After twenty-two years traveling the seas as a diver in the Royal Malaysian Navy, Sumadi Ibrahim retired from the military and devoted himself… to Golf, diving into the water hazards of a course to recover lost bullets.
He had spent his career as a frogman in the army diving in the shark-infested waters of the warm seas of Southeast Asia: keen skills he now puts to good use in his new livelihood.
At nightfall, Sumadi, 51, reaches a suburb of the state of Selangor, which surrounds the capital Kuala Lumpur, and explores the depths of the ponds of a golf course in search of the balls which have sunk there in the daytime.
On each nightly expedition, he collects between 500 and 600, which he resells to the same clumsy and frustrated golfers who misplaced them.
After the end of his maritime career, Sumadi Ibrahim could have chosen a more conventional life: but he cannot resist the pleasure of immersing himself again, even if the water hazards of the golf courses are barely more than two meters high. depth.
“I’m used to being in the sea,” he confides to AFP, a nostalgic smile softening his face.
-Moonlight-
Sumadi first heard about the potentially lucrative golf ball recovery niche during a casual conversation with friends.
Intrigued, the father of three ventured into the murky waters of the golf course for the first time in 2012. Since his retirement in 2014, it has become his main source of income.
Three evenings a week, when the manicured greens disappear into darkness, Sumadi comes to fish out the balls — without breathing equipment.
“I don’t bring a flashlight. Moonlight is my only source of light,” he laughs. “When my hands and feet come into contact with a certain object, I am able to tell whether it is a ball or not.”
He comes out of the water with the bullets found stuffed in his shirt, bunched around his waist.
While his new job may seem less risky than his former military missions, it still carries some risks, in icy, dark waters that test his physical endurance and mental resilience.
The bottom of the ponds is strewn with “palm thorns, debris and broken snail shells: as the water is dark, I often walk on it”, sighs Sumadi.
“And I'm still afraid of cramping. To limit the danger, I've recruited a part-time assistant to keep an eye while I dive: if something happens, and I get stuck or injured, at least someone will be there to help me.”
Every Saturday, he sets up a stand at the entrance to the golf course at 8 a.m. sharp, and sells the balls in batches of twenty, arranged in baskets on a makeshift display — for a price per ball ranging from 0, 70 to 6 ringgit depending on the brand and quality (from 0.15 to 1.29 euros).
Enough to earn him up to 8,000 ringgit per month (1,700 euros), or almost three times the median monthly salary of Malaysians.
-“Helping the environment”-
Golf is an activity that has long been criticized for its environmental impact: clearing of wild areas to make way for vast lawns, a practice reserved for elites, enormous volumes of water to water the greens, etc.
Sumadi does not claim to be an environmentalist, but by preventing thousands of golf balls containing plastic and rubber from disintegrating in nature, he believes he is making his small contribution to environmental protection.
Among his customers is businessman Gilbert Tan, a regular player at the course where he dives: “I have bought used golf balls from him many times,” he says.
“And since plastics are not really biodegradable, by buying +recycled+ balls, I am doing my part to help the environment,” he argues.
Sumadi says he is proud of his role as a tireless scavenger of his underwater domain: “I consider the golf course my own home. I will continue diving as long as I can.”
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