Lawas ( ms, Pekan Lawas) is a small town and the capital of

Lawas District The Lawas District is one of the two districts of Limbang Division, Malaysia. The major town is Lawas Lawas ( ms, Pekan Lawas) is a small town and the capital of Lawas District, Limbang Division, Sarawak, Malaysia. This district area is 3,8 ...

Limbang Division Limbang Division is one of the twelve administrative divisions of Sarawak, Malaysia. It has a total area of 7,788.50 square kilometres, and is the fourth largest division after Kapit Division, Miri Division and Bintulu Division. Limbang Divisio ...

Sarawak Sarawak (; ) is a States and federal territories of Malaysia, state of Malaysia. The largest among the 13 states, with an area almost equal to that of Peninsular Malaysia, Sarawak is located in northwest Borneo Island, and is bordered by the M ...

Malaysia Malaysia ( ; ) is a country in Southeast Asia. The federation, federal constitutional monarchy consists of States and federal territories of Malaysia, thirteen states and three federal territories, separated by the South China Sea into two r ...

. This district area is 3,811.90 square kilometres, and population (year 2020 census) was 46,200. It is 1,200 km from the state capital,

Kuching Kuching (), officially the City of Kuching, is the capital and the most populous city in the States and federal territories of Malaysia, state of Sarawak in Malaysia. It is also the capital of Kuching Division. The city is on the Sarawak River ...

and 200 km from the capital city of

Sabah Sabah () is a States and federal territories of Malaysia, state of Malaysia located in northern Borneo, in the region of East Malaysia. Sabah borders the Malaysian state of Sarawak to the southwest and the North Kalimantan province of Indone ...

Kota Kinabalu , image_skyline = , image_caption = From top, left to right, bottom:Kota Kinabalu skyline, Wawasan intersection, Tun Mustapha Tower, Kota Kinabalu Coastal Highway, the Kota Kinabalu City Mosque, the Wism ...

Etymology

There are several versions of the origin of the name "Lawas". It reportedly came from the Malay word ''luas'' which means "spacious". During earlier times, people tended to settle down in spacious areas and thus the town was born. In another version of the story, there was once a group of merchants who were attacked and chased by the pirates at the mouth of the Lawas river. The merchants managed to hid themselves in the middle of the jungle and the pirates could not find them. Feelling relieved and secure, the merchants returned to the sea. In the local dialect, "Lawas" means "relief, safe, and secure".

History

On 7 September 1901,

British North Borneo Company The North Borneo Chartered Company (NBCC), also known as the British North Borneo Company (BNBC) was a British chartered company formed on 1 November 1881 to administer and exploit the resources of North Borneo (present-day Sabah in Malaysia) ...

(BNBC) had obtained the administrative rights of the Lawas river from Brunei Sultanate in order to stem the smuggling of weapons that worked against the BNBC government in

North Borneo North Borneo (usually known as British North Borneo, also known as the State of North Borneo) was a British Protectorate, British protectorate in the northern part of the island of Borneo, which is present day Sabah. The territory of North Borneo ...

(present day

) and the trading of slaves in the interior of the Lawas district. There were two types of rights exist in the Brunei administrative system: ''sungai kerajaan'' (government river) and ''sungai tulin'' (private river). Government control on the river includes the rights to all the minerals mined from the river and the right to interfere if there is any political disturbances around the river. Private ownership of the river functioned like a private inheritance which includes the right collect taxes from the residents living near the river. At that time, Pengiran Abu Bakar and Pengiran Tajudin had the private ownership of the Lawas river. They refused to surrender their private ownerships to BNBC but keen to sell their rights to

Kingdom of Sarawak (While I breathe, I hope) , national_anthem = ''Gone Forth Beyond the Sea'' , capital = Kuching , common_languages = English, Iban, Melanau, Bidayuh, Sarawak Malay, Chinese etc. , government_type = Abso ...

. When the British Consul at

Labuan Labuan (), officially the Federal Territory of Labuan ( ms, Wilayah Persekutuan Labuan), is a Federal Territory of Malaysia. Its territory includes and six smaller islands, off the coast of the state of Sabah in East Malaysia. Labuan's capita ...

decided that BNBC should take over the Lawas river by force, Pengiran Abu Bakar quickly invited Rajah Charles Brooke from Kingdom of Sarawak to govern the Lawas river. BNBC initially was unhappy with the Brooke involvement in the administration of Lawas river. However, in November 1904, BNBC decided the sell their administrative right to Brooke in view of private owners unwilling to cooperate with BNBC; taking Lawas river by force will only spark more rebellion against BNBC and drain the BNBC cash reserves. On 19 January 1905, an agreement was signed between BNBC and Rajah Charles Brooke which saw the official handover of Lawas river to the Brooke government in exchange of 5000 pounds and several administrative areas around Brunei bay to BNBC. An agreement was later reached with the private owners to sell Lawas river to the Brooke government with reparation of 6,000 dollars per year to the private owners.

Government

Lawas is part of the

, which is part of the

, which is part of

Climate

Lawas has a

tropical rainforest climate A tropical rainforest climate, humid tropical climate or equatorial climate is a tropical climate sub-type usually found within 10 to 15 degrees latitude of the equator. There are some other areas at higher latitudes, such as the coast of southea ...

(Af) with heavy to very heavy rainfall year-round.

Demographics

File:SIB Kampung Baru Mission, Lawas.jpg, The

Borneo Evangelical Mission The Borneo Evangelical Mission was a Protestant Evangelical Christian missionary society that worked among the people of Borneo, Malaysia. It was founded in October 1928 by three Australian missionaries, Hudson Southwell (Baptist), Frank Dav ...

(SIB) church Lawas is made up of a population comprising

Lun Bawang The Lun Bawang (formerly known as Trusan Murut or Southern Murut) is an ethnic group found in Central Northern Borneo. They are indigenous to the southwest of Sabah (Interior Division), and the northern region of Sarawak (Limbang Division), high ...

Brunei Malay The Brunei Malay language, or Kedayan (, Jawi: ) is the most widely spoken language in Brunei and a lingua franca in some parts of Sarawak and Sabah, such as Labuan, Limbang, Lawas, Sipitang and Papar.Clynes, A. (2014). Brunei Malay: An Ove ...

Kedayan The Kedayan (also known as Kadayan, Kadaian or Kadyan) are an ethnic group residing in Brunei, Federal Territory of Labuan, southwest of Sabah, and north of Sarawak on the island of Borneo. According to the Language and Literature Bureau of B ...

, and

Chinese Chinese can refer to: * Something related to China * Chinese people, people of Chinese nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity **''Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic concept of the Chinese nation ** List of ethnic groups in China, people of ...

. The main spoken language is

and

Hokkien The Hokkien () variety of Chinese is a Southern Min language native to and originating from the Minnan region, where it is widely spoken in the south-eastern part of Fujian in southeastern mainland China. It is one of the national languages in ...

Economy

As with Limbang, the town is a busy transit point between Sarawak,

, and

Brunei Brunei ( , ), formally Brunei Darussalam ( ms, Negara Brunei Darussalam, Jawi alphabet, Jawi: , ), is a country located on the north coast of the island of Borneo in Southeast Asia. Apart from its South China Sea coast, it is completely sur ...

. Timber and agriculture are the mainstays of the economy. The highland area known as

Ba'Kelalan Ba'kelalan is a group of nine villages at Maligan Highlands of Limbang Division, Sarawak, Malaysia about above sea level and 4 km from the border with Indonesian Kalimantan and 150 km from the nearest town of Lawas. There are nine ...

has been experimenting with the cultivation of

apple An apple is an edible fruit produced by an apple tree (''Malus domestica''). Apple fruit tree, trees are agriculture, cultivated worldwide and are the most widely grown species in the genus ''Malus''. The tree originated in Central Asia, wh ...

s. In addition, the tourism industry is being developed in Ba'Kelalan. However, these plans have been met with controversy due to the probable effects on several traditional tribal villages. Plans to develop small and middle scale industries in Lawas have been proposed by the state government. At this time much of the land in Lawas, Sundar and Trusan has been transformed from padi fields into

oil palm ''Elaeis'' () is a genus of palms containing two species, called oil palms. They are used in commercial agriculture in the production of palm oil. The African oil palm ''Elaeis guineensis'' (the species name ''guineensis'' referring to its co ...

plantations. Lawas is also known as the producer of smoked fish called 'Tahai' in local dialect. One of the villages that produces 'Tahai' commercially is Kampung Awat-Awat in the Sundar sub-district.

Transport

Road

Lawas, by virtue of its geographical location, is cut off from the rest of Sarawak's road network. It is however linked by main road to

and

Temburong district Temburong District ( ms, Daerah Temburong; Jawi: دائيره تمبوروڠ) or simply Temburong () is the easternmost district in Brunei. It is an exclave — the land is separated from the rest of the country by Malaysia and Brunei Bay, a ...

. There is a good local road network around Lawas district which is relatively free of traffic jams. Travelling from Miri to Lawas would need to go through checkpoints in Brunei and Limbang, totaling eight immigration checkpoints. Drive from the town of Lawas to Sarawak-Sabah border requires 30 minutes. Two road

border crossings ''Border Crossings'' is a live, all-request, music-oriented radio show that is broadcast worldwide by the US government-operated Voice of America Voice of America (VOA or VoA) is the State media, state-owned news network and International br ...

are located in Lawas district: *Mengkalap: It enters Labu in

with Immigration, Customs and Quarantine Complex constructed here. Previously it was operating temporarily from a shoplot in Trusan Bazaar, 8 km from the actual Brunei-Malaysia border. *Merapok: Immigration guard posts are located here which borders with Sindumin checkpoint located in Sabah. In 2015, Merapok-Sindumin guard posts handled 700,000 visitors. File:MalaysiaExitMengkalap.jpg, Exit stamp from Mengkalap ICQS Checkpoint. File:MalaysiaEntryMerapok.jpg, Entry stamp from Merapok ICQS Checkpoint.

Water transport

Another mode of transport is via the Lawas River. The cleaned river serves as an important link to neighbouring towns and deep interior settlements. Besides that, Lawas is also served by an airport. There has also been a plan to build a new airport. Commonly, four wheel drive would be the main transport for most of the highlanders.

and

Limbang Limbang is a border town and the capital of Limbang District in the Limbang Division of northern Sarawak, East Malaysia, on the island of Borneo. This district area is 3,978.10 square kilometres, and population (year 2020 census) was 56,900. I ...

can be reached by boat. The journey will take around two hours to get to the destination. Boats to Brunei, Labuan and Limbang are available at Lawas Wharf every morning. The boats can accommodate around 150 passengers.

Air transport

Lawas is served by

Lawas Airport Lawas Airport is a Short Take-off and Landing (STOL) airport serving Lawas, a town in Limbang Division, Sarawak, Malaysia. A plan has been made to relocate the current airport to a new site, because the current site is considered unsafe. The ai ...

(IATA: LWY). It has flights to

Miri ) , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = , subdivision_type1 = State , subdivision_name1 = , subdivision_type2 = Division , subdivision_name2 ...

Ba' Kelalan Ba'kelalan is a group of nine villages at Maligan Highlands of Limbang Division, Sarawak, Malaysia about above sea level and 4 km from the border with Indonesian Kalimantan and 150 km from the nearest town of Lawas. There are nine ...

and

Public transport

There is a local bus network as well as buses linking Lawas with

(

Miri ) , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = , subdivision_type1 = State , subdivision_name1 = , subdivision_type2 = Division , subdivision_name2 ...

(

) and

Other utilities

Education

*SMK Lawas *SMK Merapok *SMK Sundar *SMK Trusan *Centre of Technical Excellence Sarawak (CENTEXS) Lawas Campus Planned: *

MARA Junior Science College The MARA Junior Science College (MJSC) ( ms, Maktab Rendah Sains MARA (MRSM)) is a group of boarding schools created by Majlis Amanah Rakyat ( MARA), a Malaysian government agency. The institution provides learning facilities for bright stud ...

Lawas *SMK Long Semadoh Proposed: *SMK Lawas 2 *

Sekolah Berasrama Penuh Sekolah Berasrama Penuh (SBP) or Fully Residential School is a school system established in Malaysia to nurture outstanding students to excel in academics and extracurricular activities. Since 2008, SBPs are directly administered by Fully Resid ...

Lawas *SK Ulu Merapok *SK Tang Lapadan *SK Sundar *SK Siang-Siang *SK Pusat Lawas *SK Puru Sia *SK Punang *SK Merapok *SK Luagan *SK Long Tuma *SK Long Tukon *SK Long Tengoa *SK Long Sukang *SK Long Semadoh *SK Long Sebangan *SK Long Luping *SK Kuala Lawas *SK Kerangan *SK Kampung Seberang *SK Kampung Lintang *SK Belipat *SK Batu Lima *SK Ba Kelalan *SK Awat-Awat *SK Aru Baru *SK Agama (Mis) Lawas *SJK (C) Soon Hwa Sundar *SJK (C) Chung Hwa Lawas *SJK (C) Chung Hua Trusan

Healthcare

A government hospital was proposed to be built for the town under the

Ninth Malaysia Plan The Ninth Malaysian Plan ( ms, Rancangan Malaysia ke-9), abbreviated as '9MP', is a comprehensive blueprint prepared by the Economic Planning Unit (EPU) of the Prime Minister's Department and the Finance Ministry of Malaysia with approval by the ...

. As of May 2016, the hospital is scheduled to be completed in 36 months.

Culture and leisure

Lawas Mall

A planned RM210 million state government office complex cum three-storey shopping mall will be built next to Hotel Seri Malaysia and Lawas Town Square. The mall will houses a supermarket, departmental store and 132 commercial lots.

Pasar Tamu Lawas

The open-air market, locally known as tamu, is held weekly on from Friday evening until Saturday afternoon. Local produce such as fresh fruits, vegetables, fresh meat, Adan rice, Bario rice, Ikan Tahai, Hill salts (Garam Bakelalan), handycraft traditional and live poultry are sold. The days of this weekly community occasion differ from district to district.

Activities

*Pesta Lawas *Lawas Regatta *Irau Aco

Festival (Hari

Gawai Dayak Gawai Dayak is an annual festival celebrated by the Dayak people in Sarawak, Malaysia and West Kalimantan, Indonesia on 1 and 2 June. It is a public holiday in Sarawak and is both a religious and a social occasion recognised since 1957. Gawai ...

Harvest Festival)

Places of interest

One of the most popular tourist attractions in Lawas is its Tamu Lawas (or Lawas Produce Market), which is held every Saturday. Local products such as vegetables, fruits and sea products are sold by locals in this market which is frequented by locals and people from the neighbouring

Temburong Temburong District ( ms, Daerah Temburong; Jawi: دائيره تمبوروڠ) or simply Temburong () is the easternmost district in Brunei. It is an exclave — the land is separated from the rest of the country by Malaysia and Brunei Bay, and ...

district of

. Besides Tamu Lawas, other interesting places in Lawas are Punang Beach, Sungai Bangat Beach, Pa' Lelau in Merarap, Mount Murud, Kampung air Terjun (along Jalan Trusan). Kuala Lawas, Punang and Awat Awat are famous with its Kampung Air. It is similar to Kampung Ayer in Brunei but smaller. The main mode of transportation is perahu (boat) to cross the river.

Notable people

*YB

Baru Bian Baru Bian (born 9 September 1958) is a Malaysian politician. He has served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Selangau since May 2018 and Member of the Sarawak State Legislative Assembly (MLA) for Ba'kelalan since April 2011. He also had se ...

from Lawas, the

Ministry of Works (Malaysia) The Ministry of Works ( ms, Kementerian Kerja Raya), abbreviated KKR, is a ministry of the Government of Malaysia that is responsible for public works, highway authority, construction industry, engineers, architects and quantity surveyors. Org ...

the representative for N81

Ba'kelalan (state constituency) Ba'kelalan is a state constituency in Sarawak, Malaysia, that has been represented in the Sarawak State Legislative Assembly since 1996. The state constituency was created in the 1996 redistribution and is mandated to return a single member to th ...

and P214

Selangau (federal constituency) Selangau is a federal constituency in Sibu Division ( Selangau District), Mukah Division ( Mukah District) and Bintulu Division (Tatau District), Sarawak, Malaysia Malaysia ( ; ) is a country in Southeast Asia. The federation, federal con ...

. *YB Dato’

Henry Sum Agong Dato Henry Sum Agong (born 18 February 1946) is a Malaysian politician who served as the Deputy Minister of Transport in the Barisan Nasional (BN) administration under former Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob and former Minister Wee Ka Sion ...

(P222 Lawas), the former Deputy Ministry of Domestic Trade, Cooperative and Consumerism of Malaysia. *YB Mutang Tagal from Lawas, former member of Dewan Rakyat of the 6th and

7th 7 (seven) is the natural number following 6 and preceding 8. It is the only prime number preceding a cube (algebra), cube. As an early prime number in the series of positive integers, the number seven has greatly symbolic associations in religion ...

Parliament of Malaysia, representing P154 Bukit Mas (federal constituency) and P177 Bukit Mas (federal constituency) respectively. He is currently the

honorary consul A consul is an official representative of the government of one state in the territory of another, normally acting to assist and protect the citizens of the consul's own country, as well as to facilitate trade and friendship between the people ...

of Romania in

. * Balang Lasung from Long Semado, Sarawak, former national javelin thrower who had won 4 gold medals for Malaysia in 1977 Kuala Lumpur SEA Games, 1979 Jakarta SEA Games, 1981 Manila SEA Games and 1983 Singapore SEA Games.

References

External links

{{Sarawak Lawas District Towns in Sarawak Brunei–Malaysia border crossings