Papar, Sabah

Papar is a town as well as a district located in West Coast Division of Sabah, east Malaysia. It is situated 38 kilometres south of Kota Kinabalu and is one of the main stops on the North Borneo Railway line other than Tanjung Aru, Putatan, Beaufort and Tenom in which Papar lies on the middle of the line. Papar is also a major stopover point for travelers from the southern towns Sipitang and Beaufort to Kota Kinabalu, as it would be at least twenty kilometers to the next township at both ends of the Pan Borneo Highway (Putatan to the north, Bongawan to the south).

Papar is one of the most important place in Sabah (North Borneo) after Lahad Datu in the East Coast function as a place for spreading Islam in Sabah. The district's first mosque was built at Kampung Laut around 1878, which then remained there until this day by the name Masjid Daerah Papar (Papar District Mosque). There are also some major mosques within district area such as Masjid Pekan Bongawan and Masjid Haji Mohd Yaakob, both at Bongawan and Beringgis respectively

The name of 'Papar' came from Brunei word means flat or open land. Before the administration of British, Papar was administrated by Bruneian leader. Soon after, it was administrated by its first officer, Datu Amir Bahar, of Bajau decent, who was responsible for the departure of the Bruneian leader. Papar then handed to Overbeck and Dent brothers, in 1877.

The first British officer to served Papar was H.L. Leicester. He started his first job in February 1878 with vision to increase economic income of Papar. However, his vision was almost impossible to be achieved in struggled with economic problem at that time by British North Borneo Company. He was later replaced by Everett.

The population in the district was estimated to be around 105,200 in 2006,^{[nb 1]} and almost evenly divided between Bruneian Malay (Benoni, Buang Sayang, Bongawan, Kampung Laut, Kelanahan, Kimanis, Kinarut), Kadazandusun (Rampazan, Limbahau, Kinarut, Kopimpinan, Lakut, Mondolipau, Koiduan, Ulu Kimanis, Sumbiling, Limputung), and Bajau (Pengalat Besar, Pengalat Kecil, Kawang, Beringgis). A sizeableChinese from ethnic Hakka, is also scattered throughout the district along with numbers of Indians and Pakistani.

The Papar area is characterised by low lying coastal areas which extend inland towards the Crocker Range.^[1] Traditionally this was good rice growing land and the flat open paddy fields may have given it the name. Even today, despite the rapid expansion of the city ofKota Kinabalu around 40 km north of Papar, the district is still dominated by paddy fields, which are largely worked by natives, and fruit orchards, most of which belong to the Hakka Chinese.

The town itself occupies the southern banks of the Papar River not far from the sea. There are also areas of tidal wetland that are home to mangrove trees and saltwater palm or nipah. Both banks are connected by two steel-concrete bridges, one (with a railway bridge) connecting directly into the town itself, and another much farther upriver (on the old Kota Kinabalu-Papar road) leading into the paddy plantation hamlets.

The town has seen considerable growth in recent years but still preserves some of its older buildings and features. Important architectural features which can be seen in the Papar town includes the District Office, Papar Public Library, Papar Public Park, New Papar Market, OKK Mahali Park (which constitutes a large part of the new town), Salleh Sulong Hall and a new bigger Papar Hall which also hosts a weekly wet market on its compounds, a sports complex with a field, a stand and a gymnasium, and the new train station, which doubles as a bus and mini-van station which serves the Kota Kinabalu-Papar-Beaufort route.

Despite repair and refurbishment over the years, the Papar railway bridge looks much as it did in the Second World War. It featured in Allied plans to retakeNorth Borneo from the Japanese. References to it and the Papar River can be found in reports on covert intelligence operations Agas and Semut, and later in attack plans Stallion and Oboe 6