Sandakan, Sabah

Sandakan is the second-largest city in Sabah, East Malaysia, on the north-eastern coast of Borneo. It is located on the east coast of the island and it is the administrative centre of Sandakan Division and was the former capital of British North Borneo. Sandakan is known as the gateway forecotourism destinations in Sabah, such as the Sepilok Orang Utan Rehabilitation Centre, the Rainforest Discovery Centre, Turtle Islands Park,Kinabatangan River and Gomantong Caves.

The area is also infamous as the site of a World War II Japanese airfield, built by the forced labour of 6,000 Javanese civilians and Allied prisoners of war. In 1945, the surviving Australian prisoners were sent on the Sandakan Death Marches; only 6 of them survived the war.

During the early 1870s, the east coast of Sabah was under control of the Sultan of Sulu, who also ruled what is now the southern Philippines. The first European settlement in the area was founded by William Clarke Cowie, a Scottish gun smuggler from Glasgow, who received permission from the Sultan to establish a small trading base. Cowie called his settlement Sandakan, which in (Sulu) language means "the place that was pawned", but it soon came to be known as "Kampung German" after the large number of Germans who also set up posts there. The settlement was part of the lease Austro-Hungarian consul Baron von Overbeck acquired from the Sultan of Sulu in 1878. After the lease was purchased by von Overbeck's British partner Alfred Dent, Kampong German was accidentally razed to the ground on 15 June 1879. The new British Resident, William Burges Pryer, decided not to rebuild the village but to move to (what is now called) Buli Sim Sim on 21 June 1879.^[1] He named his new settlement Elopura, which means Beautiful City. A few years later, the name reverted back to Sandakan. The name Elopura still refers to a Sabah state constituency in Sandakan.

In 1883, the capital of the British North Borneo Company was moved from Kudat to Sandakan. In the mid-1930s, Sandakan's timber export reached the record figure of 180,000 cubic meters, making it the largest timber-exporting port of tropical hardwood in the world. At the height of the timber boom, Sandakan boasted that it had the highest concentration of millionaires anywhere on Earth.

The Japanese occupation of Sandakan during World War II began on 19 January 1942 and lasted until a brigade of the Australian 9th Divisionliberated it on 19 October 1945. The Japanese administration restored the name Elopura for the town. One of the atrocities of World War II was theSandakan Death Marches, when Japanese soldiers decided to move about 2,400 prisoners of war in Sandakan 260 km (160 miles) inland to the town of Ranau. The prisoners who did not die en route to Ranau were crammed into unsanitary huts; most of those survivors either died fromdysentery or were killed by prison guards. When the war ended, Sandakan was totally destroyed, partly from the Allied bombings and partly by the Japanese. As a result, when North Borneo became a British Crown Colony in 1946, the capital was shifted to Jesselton, now known as Kota Kinabalu, (often just called 'KK' locally).

Sandakan remains Sabah's second most important port, after Kota Kinabalu. The port is important for palm oil, tobacco, cocoa, coffee, manila hemp and sago exports. Sandakan is also one of the most bustling towns in East Malaysia. The once dominant timber industry is now relatively small. It is likely tourism will become increasingly important to the town's future.

Sandakan Town Centre

In recent years, businesses have shifted their operations away from the town centre to the suburbs (Bandar Ramai-Ramai, Bandar Leila, Bandar Nam Tung, Bandar Maju, Bandar Kim Fung, Bandar Pasaraya, Bandar Letat, Bandar Indah Jaya, Bandar Utama, Bandar Perdana, Bandar Labuk Jaya, Bandar Sibuga Jaya, etc.) due to the presence of significantillegal immigrants in the town centre. In January 2003, the Sandakan Harbour Square, an urban renewal project, was launched in an attempt to revive the town centre as the commercial hub in Sandakan. It will feature extra shoplots, a new central market and fish market, a shopping mall (Sandakan Harbour Mall), and hotels. It is to be built in four separate phases and is due for completion in 2011.

Penampang, Sabah

Penampang is a district as well as a small town (Penampang Proper) within the West Coast Division of Sabah, Malaysia. It has virtually become a suburb of Kota Kinabalu which is Sabah's capital. Its population was estimated to be around 132,002 in 2000, with ethnicKadazan-Dusun as the majority.

The name penampang came from an old village within the district. The village's name in turn originates from a Kadazan word that means "big rock". This is because huge rocks were easily found within the vicinity of the village a long time ago.

The name Penampang in contemporary usage refers more often to the district, with the town of Donggongon as the main town within the district. Donggongon means 'shelter' or 'rest area' in the native Kadazan language, referring to its historical role as a stop-over for people from the hills who journeyed down the coast for trade. Other towns or sub-districts within Penampang are Putatan and Lok Kawi.

Penampang is often considered a stronghold of the Kadazan community, and the main centre for their political and cultural development. The Kadazandusun Cultural Association (KDCA) community hall hosts many of Kadazan's traditional festivities, chief among them the annual Kaamatan or 'harvest festival', their most important cultural event.

The Monsopiad Cultural Village is in Penampang. Monsopiad was the name of a past warrior who was known for decapitating the heads of his enemy and hanging the skulls at the entrance of his home, to warn his enemies of his powers.

Penampang is administered by Majlis Daerah Penampang (Penampang District Council).

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

Beaufort, Sabah

Beaufort meaning "The Beautiful Fort" in old French, it is a town and a district located in Interior Division of Sabah in east Malaysia on the island of Borneo. Its population was estimated to be around 61,698 in 2000. It is a quiet provincial town about 90 kilometres south of Kota Kinabalu, with shophouses built high above the roads to avoid the periodic floods of the Padas River (Sungai Padas). The population of Beaufort is composed mainly of Malays, Kadazans and Chinese (mainly Hakkas). Like Papar, Malaysia, Beaufort was one of the major initial Hakka population centers in Sabah and boasts a large Hakka minority to this day.

Originally set up to help economic development of the interior of Sabah, Beaufort's early prosperity was closely linked to rubber cultivation. During World War II, it was the site of one of the most important skirmishes of the war between the Japanese and Australians. Its current prosperity depends on the booming palm oil industry.

Beaufort is a stop on the North Borneo Railway operated by Sutera Harbour Resort. The railway station in Beaufort dates from 1905. The normal daily service is operated by the Sabah State Railway Department (Jabatan Keretapi Negeri Sabah).

Medical services are provided by the 140 bedded government hospital which has primary care and basic secondary care services. There are three private practitioners within the town area.

Beaufort is usually visited by tourists for white-water rafting through the nearby Padas Gorge on the Padas River which is rated as a Grade 2 to 4 river.

The open-air market, locally known as tamu is held weekly on every Friday evening until Saturday afternoon. Local produce such as fresh fruits, vegetable, fresh meat and live poultry are sold. The days of this weekly community occasion differ from district to district. Beaufort is also known in Sabah for its Chinese dish called Beaufort Mee, a noodle dish served either dry or with soup. It is also famous for its Beaufort oranges, which are featured as 3 large sculptures in the centre of the town.

Kota Marudu, Sabah

Kota Marudu is a tiny district of Kudat Division, Malaysia with approximately 19.17 square kilometres of land and a population in 2000 of more than 58,841 people, made up mainly by Dusun (Kimaragang, Tobilung & etc.), Momogun Rungus, Bajau, Bugis, Orang Brunei, Orang Sungai, Orang Suluk, Chinese (Hakka and Hokkien).

Located in the northern region of Sabah, bordered by the districts of Kudat, Kota Belud, Pitas and Beluran. It takes roughly 2 hours journey drive from the city of Kota Kinabalu over a distance of 130 km. You can also make an excursion to Kudat from Kota Marudu, which takes about 1½ hours by road. Kota Belud is merely an hour away.

Kota Marudu was formerly known as 'Bandau', which derives from the Kadazandusun world 'Mondou'. According to the local folklore, mondou is believed to be a buffalo-like creature feared by the local residents. The district was eventually re-named 'Kota Marudu', after a famous fort built by the famous local warrior Shariff Osman on Marudu Bay to protect the area from British colonization.

Among the places of interest in Kota Marudu include the famous Sorinsim Waterfall, located 40 km from the main town and Taman Sagabon, an agriculture research station at the Buyut lake. You can find South East Asia's biggest solar power station in Kota Marudu.

One may enjoy the district's celebration of the annual Maize Festival in honour of the agricultural product's contribution to the socio-economic development of Kota Marudu. The line-up activities includes a variety of exhibitions, competitions, traditional sports and the crowning of Maize Fashion Queen!

Tawau, Sabah

Tawau is located at the south-east coast of Sabah which faces the Celebes Sea to the east and the interior mountain ranges to the west. The geographic coordinates of Tawau are latitude 4.298 degree North and longitude 117.883 degree East.

The main town area can be divided into three sections, i.e. Sabindo, Fajar and Tawau Lama or Old Tawau. Federal House, where most government offices such as the Immigration Department and the National Registration Department are located is found in Sabindo area. Fajar is the commercial area, where major banks such as HSBC and Maybank, BSN, Public Bank, are located. The Tawau District Court is also situated here. Tawau Lama is the original part of Tawau, which contains Tawau's central market. Tawau Port is also located in Tawau Lama.

In early 1890s, Tawau's population was about 200 comprising mainly Bugis people (Read- Goodlet, K. J. : The Origin and Early Development of the Tawau Community) ^[1], Tidung people and Suluk people, the groups of local natives (see information of Muzium Negeri Sabah) from the Kesultanan Sulu Territories (including Kudat, Sandakan, Lahad Datu and Sebatik) around Borneo Island. These people were long-settled in the villages in Tawau Lama. Most of them were fishermen and hill rice farmers, who maintained trade with the Dutch. Besides that based on fact of history, there was an early settlement at Kalabakan, the oldest kampong in the Tawau distrist. The chief of kampong Kalabakan was menteri or minister of the Sultanete of Bolongan-Tarakan. The Tawau Town, indoubtedly, was first settled by Bugis due to the fact that Penghulu Puado had arrived in Tawau way earlier than English.

The name Tawau itself an enigma: ther earliest reference to site of present town was Tanjung. Some sources suggest that the Suluk traders called the place Tawao, a misnomer of Davao on Philippine Island of Mindanao. The most credible origin of the word Tawau is attributed to the Tidung, who called the place Tanah Tidung with the word Tanah corrupted to Tawau.^[2] However, there is no firm evidence to support this claim.

The most detailed account of the founding of Tawau comes from O.K.K. Dullah Salim, grandson of Penghulu Puado or his real name La Tuampong Bin Andi Buku @ Haji Hasan, the First Native Official recognised by the British. Puado, a Bugis from Wajo Sengkang , was a trader whose business activities extended along the east Borneo coast from Banjarmasin to Sandakan. Puado asked the Government whether there was land available for growing crops and offered land at Tawau, an offer he accepted.^[3] So it can be construed that Tawau was founded by Puado. A street in Tawau is named after this important personality that shape Tawau in the 1890s.

On 9 February 1893, the British vessel S.S. "Normanhurst" sailed into Tawau (or Tawao as it was then known) for the first time with a full cargo of dammar, gutta percha, Indian rubber, tortoise shell, and ivory to barter for rattan, raisins, Birds' nests and rubber. Kee Kim Swee, a Chinese (Hailamese) nationals who embraced Islam using the name Kee Abdullah was appointed by the British North Borneo (Chartered) Company as a custom examiner and revenue collector in 1894 in Tawau. He later became the Penghulu or Orang Kaya (OKK) in Tawau.

Location of Tawau district and town withinTawau Division in Sabah.

Steps were taken to establish the rudiment of local government by the British North Borneo Company (North Borneo Annual Volume 1966-1965 recorded that Tawau was founded in 1898). Land leases were alienated by the Administration. Since Tawau is situated close to the boundary with Indonesia, it is noteworthy to mention here that the Sebatik boundary is to latitude 4°10'N which was delimited in 1912 by a Boundary Commission comprising of officials from United Kingdom and Netherlands. A joint report was prepared together with a map and duly signed by their respective commissioners in Tawau on 17/2/1913. By a protocol between the UK and the Netherlands signed in London on 28/9/1915, the two governments confirmed the joint report and the map.

In 1930s, Tawau prospered rapidly due largely to its agricultural potential. The inhabitant population rose to 1800 in 1931. The Kuhara Rubber and Manila Hemp Estates and the Kubota Coconut Estates were the two largest plantations of the time. There were also coal mining activities in Silimpopon, 80 mile from Tawau, from 1905 to 1930, operated by the Cowie Harbour Coal Company. Most of the work force was largely Cantonese. The First World War (1914-1918) did not directly affect Tawau, which had, however, suffered its share of the world slump. Sandakan was the permanent seat of Government and centre of commerce; Tawau was a small but prosperous town.

By the end of 1930s, there were about 60 shophouses, all timber-built, lining the two main streets of Tawau, Dunlop Street (named after A.R. Dunlop who was a District Officer) and Man Cheong Street (now part of Dunlop Street). Man Cheong was a popular coffee shop. It still operates at Dunlop Street. Dunlop Street was so close to the shore that the shops on one side backed out over the high water mark. Most shops were owned by Chinese and sold the foodstuffs and equipment needed in households and on smallholdings. There were some coffee shops and lodging houses.

Tawau's centre was the padang or Town Field, an open area, with the sea on one side and whitewashed timber buildings on the other three - the District Office, police quarters, the government resthouse, none more than two storeys high. A tower (which still stands at the Town Field) was erected by the Japanese after World War I and hours were rung at intervals by the police guard. The scene was tranquil and beautiful. Traffic was scarce - a handful of private cars, lorries and vehicles belonging to the estates. From the field, Dunlop Street branched into Apas Road, which branched off to the Kuhara rubber estates and Sin On. Its people knew intuitively that they had to live and work together. Despite the many races, ethnic groups and religions, the town was very peaceful. There was no serious crime; doors and windows of dwelling houses were normally left unlocked.

Sabindo Seafood Tawau Centre

There was neither electricity supply nor main drainage. The water supply to the town was by means of tubs set on trolleys which ran along the narrow gauge trolley line from Tawau River. The tubs were hauled by hand. A telephone line linked the District Office with the District Officer's house, the light house and Kuhara estate. The Government's wireless station communicated daily with Sandakan, whence messages were transmitted to Hong Kongand Singapore. There was no bank, but money could be remitted through the post office, and the Treasury accepted and repaid deposits on behalf of the State Bank.

There were 300 Japanese working on the estates and 100 on Si-Amil Island. They owned the biggest estates (Kuhara Estate), and a golf course. There was an estate hospital and representative office of a Japanese Bank set up for the benefit of the Japanese inhabitants. Their commercial fishing was mainly for tuna. Their company, Borneo Fishing Company, whose office and factory was situated at Si-Amil Island (east of Mabul and Sipadan Islands). Apparently, all workers there were Japanese. Japanese men crewed the fishing boats, while canning factory was worked mainly by Japanese women. The workers and suppliers arrived in Tawau in Japanese ships, and all were disembarked into launches and lighters and taken direct to Si-Amil.

The S.S. "Kinabalu" of the Sabah Steamship Company (a subsidiary of Chartered Company) linked Tawau with Sandakan, Lahad Datu, Semporna andTungku. The ship was wrecked off Semporna and later replaced by S.S. "Baynain" by the Bakau Company (also a subsidiary of the Chartered Company). The government cruiser "Petrel" was based in Tawau, but was often used on duty elsewhere. Apart from that, there very few sailing craft. There was no airfield in Tawau (or anywhere in Sabah). There was a small public hospital close to the shore but it had no medical officer. A medical doctor by the name of Ernst Sternfeld was sent from Sandakan to station in Tawau in 1939-1940, but lasted only a few months.

Shan Sui Golf and Country Club

The Chinese community maintained schools. The Roman Catholic Church was later established in 1922 and provided the only English primary school.Mosques were unostentatious. The District Office was headed by a British expatriate District Officer and assisted by a chief clerk and court interpreter, Lim Ong Tun. OKK Abu Bakar (a local Malay leader) the second penghulu or OKK was another highly respected figure in the community. The Chinese "Kapitan" was Stephen Tan (who was later killed by Japanese invaders).

A letter from Tawau to Sandakan could take more than nine days to arrive and nineteen days was the average time for a letter to get to Singapore. Since it took many days for the locals to receive mails and newspapers, they tended to rely on radio to keep themselves informed of world news - for the wars in Europe, China etc. Even then, few people could afford a radio set.

In January 1942, North Borneo was invaded by Japanese naval and military forces. As the Japanese forces advanced around the coast of Borneo, from the oil fields near Kuching, then to Jesselton - while Tawau carried on normally. On 19 January 1942, the Sandakan wireless station went off the air. On 24 January 1942, the Japanese invaders were sighted off Batu Tinagat. The District Officer (Cole Adams) and his Assistant met the invaders at the wharf and were arrested immediately. Mr. Cole Adams, after forty-four months in the Japanese prison camps, first on Berhala Island near Sandakan, and then at Batu Lintang camp near Kuching, died in September 1945 on the very day of his release by the Australian 9th Division.

For 3 1/2 years Tawau and the rest of the country remained under the Japanese occupation until being finally liberated by units of North Australian Division, who landed in Labuan on 10 June 1945. B.B.C.A.U., the British Military Administration of North Borneo found the Colony in a state of devastation. Like all other major towns in the Colony, Tawau was destroyed or damaged by bombing and fire.

During the Japanese occupation, many of the inhabitants were massacred, among them a large number of government servants. The British Military Administration continued until 15 July 1946, when civil government was resumed. A lot of pre-war records were destroyed. The emphasis in the immediate post war period was concerned with rehabilitation and reconstruction. A reconstruction and development plan for the years 1945-1955 was adopted in 1948. There were many programmes in the field of social services. The Tawau Town Board was constituted in 1955 with control over its own finances and local authorities.