something years old, on radio watch in the middle of the South China Sea.
When I close my eyes today, I can still hear the static of the radio set in the wireless office of KD Sri Negri Sembilan. I can still fee the roll of the South China Sea at 0200H, somewhere 45 km off Terengganu, with only the blinking light of Pulau Bidong on the horizon.
We were young sailors. We were there to patrol. But we were also witnesses to the tail-end of one of the biggest humanitarian exoduses of the Cold War. A duty that Malaysia carried with compassion when many other countries turned their ships away.
After the camp officially closed in 1991, Pulau Bidong was handed back to the Terengganu state government. Today, it is no longer inhabited.
The island is quiet now. The longhouses, the hospital, the school - all gone. But the memories remain.
I left the Navy a long time ago. KD Sri Negri Sembilan herself has been decommissioned. Lt Mior Rosdi, my Commanding Officer and my shipmates, we have all gone our separate ways.
Pulau itu senyap sekarang. Tetapi kenangannya tetap hidup.
That was Pulau Bidong. That was 1987.
Hj Zulheimy Maamor
Ex-Senior R.O, KD Sri Negri Sembilan
12th Squadron Patrol Craft
Lumut, Perak
12 Oct 1987 - 28 Mar 1988
Updated: 12 September 2026: 1.46 a.m
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