Speaking to FMT on the plight of the island’s community, non-governmental organisation (NGO) Beyond Pitas co-founder Desonny Tuzan said clean water supply had always been a problem, but the recent drought and slow development of water management initiatives had made life even more difficult on the island, which is bigger than Penang.

“The sick, elderly, disabled and children are especially affected by the water crisis. They are already struggling with poverty and this crisis has trapped them in that circle,” he said, adding that the island near Marudu Bay had an estimated population of 20,000.

Desonny said the residents of Malaysia’s largest island had to travel hours to source for clean water and when they could not, they relied on rain water, nearly dried up streams and even contaminated water from communal wells.

He said the upgrading of the water treatment plant on the island was not progressing at a fast enough rate, leaving Banggi residents in a dire situation.

“Being unprepared to cope with natural phenomenons such as drought due to climate change or El Nino shows inefficiency in governance.”

Desonny said as an NGO committed to help Sabah’s most marginalised communities, Beyond Pitas wanted to highlight the issue via Twitter.

“We are attempting to highlight this with the #BanggiWaterCrisis campaign online,” he said, adding that it would be similar to their previous #PitasRoad campaign to draw attention to the road problems there.

He hoped that Banggi and its people would not be sidelined and that aid would be sent to the island as a short term measure.

“We are also hopeful for a long term solution to the water crisis that has affected them for decades.”

Yesterday, it was reported that Sabah Chief Minister Musa Aman had acknowledged that several areas in Sabah, including Pulau Banggi, had been hit with a water crisis and that the Water Department and other authorities had begun sending water to people in the affected areas.