The Legend of Kusu Island

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An honorable member of the Coffee Shop Has Just Posted the Following:

Long ago, two friends, a Malay and the other a Chinese, were in a boat that was in danger of capsizing in a storm. As they cried out for help, a giant turtle appeared before them and bore the two men on its back before the boat was taken by the sea. Sensing their need for sanctuary from the storm, the turtle turned itself into an island. Saved and provided for, the two friends were so grateful that they later revisited the island as a form of pilgrimage and founded shrines.

Today, there are both Chinese and Malay places of pilgrimage which attract thousands of visitors to Kusu Island yearly. The Chinese Tua Pek Kong temple, built in 1923, welcomes pilgrims during the ninth lunar month, which usually falls in the month of October. The pilgrims pray for prosperity and fertility. A turtle lake and large stone turtle statues occupy the precinct of the temple.

On the wooded hill above the temple are perched three small keramats, built to commemorate Syed Abdul Rahman, his mother and sister. The faithful climb up to the shrines to pray for wealth, good health and fertility. The island itself is said to have resembled the shape of a turtle, but reclamation works have made this feature less obvious. Today, Kusu Island has two well-sheltered lagoons, beaches and a huge diversity of marine life around its fringing reefs of hard and soft corals.




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