Tourists who had visited Pulau Ketam might
wondered how the village became a paradise from a
desolated island. The History is interesting and
worth compliment.
Long time ago, Pulau Ketam was
desolated, small island full of "Mangrove Swamps"
amd famous for its crabs. Three Hainan fishermen
from Bagan Hainan, Port Klang, were the first to
arrive at Pulau Ketam catching crabs for their
living. At first, the came and returned to Port
Klang daily. The journey took almost a day. A few
month later, they built a small house to stay over
nights. They rowed back to Port Klang the second
day selling crabs and buying daily sundries it
return. At 1872, they built a temple named "Chuan
Eng Bio" located near Jalan Timur now. after that,
they had decided to stay permanently.
In 1883, the population
increased almost to hundred. The Major activities
were catching crabs, fishes and prawns. Some of
them built sundries shops, and fish dealer shops.
As time past, population increased gradually, the
Hokkien and Teochew Group also came to this island
to earn their living. They stayed at Jalan Besar,
Sungai Dalam and Bagan Teochew. Wooden hourse name
"Kongsi House" were built. ("Kongsi" Mean
Sharing). Those who were than 20 "Kosing House" in
this island. Now, every villager had his own
house, thus the "Kongsi House" became a history
testimony.
Since Tanah Melayu was
conquered byJapanese, a lot of people flee to
Pulau Ketam, because it was safe and peace from
war. So the population boomed. At the time, "Hai
Ann Ferry" company provided ferry Services to the
population.
In 1950's, the diesel engines
and new fishing net had been introduced to this
island, thus improving the fishing skill,
increased the captures. The number of residents,
houses, shops had increased tremendously. Soon,
The Pulau Ketam Electric Company was built to
provide electricity supply for this island.
From 1960's to 1970's, post
office, primary school and the other basic
facilities sprouted in this island as well.
But, unfortunately fires
in 1967 and 1972 destroy all the houses and shop
lots in Jalan Besar and Sungai Dalam. All the
shops were rebuilt later. For preventive measures,
The Bomba Sukarela Pulau Ketam was formed in 1972.
All of Volunteer Members are from Pulau Ketam's
residents.
In 1991, the new jetty was
ready to use, and pipe water was supplied from the
mainland bygovernment..
In 1993, the Hospital Desa
Pulau Ketam began to serve the village.
During 1994's Christmas Day,
another fire destroy 4 shops on the main street.
In 1998, Pulau Ketam
experienced a slight flood. It affected roughly
30% of the residential areas. At the same year,
Alam Flora started to collect rubbish, making this
island cleaner than ever.
In 1999, the new ferry services
had been introduced. One of the KTM terminal
located at Pork Klang. Both types of
transportations make the journey to Pulau Ketam
more easy and time saving.
To date, Pulau Ketam is equiped
with almost all the basic facilities. It also
plays a role as a major fish, crabs, prawns
provider to Klang valley, and a tourism spot of
Negeri Selangor.
