Living on Ringgit on an Indonesian Island

TAWAU... Tawau... Tawau...” That was the first thing that echoed in my ears on arrival on Sebatik in East Kalimantan in June as boatmen offered transportation to nearby Tawau in the East Malaysian state of Sabah.

In Sebatik, one of Indonesia’s outermost Islands, live two different communities with two different citizenships: Malaysian in an area known as Kampung Melayu or Sebatik Malaysia and Indonesians in Sebatik Indonesia.

Figuratively

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