By Marlynda Meraw
SARIKEI, Feb 19: Long before the morning crowds arrive at the Pusat Penjaja Kabong; before the hustle and bustle of life awakens the coastal town, there are stories that linger gently beneath the ground itself.
Stories of women dressed in white, seen gathering in the stillness between midnight and dawn.
Sapri Johari, a local from Kampung Hilir Sungai Pala recounted what he had heard of the sightings. A former caretaker from the nearby school had witnessed them. Not one or two, but many.
“Lori besar ya, sik muat ketegal banyak urang,” Sapri said, describing to the D’Drift team that there were so many of them that a big lorry couldn’t fit them all.
The women in white were said to be of all ages, from elderly figures to the very young.
The ground beneath our feet
The presence of the women in white was perhaps not without reason.
Affendi Oton of Kampung Pasar did not ease into the history. He opened with it: the Pusat Penjaja Kabong stands on what was once a cemetery. An old, largely unmarked, predating the memory of even Kabong’s eldest residents.
“People from back then who passed away came through the Kabong river using the boat, and the boat brought all these bodies here (area of the Pusat Penjaja Kabong), and had them buried here,” said Affendi.
Years later, efforts were made to respectfully exhume and relocate the remains to a new cemetery elsewhere. Yet, as Affendi noted, land that has held the departed for so long can never entirely separate from its past. A full clearing was simply not possible.
The hawker centre was built atop that ground. The floor that was once mud, and later ironwood is now asphalt. Trade carries on above what remains below, and nobody thinks too much about it. At least, not during daylight hours.
It was Sapri who added that those who were buried on the land were not originally from Kabong. They had been brought in by river from elsewhere and interred in this bend of the coast; just as what Affendi had shared with the D’Drift team.
A place where people ‘merge’
Like many places, Kabong’s very name carries a story within it.
Sapri posed the question as though it had a punchline: “Do you know why it is called Kabong?” He let the pause sit before answering.
“That’s because back then, people like you and I who are migrating from different places meet here and bergabung (come together). Eventually, this place is later known as Kabong.”
Gabung, the base word of bergabung, means ‘join’ or ‘merge’. From its earliest days, Kabong was a place where people arrived from somewhere else and stayed.
That layering of communities from different villages and of the living as well as the long-departed gave the town a texture that is easy to miss if you are only passing through. Kabong is predominantly Malay, with a sprinkling of Chinese residents and Iban longhouses visible along the road into the town centre.
The economy in the area has long been shaped by the sea. Fishing remains a livelihood deeply tied to the Malay community’s historic connection to the rivers and coast, as described by Affendi. Oil palm plantation has taken its hold too, replacing what were once coconut trees—the very first crop ever planted in Kabong.
The old wooden shops are mostly gone now, claimed by a fire roughly a decade ago. A new building is going up in their place. The villages that were once scattered across the area have drawn closer together.
Affendi, now in his seventies, has watched all of this unfold across a lifetime. He spoke of it in a tone filled with gratitude instead of wistfulness.
“All the development that came to Kabong, I’m just glad that I get to see them,” he said. “Here’s to hoping I can live long enough to see more of it.”
Development along the coastal road
The D’Drift team had reached Kabong as part of the second day’s run along Sarawak’s coastal route, having departed Maludam at 7.45am. It is a drive that rewards attention.
The journey itself revealed a region in transition. Crossing Batang Saribas 1 that connects Pusa and Beladin, while the rising structure of Batang Saribas 2 stood in the distance, expected to reach completion in November this year with construction progress recorded at 80.50 per cent as of January 21, 2026.
Further along, a ferry crossing over the Krian river offered a close view of the Sungai Krian Bridge, scheduled for completion this coming March. It is another step toward improved accessibility for coastal communities.
Even small moments shaped the day’s memories. A mistaken sighting of what appeared to be a porcupine turned out to be nothing more than an empty dried oil palm fruit bunch, prompting laughter and a memorable U-turn that would later become part of the journey’s storytelling.
And throughout the drive, a small but welcome detail: radio signals along the coastal road held steady, a contrast to the patchy frequencies that can plague the Pan Borneo Highway. Music for the whole road. Small things matter on long journeys.
We arrived at Kabong at 9.40am, spent an hour there, made a brief stop at the beach before pressing on to Sarikei, arriving at 12.10pm.
Kabong had been a detour on the itinerary and ended up being the kind of place that earns its own paragraph in our journey. A hawker centre that was built atop an old cemetery. A name that means to come together. Women in white, seen only past midnight by those daring to look. There is something extraordinary about a place that holds all of that without making a fuss.
Day three begins tomorrow. The road is still long, and Sarawak, as ever, has more to say. – DayakDaily
