JOHOR BARU: Visitors to Pulau Merambong will be surprised to find uneven rows of unattended burial grounds on the island, believed to be that of both children and adults.

       Boat operator Samsuri Mohammad said the small and uninhabited island, which is a 30-minute boat ride from Kampung Pendas Laut, Gelang Patah, is also known as Pulau Mayat (corpse island) by the local fishing community.

       “The alternative name was given because of the many tombstones found on the island, believed to belong to travelling merchants passing the island along the Tebrau Straits towards their destination a couple of centuries ago.

       “Those who died on the ships were said to be buried on the small island,” he said in an interview.

       “The headstones vary in shape and size, and locals think they mark the graves of people from different religions. My grandfather told me the story of the island when I was still a child.”

       Samsuri, 40, often provides boat services to non-governmental organisations and government agencies to Pulau Merambong for beach clean-up activities.

       He said there was a lot of rubbish washed up on the uninhabited island and volunteers would usually collect bags of rubbish to be brought back to the mainland for proper disposal.

       Kampung Pendas Laut fisherman Safiee Mohamad, 45, said there were more than 50 tombstones on Pulau Merambong, with some graves meant for young children.

       He said the village’s name came from the word “terapung” (float) as villagers believed that the island sat on the back of a huge stingray.

       “Some of the villagers here believe that the graves are those of passing merchants who were killed by pirates for not giving in to their demands.

       “I also heard that many years ago, some people dug up several graves but found nothing inside them.

       “The whole thing remains a mystery until today,” Safiee added.

       Johor Mineral and Geoscience Department deputy director Mohd Fauzi Rajimin @ Jeman said a study conducted in 2014 showed that the island did not have many geological findings, though it did have some historical elements in the form of the graves.

       He said the study suggested that further historical research needed to be conducted to understand the island’s background and the story behind the graves.

       “Pulau Merambong, located only 1.4km away from Singapore, was also once proposed to be made into a marine park as the island was a sanctuary for seahorse, seagrass and dugong.

       “But seahorse and other wildlife were not found during our study and the seagrass bed on the island was said to be reducing in size.

       “The water surrounding the island is murky. This could be due to the land reclamation project conducted about 1.2km north of Pulau Merambong,” he said.

       Mohd Fauzi added that the island had a lighthouse erected by the government in 2010 and a radius monitoring system.