Fifty years ago a young Sabahan dreamed about travelling the world as his European and Chinese forebears did. Captain Lubin Chiew who is of English, Chinese and native ancestry set his mind on his ideals and charted a career as an officer in the merchant navy.
An experienced Maritime Pilot of 25 years, Captain Lubin 56, was motivated by his father and Eurasian Mother Queenie Marcus. Born in Kota Kinabalu, he was sent to study at the renowned Sacred Heart School in Kota Kinabalu; his father wanted to imbibe the young man with discipline and a spirit of challenge.
To ensure he became a self-made man, his father sent him far beyond Sabah on a mission of learning. A Yayasan Sabah scholar, the young man was first sent to Sultan Badlishah School in Kulim, Kedah — 2,000km away from home when he was 13.
Two years later he opted to become a soldier. Remiscing, Lubin said: “I was relocated to the Royal Military College (RMC) to attend form four and form five in a military school where I passed my senior Cambridge Certificate Exam with flying colours.”
“I wanted to join the Air Force but ended up in the Merchant instead, a decision which I have not regretted.”
While in the RMC he was involved in sports and suffered many injuries including a fractured collar while playing as hooker for the RMC rugby team.
From then, there was no looking back; he was sent to an Indonesian Marine Academy in Jakarta for a year before going for Wales for five years. Captain Lubin then sailed the seas for several years before returning to Kota Kinabalu to become harbour pilot.
The 56-year-old skipper said the job of a maritime pilot or harbour pilot was both physical and based on experience. Captain Lubin said: “We are navigational experts possessing knowledge of the particular waterway such as its depth, currents, and hazards.”
Last week, Captain Chiew invited me to accompany him on an assignment to guide a six-storey high and 130metres long ship tanker “Harbour Express” into the Sepanggar bay.
During the midnight assignment in pitch darkness, I joined the intrepid captain on a 15-minute boat ride to the ship berthed outside the bay and watch him in action.
One must be fit to climb up a pilot ladder or rope ladder — some can go as high 40 feet — to the deck before the climbing remaining six storeys to the meet the Burmese captain at the “bridge” of the ship.
He said: “We pilots are on duty 24 hours and have to remain calm under pressure. We board ships entering or exiting the port or harbours, and navigate the vessels safely in and out of the harbour.”
“It is a physically demanding role because we are sometimes required to board moving vessels from small high powered launches, often in rough seas. This can involve climbing high ladders to access the deck.”
Two hours later, after the ship was steered into the harbour and berthed, we were back on dry land.
Captain Lubin who has sailed the world with various foreign vessels, feels he has a few more years of scaling and guiding vessels into the KK harbour. During his 25 years as a harbour pilot, he has guided in at least 3,000 vessels into the city. The job is dangerous and also rewarding.
He said: “Sometimes we take a vessel through tricky situations on a stormy night in the choppy sea and occasionally we get a pat on the back. Once I guided in a Japanese destroyer into the Sepanggar bay and received a medal from the ship’s commodore.”
But it’s not all work and Lubin’s latest passion is promoting the Eurasian community. Sabah’s Eurasian community originated from the 1881 founders of British North Borneo and subsequent Australians in the pre-War days.
Four years ago he established a Sabah Eurasian website which has been well received.
“We are connected to the Eurasians of Malaya and Singapore’s Eurasian Member of Parliament Terence de Souza logs to the website regularly,” said Lubin who is also linked to the Sarawak Eurasian Association which was established in 2000.
Sabah has a rich history where the Eurasians who played an important role in developing the country. Needless to say it boasts of having many professions and educationists.
Among the most prominent Sabah Eurasian is one of the pioneer of the Federation of Malaysia, the late Tun Fuad Stephens who was the State’s first chief Minister and “Huguan Siou” or paramount chief of the Kadazan-Dusun native community.
Lubin said most Sabah Eurasians are descended from Europeans who married locals like the Chinese, Malay and other natives.
Other important Eurasians include the commandant the RMAF training school in Sungei Besi General Johnny Loh, who is part Eurasian and Sino-Kadazan while former Malaysian national football player Datuk James Wong’s mother is part English.
At a gathering of Eurasians to celebrate his mother’s 87th birthday at the Kinabalu Golf Club, Lubin thanked Yayasan Sabah which has played a major role in his career.
Tan Sri Ben Stephens, the brother of Fuad who was Sabah’s first “Huguan Siou”, was one of Yayasan Sabah’s chairmen for several years.
Captain Lubin concluded: “A large majority of Malaysian graduates owe it to Yayasan Sabah for helping build up the country and putting in the foundations for the greater development of Malaysia and Sabah in particular. In fact I am where I am because of Yayasan.”
