Just as these river villages sit at the farthest edge of the state’s concern, Sabah itself sits at the edge of federal power, rich in resources but short on returns.

For decades, decisions about the state’s oil, electricity, and development funding have been made far from here, in ministries that view Sabah the way Kota Kinabalu views Dagat: distant, small, and statistically insignificant.

Deep inside the Lower Segama River basin, Kampung Dagat, a tiny, off-grid settlement, endures life without gazetted roads, hospitals, or steady power, clinging to a hope that never quite arrives.

The villagers are connected to the world by a fragile internet signal, yet remain cut off by road, their lives unfolding beyond the reach of asphalt and attention.

At dawn, the village wakes to the sound of engines and prayer.

The tide is still low, and the men are already pushing their wooden boats into the dark water, heading for fishing grounds where the catch has shrunken each year.

It’s a rhythm as old as the river itself, repeated by families who have lived here for generations amid one of Sabah’s last...