Coastal erosion threatens to swallow Malaysian village by the sea

In Kampung Pengkalan Maras, residents are facing the threat of coastal erosion, with some already losing their land and others worrying they may soon lose theirs.

South China Sea waters, a source of livelihood among local fishermen in this coastal village in Malaysia’s Terengganu state, are creeping in and threatening to claim locals’ properties, inch by inch.

For more than 10 years, residents have watched as homes, shops and restaurants crumble into the sea. And they say the pace is accelerating. 

“This erosion has been happening for a long time, but it wasn’t as noticeable as it is now. Now, the erosion is too severe,” Zaman Idris, 61, told BenarNews. 

About six acres of their village – the size of 50 basketball courts – have been lost, he estimated. 

“Back then, along the shore, we had beach festivals and food stalls. Now, it’s all gone,” Idris said. “All the land is in the sea.”

Since October 2024, BenarNews has documented how coastal villages in Terengganu are slowly disappearing into the sea.

For Mazlan Abdullah, a resident for 40 years, and others, the threat is at his doorsteps – literally.

He fears that one day the sea will sweep away his coffee shop and grocery store, where he lives and runs the small business.

“The erosion has reached my house,” Abdullah told BenarNews. “I think if the government doesn’t take action, it will continue until there’s no house left.”

Local authorities have begun placing large rocks to prevent additional erosion, part of a larger U.S. $20 million project to construct 16 breakwaters along the coast. 

“The construction of the breakwater has reached 20% .… There are no delays in the construction. The company has not been fined, and the project is expected to be completed in 2026,” Haji Hanafiah bin Mat, a state assemblyman representing Terengganu’s Chukai district, told BenarNews.

“We hope that once this project is completed, we can control the beach erosion,” he said.

Some villagers remained skeptical.

“I really feel very disappointed with the situation because the erosion has gone on for years, but the government hasn’t addressed it properly,” Abdullah said.

Business owners, meanwhile, wonder if they’ve been left to fend for themselves. 

“Everything else has been swept away by the waves,” said Manan Bin Ali, who had owned a business since 1990 drying and salting fish for sale until it gave way to the sea on Jan. 11.

“Everything was gone. Wiped out,” he told BenarNews.

“Right now, for someone like me, I don’t know how to do any other work. I rely entirely on making salted fish. Now that the place for making salted fish has collapsed, I’m just sitting around. It means I’ve lost my livelihood – lost my income.”

As he sat in front of the village’s local prayer hall (surau), Idris said he hoped the government could help the village soon.

Like many of the local establishments, the surau stands precariously close to the encroaching sea along the shoreline – a symbol of the community’s struggle against coastal erosion.

“To save this surau, we are asking the relevant authorities to protect it because it is the only surau left by the elders,” Idris said.

“We love this surau.”