I was shocked to read the following article published on 1st October in The Star Online while I was still studying in Melbourne. Kow Hock Guan or affectionately called Uncle "Ah Guan" had been my regular boatman for the past 7 years and is very familiar with the waters south of Penang Island and around Pulau Kendi. He is currently still missing and if anyone who knows of his whereabouts is advised to inform the Teluk Kumbar or Balik Pulau police station.

Mystery over missing boatman

Uncle Guan's daughter and wife with a recent photograph of Uncle Guan and his vessel

PENANG: Mystery surrounds the disappearance of a boat owner whose three passengers were rescued after the vessel capsized near Pulau Kendi on Monday. Kow Hock Guan, 60, has yet to return to his Gertak Senggul home after taking the trio to the island on a fishing trip at 1pm that day.

Kow's wife Teoh Ah Mooi, 50, said she was told by the trawler owner that the men he rescued had claimed that the boat capsized in choppy waters but did not mention anything about her husband. She said the men went away after they were rescued at 3am on Tuesday and taken to the Teluk Kumbar jetty.

Teoh said she last saw Kow at 11am on Monday and had voiced her concern about him going out to sea in rough weather. "He told me not to worry as he was only heading off to the nearby Pulau Kendi and would be back by 6pm". "We waited until 10pm that night before forming a search party to look for him. There was no sign of his boat," she said yesterday.

Their search efforts, she said, were hampered by strong winds that forced them to turn back. They continued on Tuesday morning and were told by an oyster picker on the island that one of the trawlers had rescued three fishermen the previous night. Balik Pulau OCPD Supt Mazlan Ayob said the case was being treated as a missing person incident. - extracted from The Star Online October 2000

Malaysian FishSite Recent Update

November 2001: In a recent article (not currently available on FishSite), it was reported that Uncle Ah Guan was supposedly abducted by some illegal Indonesians laying in ambush at Pulau Kendi who hijacked his vessel and forced him to take them to Indonesia. He is still missing.

December 2001: I have received an unverified report that several fishermen have managed to locate and retrieve Uncle Ah Guan's boat which had sunk off Teluk Kumbar. He is presumed by local authorities to have drowned. If anyone has further information or confirmation on this report, please e-mail me at szewing@yahoo.com

His demise is indeed a great loss to the local fishing fraternity especially to me, as he has been a good skipper, fishing guide and friend.