Sabah () is a
state
State may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media Literature
* ''State Magazine'', a monthly magazine published by the U.S. Department of State
* ''The State'' (newspaper), a daily newspaper in Columbia, South Carolina, United States
* ''Our S ...
of
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 ...
located in northern
Borneo
Borneo (; id, Kalimantan) is the third-largest island in the world and the largest in Asia. At the geographic centre of Maritime Southeast Asia, in relation to major Indonesian islands, it is located north of Java, west of Sulawesi, and eas ...
, in the region of
East Malaysia
East Malaysia (), or the Borneo States, also known as Malaysian Borneo, is the part of Malaysia on and near the island of Borneo, the world's third-largest island. Near the coast of Sabah is a small archipelago called Labuan. East Malaysia li ...
. Sabah borders the Malaysian state of
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 ...
to the southwest and the
North Kalimantan
North Kalimantan ( id, Kalimantan Utara) is a province of Indonesia. It is located on the northernmost of Kalimantan, the Indonesian part of the island of Borneo. North Kalimantan borders the Malaysian states of Sabah to the north and Sarawak t ...
province of
Indonesia
Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of over 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo and New Guine ...
to the south. The
Federal Territory
A federal territory is an administrative division under the direct and usually exclusive jurisdiction of a federation's national government. A federal territory is a part of a federation, but not a part of any federated state. The states constit ...
of
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 capit ...
is an island just off Sabah's west coast.
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 ...
is the state capital city, the economic centre of the state, and the seat of the
Sabah state government. Other major towns in Sabah include
Sandakan
Sandakan (, Jawi: , ) formerly known at various times as Elopura, is the capital of the Sandakan District in Sabah, Malaysia. It is the second largest city in Sabah after Kota Kinabalu. It is located on the Sandakan Peninsula and east coast of ...
and
Tawau
Tawau (, Jawi: , ), formerly known as Tawao, is the capital of the Tawau District in Sabah, Malaysia. It is the third-largest city in Sabah, after Kota Kinabalu and Sandakan. It is located on the Semporna Peninsula in the southeast coast of t ...
. The 2020 census recorded a population of 3,418,785 in the state.
It has an
equatorial 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 southeas ...
with tropical
rainforest
Rainforests are characterized by a closed and continuous tree canopy, moisture-dependent vegetation, the presence of epiphytes and lianas and the absence of wildfire. Rainforest can be classified as tropical rainforest or temperate rainfores ...
s, abundant with animal and plant species. The state has long
mountain range
A mountain range or hill range is a series of mountains or hills arranged in a line and connected by high ground. A mountain system or mountain belt is a group of mountain ranges with similarity in form, structure, and alignment that have arise ...
s on the west side which forms part of the
Crocker Range National Park
Crocker Range National Park ( ms, Taman Negara Banjaran Crocker) was established in 1984, although the area had previously been under protection as a forest reserve. It covers the north-south Crocker Range, of 1200-1800 metre mountains in Sabah, ...
.
Kinabatangan River
The Kinabatangan River ( ms, Sungai Kinabatangan) is a river in Sandakan Division, in northeastern Sabah, Malaysia. It is the second longest river in Malaysia, with a length of from its headwaters in the mountains of southwest Sabah, to its ou ...
, the second longest river in Malaysia runs through Sabah. The highest point of Sabah,
Mount Kinabalu
Mount Kinabalu ( ms, Gunung Kinabalu, Dusun language, Dusun: ''Gayo Ngaran or Nulu Nabalu'') is the highest mountain in Borneo and Malaysia. With an elevation of , it is List of islands by highest point, third-highest peak of an island on Eart ...
is also the highest point of Malaysia.
The earliest human settlement in Sabah can be traced back to 20,000–30,000 years ago along the Darvel Bay area at the Madai-Baturong caves. The state has had a trading relationship with China starting from the 14th century AD. Sabah came under the influence of the
Bruneian Empire
Bruneian may refer to:
* Something of, or related to Brunei
* A person from Brunei, or of Bruneian descent. For information about the Bruneian people, see Demographics of Brunei and Culture of Brunei. For specific Bruneians, see List of Bruneians.
...
in the 14th and 15th centuries. The state was subsequently acquired by the British-based
North Borneo Chartered 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). ...
in the 19th century. During
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
, Sabah was
occupied by the Japanese for three years. It became a
British Crown Colony
A Crown colony or royal colony was a colony administered by The Crown within the British Empire. There was usually a Governor, appointed by the British monarch on the advice of the UK Government, with or without the assistance of a local Council ...
in 1946. On 31 August 1963, Sabah was granted self-government by the British. Following this, Sabah became one of the founding members of the Federation of Malaysia (established on 16 September 1963) alongside the
Crown Colony of Sarawak, the
Colony of Singapore
Singapore was a British colony for 144 years, apart from a period of occupation under the Japanese Empire from 1942 to 1945 during the Pacific War.
When the Empire of Japan surrendered to the Allies in 1945, at the end of World War II, S ...
(expelled in 1965), and the
Federation of Malaya
The Federation of Malaya ( ms, Persekutuan Tanah Melayu; Jawi script, Jawi: ) was a federation of what previously had been British Malaya comprising eleven states (nine Malay states and two of the British Empire, British Straits Settlements, P ...
(
Peninsular Malaysia
Peninsular Malaysia ( ms, Semenanjung Malaysia; Jawi: سمننجڠ مليسيا), or the States of Malaya ( ms, Negeri-negeri Tanah Melayu; Jawi: نڬري-نڬري تانه ملايو), also known as West Malaysia or the Malaysian Peninsula, ...
or West Malaysia). The federation was opposed by neighbouring Indonesia, which led to the
Indonesia–Malaysia confrontation
The Indonesia–Malaysia confrontation or Borneo confrontation (also known by its Indonesian / Malay name, ''Konfrontasi'') was an armed conflict from 1963 to 1966 that stemmed from Indonesia's opposition to the creation of the Federation of ...
over three years along with the threats of annexation by the Philippines along with the Sultanate of Sulu, threats which continue to the present day.
Sabah exhibits notable diversity in ethnicity, culture and language. The head of state is the Governor, also known as the
Yang di-Pertua Negeri
In Malaysia, the Yang di-Pertua Negeri ( in Malay) is a constitutional title given to the head of state in states without a Ruler, namely: Penang, Malacca, Sabah and Sarawak. This is in constrast to a Ruler () which is a constitutional title give ...
, while the head of government is the
Chief Minister
A chief minister is an elected or appointed head of government of – in most instances – a sub-national entity, for instance an administrative subdivision or federal constituent entity. Examples include a state (and sometimes a union terri ...
and
his Cabinet. The government system is closely modelled on the
Westminster parliamentary system and has one of the earliest state legislature systems in Malaysia. Sabah is divided into five administrative divisions and 27 districts.
Malay
Malay may refer to:
Languages
* Malay language or Bahasa Melayu, a major Austronesian language spoken in Indonesia, Malaysia, Brunei and Singapore
** History of the Malay language, the Malay language from the 4th to the 14th century
** Indonesi ...
is the official language of the state;
and
Islam
Islam (; ar, ۘالِإسلَام, , ) is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic Monotheism#Islam, monotheistic religion centred primarily around the Quran, a religious text considered by Muslims to be the direct word of God in Islam, God (or ...
is the state religion, but other religions may be practised in peace and harmony in any part of the state.
Sabah is known for its traditional musical instrument, the
sompoton
Sompoton or Sumpotan, is a mouth organ made from a gourd with bamboo pipes in northern Borneo. It originated in the state of Sabah and is played by indigenous men and women in Sabah, especially by the Kadazan-Dusun and Murut.
Description
A som ...
. Sabah has abundant natural resources, and its economy is strongly
export-oriented. Its primary exports include oil, gas, timber and
palm oil
Palm oil is an edible vegetable oil derived from the mesocarp (reddish pulp) of the fruit of the oil palms. The oil is used in food manufacturing, in beauty products, and as biofuel. Palm oil accounted for about 33% of global oils produced from ...
. The other major industries are agriculture and
ecotourism
Ecotourism is a form of tourism involving responsible travel (using sustainable transport) to natural areas, conserving the environment, and improving the well-being of the local people. Its purpose may be to educate the traveler, to provide funds ...
.
Etymology
The origin of the name ''Sabah'' is uncertain, and there are many theories that have arisen.
One theory is that during the time it was part of the
Bruneian Sultanate
Brunei ( , ), formally Brunei Darussalam ( ms, Negara Brunei Darussalam, 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 surrounded by the ...
, it was referred to as ''Saba'' because of the presence a variety of banana called ''pisang saba'' (also known as ''pisang menurun''),
which is grown widely on the coast of the region and popular in
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 ...
.
The
Bajau community referred to it as ''pisang jaba''.
While the name ''Saba'' also refers to
a variety of banana in both
Tagalog and
Visayan languages
The Bisayan languages or Visayan languages are a subgroup of the Austronesian languages spoken in the languages of the Philippines, Philippines. They are most closely related to Tagalog language, Tagalog and the Bikol languages, all of which ar ...
. The word in Visayan has the meaning of "noisy", which in turn is derived from
Sanskrit
Sanskrit (; attributively , ; nominally , , ) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in South Asia after its predecessor languages had diffused there from the northwest in the late ...
''Sabhā'' meaning 'congregation, crowd' related to 'noisy mob'.
Perhaps due to local dialect, the word ''Saba'' has been pronounced as ''Sabah'' by the local community.
While Brunei was a
vassal state
A vassal state is any state that has a mutual obligation to a superior state or empire, in a status similar to that of a vassal in the feudal system in medieval Europe. Vassal states were common among the empires of the Near East, dating back to ...
of
Majapahit
Majapahit ( jv, ꦩꦗꦥꦲꦶꦠ꧀; ), also known as Wilwatikta ( jv, ꦮꦶꦭ꧀ꦮꦠꦶꦏ꧀ꦠ; ), was a Javanese people, Javanese Hinduism, Hindu-Buddhism, Buddhist thalassocracy, thalassocratic empire in Southeast Asia that was ba ...
, the
Old Javanese
Old Javanese or Kawi is the oldest attested phase of the Javanese language. It was spoken in the eastern part of what is now Central Java and the whole of East Java, Indonesia. As a literary language, Kawi was used across Java and on the island ...
eulogy of
Nagarakretagama
The ''Nagarakretagama'' or ''Nagarakṛtāgama'', also known as ''Desawarnana'' or ''Deśavarṇana'', is an Old Javanese eulogy to Hayam Wuruk, a Javanese king of the Majapahit Empire. It was written on lontar as a ''kakawin'' by Mpu Prapan ...
described the area in what is now Sabah as ''Seludang''.
Meanwhile, although the Chinese since during the
Han dynasty
The Han dynasty (, ; ) was an imperial dynasty of China (202 BC – 9 AD, 25–220 AD), established by Liu Bang (Emperor Gao) and ruled by the House of Liu. The dynasty was preceded by the short-lived Qin dynasty (221–207 BC) and a warr ...
had long been associated with the island of
Borneo
Borneo (; id, Kalimantan) is the third-largest island in the world and the largest in Asia. At the geographic centre of Maritime Southeast Asia, in relation to major Indonesian islands, it is located north of Java, west of Sulawesi, and eas ...
,
they did not have any specific names for the area. Instead during the
Song dynasty
The Song dynasty (; ; 960–1279) was an imperial dynasty of China that began in 960 and lasted until 1279. The dynasty was founded by Emperor Taizu of Song following his usurpation of the throne of the Later Zhou. The Song conquered the rest ...
, they referred to the whole island as ''Po Ni'' (also pronounced ''Bo Ni''), which is the same name they used to refer to the Sultanate of Brunei at the time.
Due to the location of Sabah in relation to Brunei, it has been suggested that ''Sabah'' was a
Brunei Malay
The Brunei Malay language, or Kedayan (, Jawi alphabet, Jawi: ) is the most widely spoken language in Brunei and a lingua franca in some parts of East Malaysia, Sarawak and Sabah, such as Labuan, Limbang, Lawas, Sipitang and Papar.Clynes, A. (20 ...
word meaning upstream or "in a northerly direction".
Another theory suggests that it came from the
Malay
Malay may refer to:
Languages
* Malay language or Bahasa Melayu, a major Austronesian language spoken in Indonesia, Malaysia, Brunei and Singapore
** History of the Malay language, the Malay language from the 4th to the 14th century
** Indonesi ...
word ''sabak'' which means a place where
palm sugar
Palm sugar is a sweetener derived from any variety of palm tree. Palm sugar is sometimes qualified by the type of palm, as in coconut palm sugar. While sugars from different palms may have slightly different compositions, all are processed s ...
is extracted.
''Sabah'' (صباح) is also an
Arabic
Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic languages, Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C ...
word which means "morning".
It is arguable that Arab Muslims from either Yemen or Tanah Melayu discovered a land in what is now the West Coast of Sabah. It could be that Bruneian aristocrats named the land
Saba Saba may refer to:
Places
* Saba (island), an island of the Netherlands located in the Caribbean Sea
* Şaba (Romanian for Shabo), a town of the Odesa Oblast, Ukraine
* Sabá, a municipality in the department of Colón, Honduras
* Saba (river), L ...
(Yemen) due to the presence of "Arab" people (Arab people or Malay-Arab descendants). Today, the descendants of the Malay-Arab people are among the West Coast Sama-Bajau people in the West Coast, notably the districts of Kota Kinabalu, Kota Belud and Papar.
The presence of multiple theories makes it difficult to pinpoint the true origin of the name. It is nicknamed "Land Below the Wind" (''Negeri Di Bawah Bayu'') as the state lies below the
typhoon
A typhoon is a mature tropical cyclone that develops between 180° and 100°E in the Northern Hemisphere. This region is referred to as the Northwestern Pacific Basin, and is the most active tropical cyclone basin on Earth, accounting for a ...
belt of
East Asia
East Asia is the eastern region of Asia, which is defined in both geographical and ethno-cultural terms. The modern states of East Asia include China, Japan, Mongolia, North Korea, South Korea, and Taiwan. China, North Korea, South Korea and ...
and never battered by any typhoons,
except for several
tropical storms
A tropical cyclone is a rapidly rotating storm system characterized by a low-pressure center, a closed low-level atmospheric circulation, strong winds, and a spiral arrangement of thunderstorms that produce heavy rain and squalls. Dependi ...
.
History
Prehistory
![Madai Sabah Madai-Cave-01](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/9a/Madai_Sabah_Madai-Cave-01.jpg)
The earliest known human settlement into the region existed 20,000–30,000 years ago, as evidenced by stone tools and food remains found by excavations along the
Darvel Bay
Darvel Bay or Lahad Datu Bay is a bight (large bay) on the east side of Sabah, Malaysia. It is the largest semi-enclosed bay on the east coast of Borneo and faces the Sulawesi Sea. Administratively, it is within Tawau Division, with Lahad Datu Di ...
area at Madai-Baturong caves near the
Tingkayu River.
The earliest inhabitants in the area were thought to be similar to
Australian aborigines
Aboriginal Australians are the various Indigenous peoples of the Australian mainland and many of its islands, such as Tasmania, Fraser Island, Hinchinbrook Island, the Tiwi Islands, and Groote Eylandt, but excluding the Torres Strait Islands ...
, but the reason for their disappearance is unknown.
In 2003, archaeologists discovered the Mansuli valley in the
Lahad Datu District
The Lahad Datu District ( ms, Daerah Lahad Datu) is an administrative district in the Malaysian state of Sabah, part of the Tawau Division which includes the districts of Kunak, Lahad Datu, Semporna and Tawau. The capital of the district is in ...
, which dates back the history of Sabah to 235,000 years. The archaeological site at
Skull Hill
The Garden Tomb ( he, גן הקבר) is a rock-cut tomb in Jerusalem, which was unearthed in 1867 and is considered by some Protestants to be the site of the burial and resurrection of Jesus. The tomb has been dated by Israeli archaeologist G ...
(''Bukit Tengkorak'') in
Semporna District
The Semporna District ( ms, Daerah Semporna) is an administrative district in the Malaysian state of Sabah, part of the Tawau Division which includes the districts of Kunak, Lahad Datu, Semporna and Tawau. The capital of the district is in Sem ...
is famed for being the largest pottery making site during the
Neolithic
The Neolithic period, or New Stone Age, is an Old World archaeological period and the final division of the Stone Age. It saw the Neolithic Revolution, a wide-ranging set of developments that appear to have arisen independently in several parts ...
Southeast Asian period.
Sultanates of Brunei and Sulu influences
During the 7th century AD, a settled community known as Vijayapura, a tributary to the
Srivijaya
Srivijaya ( id, Sriwijaya) was a Buddhist thalassocratic empire based on the island of Sumatra (in modern-day Indonesia), which influenced much of Southeast Asia. Srivijaya was an important centre for the expansion of Buddhism from the 7th t ...
empire, was thought to have existed in northwest Borneo.
The earliest independent kingdom in Borneo, supposed to have existed from the 9th century, was Po Ni, as recorded in the Chinese geographical treatise ''
Taiping Huanyu Ji
The ''Taiping Huanyu Ji'' (), or "Universal Geography of the Taiping Era 76-983" is a 10th-century AD geographical treatise by Chinese scholar Yue Shi 樂史 (930-1007), written during the reign of Emperor Taizong of Song in the Northern Song ...
''. It was believed that Po Ni existed at the mouth of
Brunei River
The Brunei River ( ms, Sungai Brunei) is a river which flows through Brunei and empties into the Brunei Bay towards the north-east direction. The Istana Nurul Iman, the official residence of the Sultan of Brunei, stands on its banks. The Brun ...
and was the predecessor to the Bruneian Empire.
As China had been under the conquest of
Mongol Empire
The Mongol Empire of the 13th and 14th centuries was the largest contiguous land empire in history. Originating in present-day Mongolia in East Asia, the Mongol Empire at its height stretched from the Sea of Japan to parts of Eastern Europe, ...
, all Chinese vassal state subsequently controlled by the Mongol emperors of China. Early in 1292,
Kublai Khan
Kublai ; Mongolian script: ; (23 September 1215 – 18 February 1294), also known by his temple name as the Emperor Shizu of Yuan and his regnal name Setsen Khan, was the founder of the Yuan dynasty of China and the fifth khagan-emperor of th ...
is said to have sent an expedition to northern Borneo,
before departing for the
invasion of Java in 1293. As a result of this campaign, it is believed that many of his followers in addition to other Chinese traders eventually settled and established their own enclave at
Kinabatangan River
The Kinabatangan River ( ms, Sungai Kinabatangan) is a river in Sandakan Division, in northeastern Sabah, Malaysia. It is the second longest river in Malaysia, with a length of from its headwaters in the mountains of southwest Sabah, to its ou ...
.
![Territorial changes of northern Borneo (1500–1905)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f4/Territorial_changes_of_northern_Borneo_%281500%E2%80%931905%29.gif)
In the 14th century, Brunei and Sulu was part of the Majapahit Empire but in 1369, Sulu and the other Philippine kingdoms successfully rebelled and Sulu even attacked Brunei which was still a Majapahit
tributary
A tributary, or affluent, is a stream or river that flows into a larger stream or main stem (or parent) river or a lake. A tributary does not flow directly into a sea or ocean. Tributaries and the main stem river drain the surrounding drainage ...
, the Sulus specifically invaded Northeast Borneo at Sabah the Sulus were then repelled but Brunei became weakened. In 1370, Brunei transferred its allegiance to
Ming dynasty
The Ming dynasty (), officially the Great Ming, was an Dynasties in Chinese history, imperial dynasty of China, ruling from 1368 to 1644 following the collapse of the Mongol Empire, Mongol-led Yuan dynasty. The Ming dynasty was the last ort ...
of China.
The
Maharaja
Mahārāja (; also spelled Maharajah, Maharaj) is a Sanskrit title for a "great ruler", "great king" or " high king".
A few ruled states informally called empires, including ruler raja Sri Gupta, founder of the ancient Indian Gupta Empire, an ...
Karna of Borneo then paid a visit to
Nanjing
Nanjing (; , Mandarin pronunciation: ), alternately romanized as Nanking, is the capital of Jiangsu province of the People's Republic of China. It is a sub-provincial city, a megacity, and the second largest city in the East China region. T ...
with his family until his death. He was succeeded by his son Hsia-wang who agreed to send tribute to China once every three years.
After that, Chinese
junks
A junk (Chinese: 船, ''chuán'') is a type of Chinese sailing ship with fully battened sails. There are two types of junk in China: northern junk, which developed from Chinese river boats, and southern junk, which developed from Austronesian ...
came to northern Borneo with cargoes of spices,
bird nest
A bird nest is the spot in which a bird lays and incubates its eggs and raises its young. Although the term popularly refers to a specific structure made by the bird itself—such as the grassy cup nest of the American robin or Eurasian bl ...
s, shark fins,
camphor
Camphor () is a waxy, colorless solid with a strong aroma. It is classified as a terpenoid and a cyclic ketone. It is found in the wood of the camphor laurel ('' Cinnamomum camphora''), a large evergreen tree found in East Asia; and in the k ...
,
rattan
Rattan, also spelled ratan, is the name for roughly 600 species of Old World climbing palms belonging to subfamily Calamoideae. The greatest diversity of rattan palm species and genera are in the closed-canopy old-growth tropical forests of ...
and
pearl
A pearl is a hard, glistening object produced within the soft tissue (specifically the mantle) of a living shelled mollusk or another animal, such as fossil conulariids. Just like the shell of a mollusk, a pearl is composed of calcium carb ...
s.
More Chinese traders eventually settled in Kinabatangan, as stated in both Brunei and Sulu records.
A younger sister of
Ong Sum Ping Ong Sum Ping () is a legendary figure. Identified as Pengiran Maharaja Lela of Brunei. The Hokkien name implies that Ong Sum Ping was a native of Fujian, China.
Career and personal life
According to Wen Xiongfei 温雄飞 in the 《南洋华侨史 ...
(Huang Senping), the Governor of the Chinese settlement then married
Sultan Ahmad of Brunei
Ahmad of Brunei (also known as Awang Pateh Berbai or Pateh Berbai) was the second Sultan of Brunei. He was the brother of the first sultan, Muhammad Shah of Brunei. He ascended the throne in 1408 and changed his name to Ahmad. He was succeede ...
.
Perhaps due to this relationship, a burial place with 2,000 wooden coffins, some estimated to be 1,000 years old, were discovered in
Agop Batu Tulug Caves
Agop Batu Tulug Caves is an archaeological site in the Malaysian state of Sabah and refers to a group of several caves in a steep limestone cliffs in the Kinabatangan district.
Etymology
The name combines words from three languages: ''agop'' ...
and around the Kinabatangan Valley area.
It is believed that this type of funeral culture was brought by traders from
Mainland China
"Mainland China" is a geopolitical term defined as the territory governed by the People's Republic of China (including islands like Hainan or Chongming), excluding dependent territories of the PRC, and other territories within Greater China. ...
and
Indochina
Mainland Southeast Asia, also known as the Indochinese Peninsula or Indochina, is the continental portion of Southeast Asia. It lies east of the Indian subcontinent and south of Mainland China and is bordered by the Indian Ocean to the west an ...
to northern Borneo as similar wooden coffins were also discovered in these countries.
In addition with the discovery of
Chinese ceramics
Chinese ceramics show a continuous development since pre-dynastic times and are one of the most significant forms of Chinese art and ceramics globally. The first pottery was made during the Palaeolithic era. Chinese ceramics range from construc ...
from a shipwreck in
Tanjung Simpang Mengayau
The Tip of Borneo ( ms, Tanjung Simpang Mengayau) is the northernmost tip of Borneo located in Kudat District, Sabah, Malaysia. The tip marks the meeting point of the South China Sea and Sulu Sea.
Geology
The tip as part of the Kudat Peninsula ...
which estimated to be from 960 to 1127 AD of Song dynasty and Vietnamese
Đông Sơn drum
A Đông Sơn drum (; also called Heger Type I drum) is a type of ancient bronze drum created by the Đông Sơn culture that existed in the Red River Delta. The drums were produced from about 600 BCE or earlier until the third century CE; they a ...
in Bukit Timbang Dayang on
Banggi Island
Banggi Island ( ms, Pulau Banggi) is located within the Kudat Division of Sabah in Malaysia. With an area of 440.7 square kilometres, it is the largest island in Malaysia followed by Bruit Island, Langkawi Island and Penang Island
Penang ...
that had existed between 2,000 and 2,500 years ago.
During the reign of the fifth sultan of
Bolkiah
Bolkiah, also known as Nakhoda Ragam, was the 5th Sultan of Brunei. He ascended the throne upon the abdication of his father, Sultan Sulaiman, and ruled Brunei from 1485 to 1524. His reign marked the Golden Age of Brunei and saw the Sultanat ...
between 1485 and 1524, the Sultanate's
thalassocracy
A thalassocracy or thalattocracy sometimes also maritime empire, is a state with primarily maritime realms, an empire at sea, or a seaborne empire. Traditional thalassocracies seldom dominate interiors, even in their home territories. Examples ...
extended over northern Borneo and the
Sulu Archipelago, as far as ''
Kota Seludong
In early Philippine history, the Tagalog Bayan ("country" or "city-state") of Maynila ( tl, Bayan ng Maynila; Pre-virama Baybayin: ) was a major Tagalog city-state on the southern part of the Pasig River delta, where the district of Intr ...
'' (present-day
Manila
Manila ( , ; fil, Maynila, ), officially the City of Manila ( fil, Lungsod ng Maynila, ), is the capital of the Philippines, and its second-most populous city. It is highly urbanized and, as of 2019, was the world's most densely populate ...
) with its
influence
Influence or influencer may refer to:
*Social influence, in social psychology, influence in interpersonal relationships
**Minority influence, when the minority affect the behavior or beliefs of the majority
*Influencer marketing, through individu ...
extending as far of
Banjarmasin
)
, translit_lang1 = Other
, translit_lang1_type1 = Jawi
, translit_lang1_info1 = بنجر ماسين
, settlement_type = City
, motto = ''Kayuh Baimbai'' ( Banjare ...
, taking advantage of maritime trade after the
fall of Malacca to the Portuguese.
Many
Brunei Malays migrated to Sabah during this period, beginning after the Brunei conquest of the territory in the 15th century.
But plagued by internal strife, civil war, piracy and the
arrival of western powers, the Bruneian Empire began to shrink. The first Europeans to visit Brunei were the Portuguese, who described the capital of Brunei at the time as surrounded by a
stone wall
Stone walls are a kind of masonry construction that has been used for thousands of years. The first stone walls were constructed by farmers and primitive people by piling loose field stones into a dry stone wall. Later, mortar and plaster ...
.
The Spanish followed, arriving soon after
Ferdinand Magellan
Ferdinand Magellan ( or ; pt, Fernão de Magalhães, ; es, link=no, Fernando de Magallanes, ; 4 February 1480 – 27 April 1521) was a Portuguese explorer. He is best known for having planned and led the 1519 Spanish expedition to the East ...
's death in 1521, when the remaining members of his expedition sailed to the islands of Balambangan and Banggi in the northern tip Borneo; later, in the
Castilian War
The Castilian War took place in 1570-1578 and represented the last crusade in Islamic history between the Spanish Empire and the Sultanate of Brunei; the Sultanate of Sulu, the Sultanate of Maguindanao, and the Ottoman Caliphate.
Sultan Saiful ...
of 1578, the Spanish who had sailed from
New Spain
New Spain, officially the Viceroyalty of New Spain ( es, Virreinato de Nueva España, ), or Kingdom of New Spain, was an integral territorial entity of the Spanish Empire, established by Habsburg Spain during the Spanish colonization of the Am ...
(Centered in Mexico) and had taken Manila from Brunei, unsuccessfully declared war on Brunei by briefly occupying the capital before abandoning it.
The Sulu region gained its own independence in 1578, forming their own sultanate known as the
Sultanate of Sulu
The Sultanate of Sulu (Tausug language, Tausūg: ''Kasultanan sin Sūg'', كاسولتانن سين سوڬ; malay language, Malay: ''Kesultanan Sulu''; fil, Sultanato ng Sulu; Chavacano: ''Sultanato de Sulu/Joló''; ar, سلطنة سولك) ...
.
When the
civil war broke out in Brunei between Sultans
Abdul Hakkul Mubin
Sultan Abdul Hakkul Mubin (also known as Abdul Mubin) was the thirteenth Sultan of Brunei. He was involved in the Brunei Civil War. He ruled from 1660 to 1673 after killing Sultan Muhammad Ali. He was later killed and succeeded by Sultan Mu ...
and
Muhyiddin
Tan Sri Dato' Haji Mahiaddin bin Md Yasin (born 15 May 1947), commonly known as Muhyiddin bin Muhammad Yassin ( ms, محيي الدين بن محمد ياسين, label= Jawi, script=arab, italic=unset; ), is a Malaysian politician who served ...
, the Sulu Sultan asserted their claim to Brunei's territories in northern Borneo.
The Sulus claimed that Sultan Muhyiddin had promised to cede the northern and eastern portion of Borneo to them in compensation for their help in settling the civil war.
The territory seems never to have been ceded formally, but the Sulus continued to claim the territory, with Brunei weakened and unable to resist.
After the war with the Spanish, the area in northern Borneo began to fall under the influence of the Sulu Sultanate.
The
seafaring
Seamanship is the art, knowledge and competence of operating a ship, boat or other craft on water. The'' Oxford Dictionary'' states that seamanship is "The skill, techniques, or practice of handling a ship or boat at sea."
It involves topics a ...
Bajau
The Sama-Bajau include several Austronesian ethnic groups of Maritime Southeast Asia. The name collectively refers to related people who usually call themselves the Sama or Samah (formally A'a Sama, "Sama people"); or are known by the exonym ...
-
Suluk and
Illanun people
The Iranun are a Moro ethnic group native to Mindanao, Philippines (in Maguindanao del Norte: Barira, Buldon, Parang, Matanog, Sultan Mastura, and Sultan Kudarat; North Cotabato: Alamada, Banisilan, Carmen, Libungan, and Pigcawayan; Lanao d ...
then arrived from the Sulu Archipelago and started settling on the coasts of north and eastern Borneo, many of them were fleeing from the oppression of
Spanish colonialism
The Spanish Empire ( es, link=no, Imperio español), also known as the Hispanic Monarchy ( es, link=no, Monarquía Hispánica) or the Catholic Monarchy ( es, link=no, Monarquía Católica) was a colonial empire governed by Spain and its predece ...
.
While the thalassocratic Brunei and Sulu sultanates controlled the western and eastern coasts of Sabah respectively, the interior region remained largely independent from either kingdoms. The
Sultanate of Bulungan
The Sultanate of Bulungan (کسلطانن بولوڠن) was a princely state of Indonesia located in the existing Bulungan Regency in the North Kalimantan province of Indonesia in the east of the island of Borneo. Its territory spanned the ea ...
's influence was limited to the Tawau area, who came under the influence of the Sulu Sultanate before gaining its own rule after the 1878 treaty between the British and Spanish governments.
British North Borneo
![Brunei (left) Sulu (right) Overbeck](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/7a/Brunei_%28left%29_Sulu_%28right%29_Overbeck.jpg)
In 1761,
Alexander Dalrymple
Alexander Dalrymple Fellow of the Royal Society, FRS (24 July 1737 – 19 June 1808) was a Scotland, Scottish geographer and the first Hydrographer of the Navy, Hydrographer of the British Admiralty. He was the main proponent of the theory ...
, an officer of the British East India Company, concluded an agreement with the Sultan of Sulu to allow him to set up a trading post for the first time in northern Borneo, although this was to prove a failure. Following the
British occupation of Manila
The British occupation of Manila was an episode in colonial history of the Philippines when the Kingdom of Great Britain occupied the Spanish colonial capital of Manila and the nearby port of Cavite for twenty months from 1762 to 1764. The ...
in 1763, the British freed the Sultan
Alimuddin from Spanish colonisers and allowed him to return to his throne;
this was welcomed by the Sulu people and by 1765, Dalrymple managed to obtain the island, having concluded a Treaty of Alliance and Commerce with the Sultan of Sulu by the willing of Sultan Alimuddin as a sign of gratitude for the British aid.
A small British factory was then established in 1773 on
Balambangan Island
Balambangan Island ( ms, Pulau Balambangan) is an island in Kudat Division, Sabah, Malaysia. It is located off the northern tip of Borneo and is situated just about 3 kilometres west of Banggi Island. It is now part of the Tun Mustapha Marine ...
, a tiny island situated off the north coast of Borneo.
The British saw the island as a suitable location to control the trade route in the East, capable of diverting trade from the Spanish port of
Manila
Manila ( , ; fil, Maynila, ), officially the City of Manila ( fil, Lungsod ng Maynila, ), is the capital of the Philippines, and its second-most populous city. It is highly urbanized and, as of 2019, was the world's most densely populate ...
and the Dutch port of
Batavia
Batavia may refer to:
Historical places
* Batavia (region), a land inhabited by the Batavian people during the Roman Empire, today part of the Netherlands
* Batavia, Dutch East Indies, present-day Jakarta, the former capital of the Dutch East In ...
especially with its strategic location between the
South China Sea
The South China Sea is a marginal sea of the Western Pacific Ocean. It is bounded in the north by the shores of South China (hence the name), in the west by the Indochinese Peninsula, in the east by the islands of Taiwan and northwestern Phil ...
and
Sulu Sea
The Sulu Sea ( fil, Dagat Sulu; Tausug: ''Dagat sin Sūg''; Chavacano: ''Mar de Sulu''; Cebuano: ''Dagat sa Sulu''; Hiligaynon: ''Dagat sang Sulu''; Karay-a: ''Dagat kang Sulu''; Cuyonon: ''Dagat i'ang Sulu''; ms, Laut Sulu) is a body o ...
.
But the British abandoned the island two years later when the
Sulu pirates began attacking.
This forced the British to seek refuge in Brunei in 1774, and to abandon temporarily their attempts to find alternative sites for the factory.
Although an attempt was made in 1803 to turn Balambangan into a military station,
the British did not re-establish any further trading posts in the region until
Stamford Raffles
Sir Thomas Stamford Bingley Raffles (5 July 1781 – 5 July 1826) was a British statesman who served as the Lieutenant-Governor of the Dutch East Indies between 1811 and 1816, and Lieutenant-Governor of Bencoolen between 1818 and 1824. He is ...
founded Singapore in 1819.
In 1846, the island of
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 capit ...
on the west coast of Sabah was ceded to Britain by the Sultan of Brunei through the
Treaty of Labuan
The Treaty of Labuan was signed between Great Britain and the Bruneian Sultanate (1368–1888), Brunei Sultanate on 18 December 1846. Under this treaty, the Sultan of Brunei ceded the island of Labuan to Great Britain.
Background
Labuan had ...
, and in 1848 it became a
British Crown Colony
A Crown colony or royal colony was a colony administered by The Crown within the British Empire. There was usually a Governor, appointed by the British monarch on the advice of the UK Government, with or without the assistance of a local Council ...
.
Seeing the presence of British in Labuan, the American consul in Brunei, Claude Lee Moses, obtained a ten-year lease in 1865 for a piece of land in northern Borneo. Moses then passed the land to the
American Trading Company of Borneo
The American Trading Company of Borneo was a chartered company formed by Joseph William Torrey, Thomas Bradley Harris together with several Chinese investors shortly after the acquisition over a parcel of land in northern Borneo from the Sultanat ...
, a company owned by
Joseph William Torrey
Col. Joseph William Torrey, Rajah of Ambong and Marudu, (April 22, 1828 in Bath, Maine; – June 22, 1885 in Boston) was an American merchant, president of the American Trading Company of Borneo and co-founder of the American colony "Ellena" (in ...
and
Thomas Bradley Harris
Thomas Bradley Harris (October 29, 1826 in New York City; – May 22, 1866 in Ellena, Borneo) was an American businessman and co-founder of the American colony of "Ellena" together with Joseph William Torrey on the island of Borneo.
Early life ...
as well Chinese investors.
The company choose
Kimanis
Kimanis (Chinese: 金馬利) is a town and also a parliamentary constituency in Papar District, West Coast Division of Sabah, Malaysia. It is located approximately 45 kilometres south of the city of Kota Kinabalu, halfway between Papar and Beau ...
(which they renamed "Ellena") and start to build a base there. Requests for financial backing from the US government proved futile and the settlement was later abandoned. Before he left, Torrey managed to sell all his rights to the Austrian Consul in Hong Kong,
von Overbeck. Overbeck then went to Brunei, where he met the
Temenggong
Temenggong or Tumenggung ( Jawi: تمڠݢوڠ; ''Temenggung'', Hanacaraka: ꦠꦸꦩꦼꦁꦒꦸꦁ; ''Tumenggung'') is an old Malay and Javanese title of nobility, usually given to the chief of public security.
Responsibilities
The Temen ...
to renew the
concession
Concession may refer to:
General
* Concession (contract) (sometimes called a concession agreement), a contractual right to carry on a certain kind of business or activity in an area, such as to explore or develop its natural resources or to opera ...
.
Brunei agreed to cede all territory in northern Borneo under its control, with the Sultan receiving an annual payment of
$12,000, while the Temenggong received a sum of $3,000.
In 1872, the Sultanate of Sulu granted use of an area of land in the Sandakan Bay to William Frederick Schuck, a former agent of the German consular service who had lived on the Sulu island of
Jolo
Jolo ( tsg, Sūg) is a volcanic island in the southwest Philippines and the primary island of the province of Sulu, on which the capital of the same name is situated. It is located in the Sulu Archipelago, between Borneo and Mindanao, and has ...
since 1864. The arrival of German warship ''Nymph'' at the Sulu Sea in 1872 to investigate the
Sulu-Spanish conflict made the Sultanate believe Schuck was connected with the
German government
The Federal Cabinet or Federal Government (german: link=no, Bundeskabinett or ') is the chief executive body of the Federal Republic of Germany. It consists of the Federal Chancellor and cabinet ministers. The fundamentals of the cabinet's or ...
. The Sultanate authorised Schuck to establish a trading port to monopolise the
rattan
Rattan, also spelled ratan, is the name for roughly 600 species of Old World climbing palms belonging to subfamily Calamoideae. The greatest diversity of rattan palm species and genera are in the closed-canopy old-growth tropical forests of ...
trade in the northeast coast, where Schuck could operate freely, without the Spanish blockade. He continued this operation until this land also was ceded to Overbeck, with the Sultan receiving an annual payment of $5,000, by a treaty signed in 1878.
After a series of transfers, Overbeck tried to sell the territory to
Germany
Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...
,
Austria-Hungary
Austria-Hungary, often referred to as the Austro-Hungarian Empire,, the Dual Monarchy, or Austria, was a constitutional monarchy and great power in Central Europe between 1867 and 1918. It was formed with the Austro-Hungarian Compromise of ...
and
Italy
Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...
but all rejected his offer.
Overbeck then co-operated with the British Dent brothers (
Alfred Dent
Sir Alfred Dent, (12 December 1844 – 23 November 1927) was a British colonial merchant and entrepreneur. He was a founder of the British North Borneo Company.
Life
Dent was born in London, the son of Thomas Dent. He was educated at Eton Col ...
and Edward Dent) for financial backing to develop the land, with the Dent company persuading him that any investors would need guarantees of British military and diplomatic support.
Overbeck agreed to this co-operation, especially with regard to the counterclaims of the Sultan of Sulu, part of whose territory in the Sulu Archipelago had been occupied by Spain.
Overbeck, however, withdrew in 1879 and his treaty rights were transferred to Alfred Dent, who in 1881 formed the North Borneo Provisional Association Ltd to administer the territory. In the following year,
Kudat
Kudat ( ms, Pekan Kudat) is the capital of the Kudat District in the Kudat Division of Sabah, Malaysia. Its population was estimated to be around 29,025 in 2010. It is located on the Kudat Peninsula, about north of Kota Kinabalu, the state cap ...
was made its capital but due to frequent pirate attacks, the capital was moved to
Sandakan
Sandakan (, Jawi: , ) formerly known at various times as Elopura, is the capital of the Sandakan District in Sabah, Malaysia. It is the second largest city in Sabah after Kota Kinabalu. It is located on the Sandakan Peninsula and east coast of ...
in 1884.
To prevent further disputes over intervention, the governments of the United Kingdom, Spain and Germany signed the
Madrid Protocol of 1885
The Madrid Protocol of 1885 was an agreement between the United Kingdom, German Empire and Spain to recognize the sovereignty of Spain over the Sulu Archipelago as well as the limit of Spanish influence in the region. Under the agreement, Spa ...
, recognising the sovereignty of the
King of Spain
, coatofarms = File:Coat_of_Arms_of_Spanish_Monarch.svg
, coatofarms_article = Coat of arms of the King of Spain
, image = Felipe_VI_in_2020_(cropped).jpg
, incumbent = Felipe VI
, incumbentsince = 19 Ju ...
over the Sulu Archipelago in return for the relinquishment of all Spanish claims over northern Borneo. The arrival of the company brought prosperity to the residents of northern Borneo, with the company allowing indigenous communities to continue their traditional lifestyles, but imposing laws against
headhunting
Headhunting is the practice of hunting a human and collecting the severed head after killing the victim, although sometimes more portable body parts (such as ear, nose or scalp) are taken instead as trophies. Headhunting was practiced in hi ...
,
ethnic feuds,
slave trade
Slavery and enslavement are both the state and the condition of being a slave—someone forbidden to quit one's service for an enslaver, and who is treated by the enslaver as property. Slavery typically involves slaves being made to perf ...
, and piracy.
North Borneo then became a
protectorate
A protectorate, in the context of international relations, is a State (polity), state that is under protection by another state for defence against aggression and other violations of law. It is a dependent territory that enjoys autonomy over m ...
of the United Kingdom in 1888 despite facing local resistance from 1894 to 1900 by
Mat Salleh
''Mat Salleh'' is a Malay term used as a colloquial expression to refer to white people. The exact origins of the expression are difficult to ascertain, due to there being several versions of the term's origin being passed down via word of mou ...
and
Antanum
Ontoros Antanom, also known as Antanum or Antanom (1885-1915) was a Murut warrior from North Borneo who led a rebellion against the North Borneo Chartered Company (NBCC). Claiming to have supernatural powers, he united several Murut chiefs fr ...
in 1915.
Second World War
![Japanese civilians and soldiers, Tawao (AWM 121707)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/77/Japanese_civilians_and_soldiers%2C_Tawao_%28AWM_121707%29.JPG)
The Japanese forces landed in Labuan on 3 January 1942, during the
Second World War
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
, and later invaded the rest of northern Borneo.
From 1942 to 1945, Japanese forces occupied North Borneo, along with most of the rest of the island, as part of the
Empire of Japan
The also known as the Japanese Empire or Imperial Japan, was a historical nation-state and great power that existed from the Meiji Restoration in 1868 until the enactment of the post-World War II 1947 constitution and subsequent fo ...
. The British saw Japanese advances in the area as motivated by political and territorial ambitions rather than economic factors. The residing British and the locals were compelled to obey and gave in to the brutality of the Japanese.
The occupation drove many people from coastal towns to the interior, fleeing the Japanese and seeking food.
The
Malays
Malays may refer to:
* Malay race, a racial category encompassing peoples of Southeast Asia and sometimes the Pacific Islands
** Overseas Malays, people of Malay race ancestry living outside Malay archipelago home areas
** Cape Malays, a communit ...
generally appeared to be favoured by the Japanese, although some of them faced repression, whilst other races such as the Chinese and indigenous peoples were severely repressed. The Chinese were already resisting the Japanese occupation, especially with the
Sino-Japanese War in Mainland China. Local Chinese formed a resistance, known as the Kinabalu Guerillas, led by
Albert Kwok
Albert Kwok, with the full name Albert Kwok Fen Nam (; born 1921 in Kuching, Sarawak; died on 21 January 1944 in Petagas, Putatan, Sabah) was a leader of a resistance fighter known as the "Kinabalu Guerrillas" during the Japanese occupation of ...
, with broad support from various ethnic groups in northern Borneo such as
Dusun
Dusun is the collective name of a tribe or ethnic and linguistic group in the Malaysian state of Sabah of North Borneo. Collectively, they form the largest ethnic group in Sabah. Dusun has been recognised as among the indigenous community of ...
, Murut, Suluk and Illanun peoples. The movement was also supported by
Mustapha Harun
Datu Mustapha bin Datu Harun, or Tun Mustapha for short (31 July 1918 – 2 January 1995), was a Malaysian people, Malaysian politician who served as the 3rd Chief Minister of Sabah from May 1967 to November 1975 and the 1st Yang di-Pertua Neg ...
.
Kwok along with many other sympathisers were, however, executed after the Japanese foiled their movement in the
Jesselton Revolt.
As part of the Borneo Campaign to retake the territory,
Allied forces bombed most of the major towns under Japanese control, including Sandakan, which was razed to the ground. The Japanese ran a brutal
prisoner of war
A prisoner of war (POW) is a person who is held captive by a belligerent power during or immediately after an armed conflict. The earliest recorded usage of the phrase "prisoner of war" dates back to 1610.
Belligerents hold prisoners of wa ...
camp known as Sandakan camp for those siding with the British. The majority of the POWs were British and Australian soldiers captured after the Malayan Campaign, fall of Malaya and Battle of Singapore, Singapore. The prisoners suffered notoriously inhuman conditions, and amidst continuous Allied bombardments, the Japanese forced them to march into Ranau District, Ranau, which is about 260 kilometres away, in an event known as the Sandakan Death March. The number of prisoners were reduced to 2,345, with many of them killed en route by either friendly fire or by the Japanese. Only six of the several hundred Australian prisoners lived to see the war's end. In addition, of the total of 17,488 Javanese people, Javanese labourers brought in by the Japanese during the occupation, only 1,500 survived mainly due to starvation, harsh working conditions and maltreatment.
In March 1945, Australian forces launched Operation Agas in order to gather intelligence in the region and launch guerrilla warfare against the Japanese.
The war ended on 10 September 1945 after the Second Australian Imperial Force, Australian Imperial Forces (AIF) succeeded in the battle of North Borneo.
British crown colony
After the Japanese surrender, North Borneo was administered by the British Military Administration (Borneo), British Military Administration and on 15 July 1946 became a
British Crown Colony
A Crown colony or royal colony was a colony administered by The Crown within the British Empire. There was usually a Governor, appointed by the British monarch on the advice of the UK Government, with or without the assistance of a local Council ...
.
The Crown Colony of Labuan was integrated into this new colony. During the ceremony, both the Union Jack and Flag of the Republic of China were raised from the bullet-ridden Jesselton Survey Hall building.
The Chinese were represented by Philip Lee, part of the resistance movement against the Japanese, who eventually supported the transfer of power to the Crown colony.
He said: "Let their blood be the pledge of what we wish to be—George VI, His Majesty's most devoted subjects."
Due to massive destruction in the town of Sandakan since the war, Jesselton was chosen to replace the capital with the Crown continued to rule North Borneo until 1963. The Crown colony government established many departments to oversee the welfare of its residents and to revive the economy of North Borneo after the war. Upon History of the Philippines (1946–65), Philippine independence in 1946, seven of the British-controlled Turtle Islands, Tawi-Tawi, Turtle Islands (including Mapun, Tawi-Tawi, Cagayan de Tawi-Tawi and Mangsee Islands) off the north coast of Borneo were ceded to the Philippines as had been negotiated by the American and British colonial governments.
Malaysia
![Sabah during the formation of Malaysia (16 September 1963)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c6/Sabah_during_the_formation_of_Malaysia_%2816_September_1963%29.jpg)
On 31 August 1963, North Borneo North Borneo Self-government Day, attained self-government.
The Cobbold Commission had been set up prior, in 1962, to determine whether the people of Sabah and Sarawak favoured the proposed union of a new federation called Malaysia, and found that the union was generally favoured by the people. Most ethnic community leaders of Sabah, namely, Mustapha Harun representing the native Muslims, Fuad Stephens, Donald Stephens representing the non-Muslim natives, and Khoo Siak Chew representing the Chinese, would eventually support the union.
After discussion culminating in the Malaysia Agreement and 20-point agreement, on 16 September 1963 North Borneo (as Sabah) was united with Malaya, Sarawak and Singapore, to form the independent
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 ...
.
From before the formation of Malaysia until 1966,
Indonesia
Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of over 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo and New Guine ...
adopted a hostile policy towards the British-backed Malaya, leading after union to the
Indonesia–Malaysia confrontation
The Indonesia–Malaysia confrontation or Borneo confrontation (also known by its Indonesian / Malay name, ''Konfrontasi'') was an armed conflict from 1963 to 1966 that stemmed from Indonesia's opposition to the creation of the Federation of ...
. This undeclared war stemmed from what Indonesian President Sukarno perceived as an expansion of British influence in the region and his intention to wrest control over the whole of Borneo under the Greater Indonesian concept. Meanwhile, the Philippines, beginning with president Diosdado Macapagal on 22 June 1962, North Borneo dispute, claims Sabah from cession by heirs of the Sultanate of Sulu.
Macapagal, considering Sabah to be property of the Sultanate of Sulu, saw the attempt to integrate Sabah, Sarawak and Brunei into the Federation of Malaysia as "trying to impose authority of Malaya into these states".
Following the successful formation of Malaysia, Donald Stephens became the first chief minister of Sabah. The first Governor Yang di-Pertua Negara (which later changed to Yang di-Pertua Negeri in 1976) was Mustapha Harun. The leaders of Sabah demanded that their freedom of religion be respected, that all lands in the territory be under the power of state government, and that native customs and traditions be respected and upheld by the federal government; declaring that in return Sabahans would pledge their loyalty to the Malaysian federal government. An Keningau Oath Stone, oath stone was officially officiated by the first Chief Minister Donald Stephens on 31 August 1964 in Keningau as a remembrance to the agreement and promise for reference in the future.
Sabah held its first state election in 1967. In the same year, the state capital name of "Jesselton" was renamed to "
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 ...
".
An 1976 Sabah Air GAF Nomad crash, airplane crash on 6 June 1976 killed Stephens along with four other state cabinet ministers. On 14 June 1976, the state government of Sabah led by the new chief minister Harris Salleh signed an agreement with Petronas, the federal government-owned oil and gas company, granting it the right to extract and earn revenue from petroleum found in the territorial waters of Sabah in exchange for 5% in annual revenue as royalties based on the 1974 Petroleum Development Act.
The state government of Sabah ceded
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 capit ...
to the Malaysian federal government, and Labuan became a Federal Territory (Malaysia), federal territory on 16 April 1984. In 2000, the state capital Kota Kinabalu was granted city status, making it the List of cities in Malaysia, 6th city in Malaysia and the first city in the state. Prior to a Ligitan and Sipadan dispute, territorial dispute between Indonesia and Malaysia since 1969 over two islands of Ligitan and Sipadan in the Celebes Sea, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) made a final decision to award both islands to Malaysia in 2002 based on their "effective occupation".
In February 2013, Sabah's
Lahad Datu District
The Lahad Datu District ( ms, Daerah Lahad Datu) is an administrative district in the Malaysian state of Sabah, part of the Tawau Division which includes the districts of Kunak, Lahad Datu, Semporna and Tawau. The capital of the district is in ...
was 2013 Lahad Datu standoff, penetrated by followers of Jamalul Kiram III, the self-proclaimed List of sultans of Sulu, Sultan of the Sultanate of Sulu, Sulu Sultanate. In response, Malaysian military forces were deployed to the region, which resulted in 68 deaths (58 Sultanate militants, nine Malaysian security personnel, and six civilians). Following the elimination of insurgents, an Eastern Sabah Security Command was established.
Politics
Government
![KotaKinabalu Sabah Sabah-State-Administrative-Centre-02](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/06/KotaKinabalu_Sabah_Sabah-State-Administrative-Centre-02.jpg)
Sabah (together with its neighbour Sarawak) has a greater level of autonomy in administration, immigration, and judiciary which differentiates it from the Malaysian Peninsula states. The Yang di-Pertua Negeri is the head of state although its functions are largely ceremonial.
Next in the hierarchy are the Dewan Undangan Negeri, state legislative assembly and the state cabinet.
The List of Chief Ministers of Sabah, chief minister is the head of government as well the leader of the state cabinet.
The legislature is based on the Westminster system and therefore the chief minister is appointed based on his or her ability to command the majority of the state assembly.
While local authorities being fully appointed by the state government owing to the suspension of local elections by the federal government. Legislation regarding state elections is within the powers of the federal government and not the state.
The assembly meets at the state capital, Kota Kinabalu. Members of the state assembly are elected from 73 constituencies which are delineated by the Election Commission of Malaysia and do not necessarily have the same voter population sizes. A general election for representatives in the state assembly must be held every five years, when the seats are subject of universal suffrage for all citizens above 21 years of age. Sabah is also represented in the Parliament of Malaysia, federal parliament by 25 members elected from the same number of constituencies.
Prior to the formation of Malaysia in 1963, the then Crown Colony of North Borneo, North Borneo interim government submitted a 20-point agreement to the Federation of Malaya, Malayan government as conditions before North Borneo would join the federation. Subsequently, North Borneo legislative assembly agreed on the formation of Malaysia on the conditions that North Borneo's rights would be safeguarded. North Borneo then entered Malaysia as an Autonomous entity, autonomous state with autonomous laws in immigration control and Aboriginal title, Native Customary Rights (NCR), and the territory name was changed to "Sabah". However, under the administration of the United Sabah National Organisation (USNO) led by Mustapha Harun, this autonomy has been gradually eroded with federal government influence and hegemony with a popular belief amongst Sabahans that both USNO and UMNO have been working together in permitting Illegal immigrants in Malaysia, illegal immigrants from the southern Philippines and Indonesia to stay in the state and become citizens to vote for Muslim parties.
This was continued under the Sabah People's United Front (BERJAYA) administration led by Harris Salleh with a total of 73,000 Refugees of the Philippines, Filipino refugees from the southern Philippines were registered. In addition, the cession of Labuan island to federal government by the Sabah state government under BERJAYA rule and unequal sharing and exploitation of Sabah's resources of petroleum have become grievances often raised by Sabahans, which has resulted in strong anti-federal sentiments and even occasional call for secession from the federation amongst the people of Sabah.
Those who spread secession agenda often landed in law enforcement hand due to the controversial ISA act, such as 1991 Sabah political arrests.
![KotaKinabalu Sabah DewanUndanganNegeriSabah-01](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/86/KotaKinabalu_Sabah_DewanUndanganNegeriSabah-01.jpg)
Until the Malaysian general election, 2008, 2008 Malaysian general election, Sabah along with the states of Kelantan and Terengganu, were the only three states in Malaysia that had ever been ruled by Opposition (Malaysia), opposition parties not part of the ruling BN coalition. Under Joseph Pairin Kitingan, PBS formed the state government after winning the Sabah state election, 1985, 1985 state election and ruled Sabah until 1994. In the Sabah state election, 1994, 1994 state election, despite PBS winning the elections, subsequent cross-overs of PBS assembly members to the BN component party resulted in BN having the majority of seats and hence took over the helm of the state government. A unique feature of Sabah politics was a policy initiated by Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad in 1994 whereby the chief minister's post is rotated among the coalition parties every two years regardless of the party in power at the time, thus theoretically giving an equal amount of time for each major ethnic group to rule the state. However, in practice, this system was problematic as it is too short for any leader to carry out long-term plans. This practice was then since stopped. Political intervention by the federal authorities, for example, an introduction and later abolition of the chief minister's post and earlier 1986 Sabah riots, PBS-BERJAYA conflict in 1985, along with co-opting rival factions in East Malaysia, are examples of political tactics used by the then UMNO-led federal government to control and manage the autonomous power of the Borneo states. The federal government however tend to view that these actions are justifiable as the display of Parish pump politics, parochialism amongst East Malaysians is not in harmony with nation building. This complicated Federal-State relationship has become a source of major contention in Sabah politics.
In the Malaysian general election, 2018, 2018 general election, Shafie Apdal's Sabah Heritage Party (WARISAN) secured an electoral pact with the Democratic Action Party (Malaysia), Democratic Action Party (DAP) and People's Justice Party (PKR) of the Pakatan Harapan (PH) coalition. On 9 May 2018, this coalition and the Barisan Nasional ended in a tie. However, as six BN elected representatives crossed over to WARISAN, and after a short-lived constitutional crisis, a coalition of WARISAN, DAP and PKR formed a majority government on 12 May 2018 and became effective since that day. In conjunction with the celebration of Malaysia Day in 2018 under the new government, Prime Minister Mahathir has promised to restore Sabah (together with Sarawak) status as an equal partner to Malaya who together forming the Malaysian federation in accordance to the Malaysia Agreement. However, through the process of the proposed Proposed 2019 amendment to the Constitution of Malaysia, amendment to the Constitution of Malaysia in 2019, the bill for the amendment failed to pass following the failure to reach two-thirds majority support (148 votes) in the Parliament with only 138 agreed with the move while 59 abstained from the voting.
Administrative division
Sabah consists of five administrative divisions, which are in turn divided into 27 districts. For each district, the state government appoints a village headman (known as ''ketua kampung'') for each village. The administrative divisions were inherited from the provinces of the British administration. During the British rule, a Resident (title), Resident was appointed to govern each division and provided with a palace (''Istana''). The post of the Resident was abolished and replaced with district officers for each of the district when North Borneo became part of Malaysia. As in the rest of Malaysia, local government comes under the purview of state government.
However, ever since the suspension of local government elections in the midst of the Malayan Emergency, which was much less intense in Sabah than it was in the rest of the country, there have been no local elections. Local authorities have their officials appointed by the executive council of the state government.
Security
![Semporna Sabah ESSCOM-soldiers-04 (extracted)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/0b/Semporna_Sabah_ESSCOM-soldiers-04_%28extracted%29.jpg)
The Ninth Schedule of the Constitution of Malaysia states that the Government of Malaysia, Malaysian federal government is solely responsible for foreign policy and military forces in the country. Before the formation of Malaysia, North Borneo security was the responsibility of Great Britain, Australia and New Zealand. In the wake of threats of "annexation" from the Philippines after President Ferdinand Marcos signed a bill by including Sabah as part the Republic of the Philippines on its maritime baselines in the Congress of the Philippines, Act of Congress on 18 September 1968,
the British responds in the next day by sending their Hawker Hunter fighter-bomber jets to Kota Kinabalu with the jets stopped over at the Clark Air Base not far from the Philippines capital of Manila.
British Army senior officer Michael Carver, Baron Carver, Michael Carver then reminded the Philippines that Britain would honour its obligations under the Anglo-Malayan Defence Agreement (AMDA) if fighting broke out.
In addition, a large flotilla of British warships would sail to Philippines waters near Sabah en route from Singapore along with the participation of ANZUS forces.
The AMDA treaty have since been replaced by the Five Power Defence Arrangements (FPDA) although the present treaty does not include East Malaysian states as its main priority, British security protection intervention can still be included over the two states.
Citing in 1971 when British Prime Minister Edward Heath been asked in Palace of Westminster, Parliament of London on what threats the British intended to counter under the FPDA, the Prime Minister replied: to "forces outside [Malaysia] in southern Thailand and north of the Malaysian border".
The area in eastern Sabah facing the southern Philippines and northern Indonesia have since been put under the Eastern Sabah Security Command (ESSCOM) and Eastern Sabah Security Zone (ESSZONE) following the infiltration of militants, illegal immigrants and smuggling of goods and subsidies items into and from the southern Philippines and Indonesia.
Territorial disputes
![Map of British North Borneo, yellow area covered by the Philippine claim](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/20/Map_of_British_North_Borneo%2C_yellow_area_covered_by_the_Philippine_claim.PNG)
Sabah has seen several territorial disputes with Malaysia's neighbours Indonesia and the Philippines. In 2002, both Malaysia and Indonesia submitted to arbitration by the ICJ on a territorial dispute over the Ligitan and Sipadan islands which were later won by Malaysia.
There are also several other disputes yet to be settled with Indonesia over the overlapping claims on the Ambalat continental shelf in the Celebes Sea and land border dispute between Sabah and
North Kalimantan
North Kalimantan ( id, Kalimantan Utara) is a province of Indonesia. It is located on the northernmost of Kalimantan, the Indonesian part of the island of Borneo. North Kalimantan borders the Malaysian states of Sabah to the north and Sarawak t ...
. Malaysia's claim over a portion of the Spratly Islands is also based on sharing a continental shelf with Sabah.
The Philippines has a territorial claim over much of the eastern part of Sabah.
It claims that the territory is connected with the Sultanate of Sulu and was only leased to the North Borneo Chartered Company in 1878 with the Sultanate's sovereignty never being relinquished.
Malaysia however, considers this dispute as a "non-issue", as it interprets the 1878 agreement as that of cession and that it deems that the residents of Sabah had exercised their right to self-determination when they joined to form the Malaysian federation in 1963. The Philippine claim can be originated based on three historical events; such as the Brunei Civil War from 1660 until 1673, treaty between Dutch East Indies and the Bulungan Sultanate in 1850 and treaty between Sultan Jamal ul-Azam with Overbeck in 1878.
Further attempts by several Filipino politicians such as Ferdinand Marcos to "destabilise" Sabah proved to be futile and led to the Jabidah massacre in Corregidor Island, Philippines.
As a consequence, this led the Malaysian government to once supporting the Moro conflict in the Philippines, insurgency in southern Philippines.
Although the Philippine claim to Sabah has not been actively pursued for some years, some Filipino politicians have promised to bring it up again, while the Malaysian government have asked the Philippines not to Malaysia–Philippines relations, threaten ties over such issue. To further discourage pursuit of the claim the Malaysian government passed a barter trade ban, at the behest of the Royal Malaysia Police and the Deputy Prime Minister of Malaysia, Malaysian Deputy Prime Minister, between Malaysia and the Philippines as it was seen to only benefit one side while threatening the security of the state. The ban was positively received by many Sabahans, although there was opposition from Opposition (Malaysia), other political parties as well as from the residents of neighbouring Philippine islands due to a sharp rise in living costs after the ban took effect. Barter trade activity was resumed on 1 February 2017 upon the agreement by both Malaysian and the Philippine authorities to fortify their respective borders with increased surveillance and security enforcement.
Despite the return of barter trade activity, the state of Sabah maintained that they will remain vigilant in trading with the Philippines. In 2016, Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte and Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak have agreed to set aside the two countries’ dispute over Sabah for the meantime.
Geography
![20131107 1730 mtsat 1r visir bckgr 7SEAS Exp Overview NGT](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b0/20131107_1730_mtsat_1r_visir_bckgr_7SEAS_Exp_Overview_NGT.jpg)
The total land area of Sabah is nearly
surrounded by the South China Sea in the west, Sulu Sea in the northeast and Celebes Sea in the southeast.
Sabah has a total of coastline, of which have been Coastal erosion, eroding. Because of Sabah coastline facing three seas, the state receive an extensive marine resources.
In 1961, Sabah including neighbouring
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 ...
, which had been included in the International Maritime Organization (IMO) through the participation of the United Kingdom, became joint associate members of the IMO. Its exclusive economic zone (EEZ) is much larger towards the South China Sea and Celebes Sea than to the Sulu Sea.
The state coastline is covered with mangrove and Nypa fruticans, nipah forests. The mangroves cover about 331,325 hectares of the state land and constitute 57% of the total mangroves in the country.
Both coastal areas in the west coast and east coast are entirely dominating by sand beaches, while in sheltered areas the sand was mixed with mud. The northern area of
Tanjung Simpang Mengayau
The Tip of Borneo ( ms, Tanjung Simpang Mengayau) is the northernmost tip of Borneo located in Kudat District, Sabah, Malaysia. The tip marks the meeting point of the South China Sea and Sulu Sea.
Geology
The tip as part of the Kudat Peninsula ...
has a type of pocket beach. The areas in the west coast has a large freshwater wetlands, with the Klias Peninsula hosts a large area of tidal wetlands
and a wetland centre known as the Kota Kinabalu Wetland Centre was designated as a Ramsar site in 2016. The western part of Sabah is generally mountainous, containing three highest peak. The main
mountain range
A mountain range or hill range is a series of mountains or hills arranged in a line and connected by high ground. A mountain system or mountain belt is a group of mountain ranges with similarity in form, structure, and alignment that have arise ...
s is the Crocker Range with several mountains varying height from about 1,000 metres to 4,000 metres. Adjacent to the Crocker Range is the Trus Madi Range with Mount Trus Madi, with a height of 2,642 metres. The highest peak is the
Mount Kinabalu
Mount Kinabalu ( ms, Gunung Kinabalu, Dusun language, Dusun: ''Gayo Ngaran or Nulu Nabalu'') is the highest mountain in Borneo and Malaysia. With an elevation of , it is List of islands by highest point, third-highest peak of an island on Eart ...
, with a height around 4,095 metres. It is List of Southeast Asian mountains, one of the highest peak between the Himalayas and New Guinea. While located not far from Mount Kinabalu is Mount Tambuyukon, with a height of 2,579 metres.
These mountains and hills are traversed by an extensive network of river valleys and are in most cases covered with dense rainforest. There are lower ranges of hills extending towards the western coasts, southern plains, and the interior or central part of Sabah. The central and eastern portions of Sabah are generally lower mountain ranges and plains with occasional hills. In the east coast located the Kinabatangan River, which is the second-longest river in Malaysia after Rajang River in Sarawak with a length of 560 kilometres. The river begins from the western ranges and snakes its way through the central region towards the east coast out into the Sulu Sea. Other major rivers including the Kalabakan River, Kolopis River, Liwagu River, Padas River, Paitan River, Segama River and Sugut River, in addition to Babagon River, Bengkoka River, Kadamaian River, Kalumpang River, Kiulu River, Mawao River, Membakut River, Mesapol River, Nabawan River, Papar River, Pensiangan River, Tamparuli River and Wario River.
The land of Sabah is located in a tropical geography with tropical rainforest climate, equatorial climate. It experiences two monsoon seasons of northeast and southwest. The northeast monsoon occurs from November to March with heavy rains, while the southwest monsoon prevails from May to September with less rainfall.
It also received two inter-monsoon season from April to May and September to October. The average daily temperature varies from to , with a considerable amount of rain from 1,800 millimetres to 4,000 millimetres.
The coastal areas occasionally experience severe storms as the state is situated south of the
typhoon
A typhoon is a mature tropical cyclone that develops between 180° and 100°E in the Northern Hemisphere. This region is referred to as the Northwestern Pacific Basin, and is the most active tropical cyclone basin on Earth, accounting for a ...
belt.
Due to its location is very close to the typhoon belt, Sabah experience the worst 1996 Pacific typhoon season, Tropical Storm Greg on 25 December 1996. The storm left more than 100 people dead, with another 200–300 missing, 3,000–4,000 people left homeless. As Sabah also lies within the Sunda Plate with a compression from the Australian Plate, Australian and Philippine Plate, it is prone to earthquake with the state itself have experienced three major earthquakes since 1923, with the 2015 Sabah earthquake, 2015 earthquake being the latest major earthquake. The Crocker Ranges together with Mount Kinabalu was formed since during the middle Miocene period after being uplifted by the Sabah Orogeny through compression. There was some snow here in 1975 and 1993.
File:Subsidiary peak, Mount Kinabalu.jpg, Subsidiary peak of Mount Kinabalu
Mount Kinabalu ( ms, Gunung Kinabalu, Dusun language, Dusun: ''Gayo Ngaran or Nulu Nabalu'') is the highest mountain in Borneo and Malaysia. With an elevation of , it is List of islands by highest point, third-highest peak of an island on Eart ...
File:Manukan, Mamutik & Sulug - Happy Islands retouched.jpg, Smile Islands of Manukan Island, Manukan, Mamutik and Sulug Island, Sulug
File:Lahad-Datu Sabah Panoramic-view-from-Tower-of-Heaven-02.jpg, Lahad Datu District
The Lahad Datu District ( ms, Daerah Lahad Datu) is an administrative district in the Malaysian state of Sabah, part of the Tawau Division which includes the districts of Kunak, Lahad Datu, Semporna and Tawau. The capital of the district is in ...
sea panoramic view
File:Sungai-Padas View-In-Padas-Valley.jpg, Padas River Valley
File:Kudat Sabah Tanjung Simpang Mengayau-12.jpg, The northern tip of Borneo at Tanjung Simpang Mengayau
The Tip of Borneo ( ms, Tanjung Simpang Mengayau) is the northernmost tip of Borneo located in Kudat District, Sabah, Malaysia. The tip marks the meeting point of the South China Sea and Sulu Sea.
Geology
The tip as part of the Kudat Peninsula ...
facing both the South China Sea
The South China Sea is a marginal sea of the Western Pacific Ocean. It is bounded in the north by the shores of South China (hence the name), in the west by the Indochinese Peninsula, in the east by the islands of Taiwan and northwestern Phil ...
and Sulu Sea
The Sulu Sea ( fil, Dagat Sulu; Tausug: ''Dagat sin Sūg''; Chavacano: ''Mar de Sulu''; Cebuano: ''Dagat sa Sulu''; Hiligaynon: ''Dagat sang Sulu''; Karay-a: ''Dagat kang Sulu''; Cuyonon: ''Dagat i'ang Sulu''; ms, Laut Sulu) is a body o ...
.
File:Sabah CrockerMountainRange-04.jpg, Crocker Range, the main List of mountain ranges, mountain ranges in Sabah, part of the Crocker Range National Park
Crocker Range National Park ( ms, Taman Negara Banjaran Crocker) was established in 1984, although the area had previously been under protection as a forest reserve. It covers the north-south Crocker Range, of 1200-1800 metre mountains in Sabah, ...
.
Biodiversity
![Blue-eared Kingfisher (Alcedo meninting)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/5a/Blue-eared_Kingfisher_%28Alcedo_meninting%29.jpg)
The jungles of Sabah host a diverse array of plant and animal species. Most of Sabah's biodiversity is located in the forest reserve areas, which formed half of its total landmass of 7.34 million hectares.
Its forest reserve are part of the 20 million hectares equatorial rainforests demarcated under the "Heart of Borneo" initiative.
The forests surrounding the river valley of Kinabatangan River is the largest forest-covered floodplain in Malaysia. The
Crocker Range National Park
Crocker Range National Park ( ms, Taman Negara Banjaran Crocker) was established in 1984, although the area had previously been under protection as a forest reserve. It covers the north-south Crocker Range, of 1200-1800 metre mountains in Sabah, ...
is the largest national park in the state, covering an area of 139,919 hectares. Most of the park area are covered in dense forest and important as a water catchment area with its river source, headwater connecting to five major rivers in the west coast area. Kinabalu National Park was inscribed as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 2000 for its richness in plant diversity combined with its unique geological, topographical, and climatic conditions. The park hosts more than 4,500 species of flora and fauna, including 326 bird and around 100 mammal species along with over 110 land snail species.
![Sandakan Sabah Sepilok-Orangutan-Rehabilitation-Centre-19](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a4/Sandakan_Sabah_Sepilok-Orangutan-Rehabilitation-Centre-19.jpg)
Tiga Island, Malaysia, Tiga Island is formed through the eruption of mud volcano in 1897. The island is now part of the Tiga Island National Park together with Kalampunian Besar Island, Kalampunian Besar and Kalampunian Damit Island, Kalampunian Damit islands as a tourist attractions, with a mud bath tourism. The Tunku Abdul Rahman National Park is a group of five islands of Gaya Island, Gaya, Manukan Island, Manukan, Mamutik, Sapi and Sulug Island, Sulug. These islands are believed to once connected to the Crocker Range but separated when sea levels rose since the last ice age. The Tun Mustapha Marine Park is the largest marine park located in the north of Sabah. It covers the three major islands of Banggi Island, Banggi, Balambangan Island, Balambangan and Malawali Island, Malawali. Another marine park is the Tun Sakaran Marine Park located in the south-east of Sabah. The park comprising the islands of Bodgaya Island, Bodgaya, Boheydulang Island, Boheydulang, Sabangkat and Salakan along with sand cays of Maiga, Mantabuan and Sibuan. Bodgaya is gazetted as a forest reserve, while Boheydulang as a bird sanctuary. These islands are formed by Quaternary pyroclastic material that was ejected during explosive volcanic activities.
The Tawau Hills National Park established as a natural water catchment area. The park contains rugged volcanic landscapes including a hot spring and spectacular waterfalls. Bordering the Philippine Turtle Islands is the Turtle Islands National Park (Malaysia), Turtle Islands National Park, it consists of three islands of Selingaan, Bakkungan Kechil and Gulisaan which is notable as the nesting place for green turtle and hawksbill sea turtle. Other important wildlife regions in Sabah include the Maliau Basin, Danum Valley, Tabin, Imbak Canyon and Sepilok. These places are either designated as national parks, wildlife reserves, virgin jungle reserves, or protection forest reserve. Beyond the coasts of Sabah lie a number of islands rich with coral reefs such as Ligitan, Sipadan, Selingaan, Tiga and Layang-Layang Island, Layang-Layang (Swallow Reef). Other main islands including the Jambongan Island, Jambongan, Timbun Mata Island, Timbun Mata, Bum Bum and the divided Sebatik Island, Sebatik. The Sabah state government has enacted several laws to protect its forests and endangered wildlife species under the Animals Ordinance 1962, Forest Enactment 1968 and the Wildlife Conservation Enactment 1997
among others.
Under the Wildlife Conservation Enactment, any persons hunting inside conservation lands are liable for imprisonment for five years and fined with Malaysian ringgit, RM50,000.
The state government also plans to implement seasonal huntings as part of its conservation efforts to prevent the continuous lose of its endangered wildlife species while maintaining the state indigenous hunting traditions.
Conservation issues
![District-Tawau Sabah Logging-Trucks-01](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e4/District-Tawau_Sabah_Logging-Trucks-01.jpg)
Since the post-World War II timber boom driven by the need of raw materials from Developed country, industrial countries, Sabah forests have been gradually eroded by uncontrolled timber exploitation and the conversion of Sabah forest lands into
palm oil
Palm oil is an edible vegetable oil derived from the mesocarp (reddish pulp) of the fruit of the oil palms. The oil is used in food manufacturing, in beauty products, and as biofuel. Palm oil accounted for about 33% of global oils produced from ...
plantations. Since 1970, forestry sector have contributed for over 50% of the state revenue, of which a study conducted in 1997 revealed the state had almost depleted all of its Old-growth forest, virgin forests outside the conservation areas.
The state government were determined to maintain the state biodiversity while to make sure the state economy continue to alive. While in the same time facing hard task to control such activities although there is laws to prevent it.
The need for development and basic necessities also became an issue while to preserving the nature. Mining activities had directly released Toxic heavy metal, pollutants of heavy metals into rivers, reservoirs, ponds and affecting groundwater through the leaching of mine tailings. An environmental report released in 1994 reported the presence of heavy metal at the Damit/Tuaran River that exceeded the water quality safe levels for consumption. The water in Liwagu River also reported the presence of heavy metal which was believed to be originated from the Mamut Mine.
Wildfire, Forest fire also have become the latest concern due to drought and fires set by irresponsible farmers or individuals such as what happened in the 2016 Malaysian haze, 2016 forest fires, where thousands of hectares of forest reserves in Binsuluk Forest Reserve, Binsuluk on the west coast of Sabah were lost.
![Ranau-Sabah-MamutCopperMine-03](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/7b/Ranau-Sabah-MamutCopperMine-03.jpg)
Rampant blast fishing, fish bombing has destroyed many coral reefs and affecting fisheries production in the state. Moreover, the illegal activities of the extraction of river sand and gravel in the rivers of Padas, Papar and Tuaran had become the latest concern along with the wildlife and marine hunting and poaching.
Due to severe deforestation along with massive wildlife and marine poaching, the Sumatran rhinoceros, Sumatran rhino have been declared as extinct in early 2015. Some other species that was threatened with extinction is banteng, Bornean bearded pig, bearded pig,
clouded leopard, dugong, Borneo elephant, elephant, false gharial, green turtle, hawksbill sea turtle, Bornean orangutan, orangutan, sunda pangolin, pangolin, proboscis monkey, Borneo river shark, river shark,
roughnose stingray,
sambar deer, Borneo shark, shark and sun bear.
Although the indigenous community are also involved in hunting, they hunt based on their Spiritualism, spiritual believes and practice, and on a small scale, which differentiates them from poachers.
Well-known indigenous practices, such as "''maganu totuo''" or "''montok kosukopan''", "''tuwa di powigian''", "''managal''" or "''tagal''" and "''meminting''", have helped to maintain resources and prevent their depletion.
Economy
Sabah's economy is mainly based on Primary sector of the economy, primary sector such as agriculture, forestry and Petroleum industry, petroleum.
Currently, the Tertiary sector of the economy, tertiary sector plays an important part to the state economy, especially in tourism and services. With its richness in biodiversity, the state is offering
ecotourism
Ecotourism is a form of tourism involving responsible travel (using sustainable transport) to natural areas, conserving the environment, and improving the well-being of the local people. Its purpose may be to educate the traveler, to provide funds ...
. Although in recent years the tourism industry has been affected by Cross border attacks in Sabah, attacks and kidnapping of tourists by militant groups based in the southern Philippines, it remained stable with the increase of security in eastern Sabah and the Sulu Sea. The tourism sector contribute 10% share of the state Gross domestic product (GDP) and was predicted to increase more. Majority of the tourists come from China (60.3%), followed by South Korea (33.9%), Australia (16.3%) and Taiwan (8.3%). Tourism plays a crucial role in the state's economy as the third largest income generating sectors with the state itself recorded a total of 3,879,413 tourist arrivals in 2018, a growth of 5.3% compared to 3,684,734 in 2017. Since the 1950s, Natural rubber, rubber and copra are the main source of agricultural economy of North Borneo. The timber industry started to emerged in the 1960s due to high demand of raw materials from industrial countries. This was however replaced by petroleum in the 1970s after the discovery of oil in the area of west coast Sabah. In the same year, cocoa bean, cocoa and
palm oil
Palm oil is an edible vegetable oil derived from the mesocarp (reddish pulp) of the fruit of the oil palms. The oil is used in food manufacturing, in beauty products, and as biofuel. Palm oil accounted for about 33% of global oils produced from ...
was added to the list.
The Sabah state government managed to increase the state fund from RM6 million to RM12 billion and poverty was down by almost half to 33.1% in 1980.
The state rapid development on primary sector has attracted those Job hunting, job seekers in neighbouring Indonesia and the Philippines as the state labour force itself are not sufficient. The state GDP at the time ranked behind Selangor and Kuala Lumpur, being the third richest although the manufacturing sector remained small.
However, by 2000, the state started to become the poorest as it still dependent on natural resources as its primary sources of income comparing to those Secondary sector of the economy, secondary sector producer states. Thus the Sabah Development Corridor (SDC) was established in 2008 by Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi with a total investment of RM105 billion for 18 years to increase the state GDP to RM63.2 billion by 2025.
Around RM5.83 billion were allocated each year for infrastructures development along with the creation of 900,000 jobs.
The federal government targeted to eradicate hardcore poverty by the end Ninth Malaysia Plan (9MP) with overall poverty halved from 23% in 2004 to 12% in 2010 and 8.1% in 2012.
Since its establishment in 2008, the state GDP increase to 10.7% which was higher than the national economic growth of 4.8% and the world economic growth of 2.7%. Following the Global financial crisis in 2009, world financial crisis in 2009, Sabah GDP recorded 4.8% growth compared to −1.5% for national level and −0.4% for world level.
![Tambunan Sabah Battlefield-Battle-of-Tambunan-02](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/ed/Tambunan_Sabah_Battlefield-Battle-of-Tambunan-02.jpg)
From 2010 to 2011, the state experienced a slower growth due to weaker performance on the oil and gas sector. Based on 2014 survey, Sabah GDP recorded a 5.0% growth and remained as the largest contributor in agriculture sector with 18.1%, followed by
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 ...
, Johor, Pahang and Perak. Its Income per capita, GDP per capita however are still lowest with RM19,672, the third lowest after Kelantan (RM11,815) and Kedah (RM17,321) from all 13 states.
In the same year, the state export value stood at RM45.3 billion with an import value of RM36.5 billion. Machinery and transportation equipment accounted for most of the imported products followed by fuel, mineral lubricants and others. While Sabah mostly exports raw petroleum and palm oil. The state currently has a total of eight ports with two in Sepanggar while each one in Kota Kinabalu, Sandakan, Tawau, Kudat, Kunak and Lahad Datu that was operated and maintained by the Sabah Ports Authority owned by Suria Group.
As part of the Eleventh Malaysia Plan (11MP), the federal government has approved an allocation of RM800 million to expand the cargo handling of Sapangar Bay Container Port from 500,000 to 1.25 million twenty-foot equivalent unit, TEUs per annum as well to accommodate larger ship like Panamax-size vessels. An additional allocation of RM333.51 million was given in the same year, making it a total of RM1.13 billion with the project will start in 2017. The fisheries industries remain the important part of Sabah primary sector economy with a contribution for about 200,000 metric tonnes of fish worth RM700 annually as well contributing 2.8% to the state annual GDP.
While the aquaculture and marine fish cage sector have produce 35,000 metric tons of brackish water, brackish and fresh waters aquaculture and 360 metric ton of groupers, wrasses, snappers and lobsters worth around RM60 million and RM13 million respectively. Sabah is also one of the producer of seaweed, with most of the farms are located in the seas around Semporna.
Although recently the seaweed industry was heavily affected by spate of kidnappings perpetrated by the southern-Philippine-based Abu Sayyaf militant group.
![Sandakan Sabah Fishmarket-in-Sandakan-Harbour-04](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/31/Sandakan_Sabah_Fishmarket-in-Sandakan-Harbour-04.jpg)
As of 2015, Sabah was producing 180,000 barrel of oil equivalent per day and currently receives 5% oil royalty (percentage of oil production paid by the mining company to the lease owner) from Petronas over oil explorations in Sabah territorial waters based on the 1974 Petroleum Development Act.
Majority of the oil and gas deposits are located on Sabah Trough basin in the west coast side. Sabah was also given a 10% stake in Petronas liquefied natural gas (LNG) in Bintulu, Sarawak. Income inequality and the high cost living remain the major economic issues in Sabah. The high cost living has been blamed on the Cabotage Policy, although the cause was due to the smaller trade volumes, cost of transport and efficiency of port to handle trade. The government has set to review the Cabotage Policy even thought the cause was due to other reasons with the World Bank has stated that the result was due to weak distribution channels, high handling charges and inefficient inland transportation. It was finally agreed to exempt the policy from 1 June 2017; with foreign ships will go directly to ports in the East without need to go to West Malaysia although Cabotage Policy on transshipment of goods within Sabah and Sarawak and the federal territory of Labuan remain. Prime Minister Najib also promised to narrow development gap between Sabah and the Peninsular Malaysia, Peninsular by improving and built more infrastructures in the state,
in which it was continued under the Pakatan Harapan (PH) administration where the new federal government also said the state should develop in par with Peninsular with the federal government will be consistent in commitment to helping develop the state as stated by Deputy Prime Minister Wan Azizah Wan Ismail. Based on a latest record, the total unemployment in the state have been reduced from 5.1% (2014) to 4.7% (2015), although the number of unemployment was still high. Slum is almost non-existent in Malaysia but due to the Refugees of the Philippines, high number of refugees arriving from the Moro conflict in the Philippines, troubling southern Philippines, Sabah has since saw a significant rise on its numbers. To eliminate water pollution and improve a better hygiene, the Sabah state government are working to relocate them into a better housing settlement. As part of the BIMP-EAGA, Sabah also continued to position itself as a main gateway for regional investments. Foreign investment are mainly concentrated in the Kota Kinabalu Industrial Park (KKIP) areas.
Although country such as Japan have mainly focusing their various development and investment projects in the interior and islands since after the end of Second World War. Following America's abandonment in the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPPA) economic agreements in early 2017, Sabah began to turns its trade to China and India markets. To further accelerate its economic growth, Sabah also targets several more countries as its main trade partners including Germany, South Korea, Thailand and the United Arab Emirates as the destinations of exports for food-based products, Brunei, Indonesia, Taiwan, the United States and New Zealand as the destinations for palm oil and logistics sector, Russia as the destination for the oil and gas industry and Japan and Vietnam as the destinations for the wood industry, wood-based furniture industry.
Infrastructure
Sabah's public infrastructure are still lagged behind mostly due to its geographical challenges as the second largest state in Malaysia.
The Sabah Ministry of Infrastructure Development (formerly known as Ministry of Communication and Works) is responsible for all public infrastructure planning and development in the state. To narrow the development gap, the federal government are working to build more infrastructures and improve the already available one.
In 2013, Sabah state government allocates RM1.583 billion for infrastructure and public facilities development, of which the state were allocated another RM4.07 billion by the federal government in 2015 Malaysian Budget. Since the Eight Malaysia Plan (8MP) until 2014, a total of RM11.115 billion has been allocated for various infrastructure projects in the state. Under the Tenth Malaysia Plan (10MP), infrastructure in the rural areas was given attention with the increase of rural water, electricity supply and road coverage. Further large infrastructure allocation were delivered to both Sabah and Sarawak under the 2020 Malaysian Budget which include budget on improving connectivity and developing digital infrastructures for high speed internet in the rural areas.
Energy and water resources
![Kimanis Sabah Kimanis-Power-Plant-03](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4d/Kimanis_Sabah_Kimanis-Power-Plant-03.jpg)
Electricity distribution in the state as well in the
Federal Territory
A federal territory is an administrative division under the direct and usually exclusive jurisdiction of a federation's national government. A federal territory is a part of a federation, but not a part of any federated state. The states constit ...
of
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 capit ...
are operated and managed by the Sabah Electricity Private company limited by shares, Sdn. Bhd. (SESB). Sabah electrics are mostly generated from Diesel generator, diesel power plant, hydropower and combined cycle power plants. The only main hydroelectric plant is the Tenom Pangi Dam.
The combined cycle power plant called Kimanis Power Plant was completed in 2014, supplying 300 Megawatt, MW, with 285 MW nominal capacity.
The plant is a joint venture between Petronas and NRG Consortium that also includes facilities such as pipeline transport, gas pipeline of Sabah–Sarawak Gas Pipeline and a terminal of Sabah Oil and Gas Terminal.
There is another two combined cycle power plants with a capacity of 380 MW operated by Ranhill Holdings Berhad. In 2009, the electricity coverage covers 67% of the state population and by 2011 increase to 80%.
The coverage reach 100% in 2012 after an allocation of RM962.5 million from the federal government were given to expand the coverage under the 2012 Malaysian federal budget, National Budget. The electrical grid is divided into two of West Coast and East Coast which has been integrated since 2007.
The West Coast Grid supplies electricity to Kota Kinabalu, Papar, Beaufort, Keningau, Kota Belud, Kota Marudu, Kudat and Labuan with a capacity of 488.4 MW and maximum demand of 396.5 MW.
While the East Coast Grid supplies electricity to the major towns of Sandakan, Kinabatangan, Lahad Datu, Kunak, Semporna and Tawau with a capacity of 333.02 MW and maximum demand of 203.3 MW.
In 2018, the federal government has announced that Sabah electrical grid will be upgraded to reduce power interruption. Neighbouring Sarawak has also previously announced intention to provide additional electricity power to Sabah with full export will be finalised in 2021. Electrical grid#Interconnectors, Electricity interconnection between Sabah, the Indonesian province of
North Kalimantan
North Kalimantan ( id, Kalimantan Utara) is a province of Indonesia. It is located on the northernmost of Kalimantan, the Indonesian part of the island of Borneo. North Kalimantan borders the Malaysian states of Sabah to the north and Sarawak t ...
and the Philippine province of Palawan as well for the whole Mindanao islands are also in the process as part of the BIMP-EAGA and Borneo-Mindanao power interconnection under the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Power Grid; with the interconnection with Palawan is expected to be commenced in the nearest future. Since 2007, there is an attempt to establish a Fossil-fuel power station, coal power plant in Lahad Datu which receiving opposition from local residents and non-governmental organisations for the pollution that would be caused by the plant. Thus Sabah has start to exploring alternative ways to generate electricity with the usage of renewable energy such as solar energy, solar, small hydro, mini hydro, biomass, geothermal energy, geothermal and micro-algae and tidal power, tidal technologies. The Government of Japan, Japanese government has extended aid totalling RM172,190.93 for the solar electrification project in the island of Larapan Island, Larapan in Sabah's east coast in 2010. In 2016, a research by United States GeothermEx Inc. and Jacobs New Zealand indicated the existence of an active geothermal system centred around the flanks of Mount Maria on Apas Kiri where it is suitable for Malaysia's first geothermal plant. The construction for the first geothermal plant that expected to be completed in 2017 however was abandoned by the previous government in the mid-2016 with no sign of further progress. A South Korean company GS Caltex also sets to built Malaysia's first bio-butanol plant in the state.
![Babagon Sabah Babagon-Dam-02](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c1/Babagon_Sabah_Babagon-Dam-02.jpg)
Piped water supply in the state is managed by the Sabah State Water Department, an agency under the control of Sabah Ministry of Infrastructure Development. Operating with 73 water treatments plants, an average of 1.19 billion litres of water are distributed daily to meet Sabahan residents demands.
The coverage of water supply in major towns has reach 100% while in rural areas, the coverage still around 75% with total public pipes length up to 15,031 kilometres.
Some communities use gravity water systems. The only water supply dam in the state is the Babagon Dam which holds 21,000 million litres of water. To meet the increase demands, another dam named as Kaiduan Dam was being proposed to be built although being met with protest from local villagers who living on the proposed site. Sabah has a natural gas demand of per day at Standard conditions for temperature and pressure, standard conditions in 2013, which increase to per day in 2015. As Malaysia's liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) are much cheaper through the subsidy that was given by the federal government, it was found out in 2015 that around 20,000 LPG cylinders in Sabah east coast were smuggling, smuggled by immigrants from neighbouring Indonesia and the southern Philippines in a monthly basis to their countries that leading to many Sabahans hard to retrieve enough supplies of LPG. As a counter-measure, the Ministry of Domestic Trade, Co-operatives and Consumerism (Malaysia), Malaysian Ministry of Domestic Trade, Co-operatives and Consumerism (MDTCAC) has temporarily cancelled all permits to sell gas cylinders into neighbouring countries with a new policy will be implemented to control such illegal activities.
Telecommunication and broadcasting
![Lahad-Datu Sabah Panoramic-view-from-Tower-of-Heaven-01a](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/84/Lahad-Datu_Sabah_Panoramic-view-from-Tower-of-Heaven-01a.jpg)
Telecommunication in Sabah and Sarawak were originally administered by Posts and Telecommunication Department until 1967,
and maintained by the British Cable & Wireless Communications before all telecommunications management in the state been takeover by Peninsular-based company.
The British telecommunication company have establish a submarine communications cable, submarine cable that linking Kota Kinabalu with Singapore and British Hong Kong, Hong Kong.
Following the expansion of the Peninsular-based company on 1 January 1968, Sabah Posts and Telecommunication Department was merged with the Peninsular telecommunication department to formed Telecommunications Department Malaysia. All operations under Telecommunications Department Malaysia was then transferred to Syarikat Telekom Malaysia Berhad (STM) which become a public listed company in 1991 with the federal government retained a majority shareholding.
There are also other telecommunication companies operating in the state although only providing cellular phone facilities. In 2006, the state has the lowest Direct Exchange Line (DEL) penetration rate, with cellular and internet dial-up penetrations rate only 6.5 per 100 inhabitants.
Most residents from the low income groups would rather use mobile phones internet or use internet at their offices instead of setting up internet access at home due to the expensive cost and slow services.
Until the end of 2014, there were only 934 telecommunication hotspots in Sabah. Due to this, the government are working to increase the penetration and capability of internet connection as well to bridge the gap between Sabah and the Peninsular. From 2016, Unifi (internet service provider), Unifi optical fibre, fibre optic coverage began to expanded to other towns aside from the main city and major towns, alongside Celcom and Maxis Communications, Maxis by the following year with a speed up to 100 Mbit/s. In 2019, Digi Telecommunications, Digi launches its home fibre broadband in Sabah with speed up to 1 Gbit/s. The mobile telecommunications in Sabah are mostly use 4G and 3G and there is also a free rural Wi-Fi services provided by the federal government known as the ''Kampung Tanpa Wayar 1Malaysia'' (KTW) although Malaysia's government-provided public internet speeds are among the slower than many other countries.
![Radio stations advertisement in KK, Sabah](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/2d/Radio_stations_advertisement_in_KK%2C_Sabah.jpg)
The previous state internet traffic are routed through a hub in Malaysia's capital of Kuala Lumpur, passing through a submarine cable connecting the Peninsular with Kota Kinabalu. The systems are considered as costly and inefficient especially due to the price of leasing bandwidth (computing), bandwidth with the large distance.
In 2000, there is a plan to establish Sabah own internet hub but the plan was unreachable due to the high cost and low usage rates in the state. Other alternative plan including using the Brunei internet gateway (telecommunications), gateway in a short term before establishing Sabah own gateway.
By 2016, the federal government has start to establish the first internet gateway for East Malaysia with the laying of 60 terabyte submarine cable which are developed by a private company named Xiddig Cellular Communications Sdn. Bhd. at a cost of about RM850 million through the Private finance initiative, Private Funding Initiative (PFI). Under the 2015 Malaysian Budget project of 1Malaysia Cable System Project (SKR1M), a new submarine cable for high speed internet has been built from Kota Kinabalu to Pahang in the Peninsular which completed in 2017. The 1Malaysia submarine cable system linking the state capital with Miri, Malaysia, Miri, Bintulu and Kuching in Sarawak together with Mersing in Johor with an increase of bandwidth capacity up to 12 terabyte per second. Another submarine cable, the BIMP-EAGA Submarine and Terrestrial (BEST) Cable Project is currently being built from Kota Kinabalu to Tawau to connecting Sabah with Brunei, Kalimantan and Mindanao which will be completed in 2018. In early 2016, a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed between the state government and China's largest networking company, Huawei to set Sabah to become information and communications technology (ICT) hub by leveraging on Huawei's ICT expertise. More free high speed Wi-Fi hotspots are being planned in Sabah, especially to the state capital.
![KotaKinabalu Sabah Broadcasting-Complex-02](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/49/KotaKinabalu_Sabah_Broadcasting-Complex-02.jpg)
Sabah launched its radio service on 9 November 1955, which became a part of Radio Malaysia in 1963 and later part of the bigger Radio Televisyen Malaysia (RTM) in 1969, when Malaysian radio and television operations merged. On 28 December 1971, RTM launched a third TV station solely for Sabah. But following the construction of earth satellite station near Kuantan, Pahang and Kinarut, Sabah for communications and television broadcast via the Intelsat, Indian Ocean Intelsat III satellite and the introduction of TV1 on 30 August 1975 and TV2 on 31 August 1983 in the state, it ceased to air by mid-1985. RTM has four branches in the state - a main office in capital city Kota Kinabalu and three other offices in Keningau, Sandakan and Tawau. The main office produces news and shows for RTM's television channels and operates two state radio channels, namely Sabah FM and Sabah V FM, whereas three other offices operate district radio channels such as Keningau FM, Sandakan FM and Tawau FM.
Other radio channels in the state include KK FM is operated by Universiti Malaysia Sabah, and Bayu FM which is only available through Astro (Malaysian satellite television), Astro, the Malaysian main satellite television. Several newly independent radio station have recently been launched in the state, namely Kupi-Kupi FM in 2016, KK12FM and VOKFM in 2017. Other Peninsular-based radio stations also had set up their offices in the state to tap the emerging market. Sabahan DJs are mostly hired and local state songs will be played to meet Sabahan listeners taste and slang. Television broadcasting in the state is divided into terrestrial television, terrestrial and satellite television. As Malaysia aims for digital television transition, all analog television, analogue signal will be shut down soon. There are two types of free-to-air television provider such as MYTV Broadcasting (digital terrestrial) and Astro NJOI (satellite). On the other hand, IPTV is available via the Unifi TV through Unifi fibre optic internet subscription. The state first established newspaper is the Sabah Times (rebranded as the New Sabah Times), founded by Fuad Stephens, who became the first Chief Minister of Sabah. Other main newspapers include the independent Daily Express (Malaysia), Daily Express, Overseas Chinese Daily News, the Sarawak-based The Borneo Post, the Peninsular-based Sin Chew Daily and the Brunei-based Borneo Bulletin.
Transportation
![Kota Kinabalu Highway, Sabah](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4f/Kota_Kinabalu_Highway%2C_Sabah.jpg)
Sabah has a total of road network in 2016, of which are sealed road. Before the formation of Malaysia, the state together with Sarawak only has rudimentary road systems. Most trunk roads was then constructed from the 1970s until the 1980s under the World Bank loans. In 2005, 61% of road coverage in the state were still gravel road, gravel and unpaved, comprising Malaysian Federal Roads system, federal roads and Malaysian State Roads system, state roads, of which are sealed while the remaining were gravel and unpaved roads.
This led to great disparity between roads in the state with those in the Peninsular, with only 38.9% are sealed while 89.4% have been sealed in the Peninsular. Due to this, SDC was implemented to expand the road coverage in Sabah along with the construction of Pan-Borneo Highway. Since the 9MP, various road projects has been undertaken under the SDC and around RM50 million has been spent to repairs Sabah main roads since the 8MP.
The high cost to repair roads frequently has led the Sabah state government to find other alternative ways to connecting every major districts by tunnelling roads through highlands which will also saving time and fuel as the distance being shortened as well to bypass landslides. In early 2016, the expansion project of Pan-Borneo Highway has been launched to expand the road size from single carriageway to four-lane road, while city highway been expand from four-lane to eight-lane as well with the construction of new routes which will connect the state with Sarawak, Brunei and the Trans Kalimantan Highway in Indonesia. The project is divided into two packages: the first package covering the West Coast area will complete in 2021, while the second covering the East Coast area will finish in 2022.
All state roads are maintained under the state's Public Works Department, while federal roads maintained by the national Malaysian Public Works Department, Public Works Department.
![Boats and ferries in Kota Kinabalu, Sabah](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/22/Boats_and_ferries_in_Kota_Kinabalu%2C_Sabah.jpg)
Sabah uses a dual carriageway with the left- and right-hand traffic, left-hand traffic rule.
All major towns in Sabah provide public transportation services such as buses, taxis and vans along with Grab (company), Grab services. The KK Sentral operating express bus services from the city to Beaufort, Malaysia, Beaufort, Sipitang, Menumbok, Lawas 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 ...
. The BRT Kota Kinabalu is currently under construction to provide bus rapid transit (BRT) system in Sabah's capital. A rail transport through the Western Sabah Railway Line, Western Line operated by the Sabah State Railway provides daily services for commuters, travellers, as well as for cargo transportation. A separate company owned by Sutera Harbour known as the North Borneo Railway operates leisure tour for tourists. The train station and terminal is located in Tanjung Aru railway station, Tanjung Aru, not far from the city airport. Other main stations including in Papar railway station (Malaysia), Papar, Beaufort railway station, Sabah, Beaufort and Tenom railway station, Tenom. The current Aeropod projects on the main station in Tanjung Aru will modernise the station and provide a provision for future light rail, light rail transit (LRT). In early 2016, the state government has purchased a new diesel multiple unit (DMU) for about RM8 million to replace the old train used between Beaufort and Tenom while the rail line from Halogilat and Tenom will be upgrading by the federal government at the cost of RM99.5 million along with the arrival of another three DMUs that will be received in early 2018. Kota Kinabalu International Airport is the main gateway to Sabah.
In 2005, the Malaysian federal government approved major renovation and refurbishment works to the main terminal (Terminal 1) as well as a runway expansion with construction began in 2006. As a result of the expansion, the airport is able to accommodate large passenger aircraft such as the Boeing 747.
It has also become the second busiest airport in
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 ...
, after Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA) in West Malaysia.
In 2018, the Malaysia Airlines conducts test flight for its new long-range capability passenger aircraft of Airbus A350 to the airport from Kuala Lumpur as a replacement to the largest aircraft of Airbus A380 since it is too large for Malaysian aviation markets. Other smaller airports in Sabah including Kudat Airport, Lahad Datu Airport, Sandakan Airport and Tawau Airport. Layang-Layang Airport in Swallow Reef served as a military and civilian airport. Three airlines fly from Peninsular Malaysia to Sabah: Malaysia Airlines, AirAsia, and Malindo Air. Sabah Air is a helicopter air charter, chartered flight company owned by the Sabah state government, serving flights for aerial sightseeing to interested customers as well for the transportation of state government servants.
![KotaKinabalu Sabah KKIA-01](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/eb/KotaKinabalu_Sabah_KKIA-01.jpg)
Sabah has a total of eight ports operating in Sepanggar, Kota Kinabalu, Sandakan, Tawau, Kudat, Kunak and Lahad Datu.
The Sapangar Bay Container Port is the main transshipment hub for the BIMP-EAGA region. Another port, the Sapangar Bay Oil Terminal is the main terminal for refined petroleum products and liquid chemical in the West Coast. Kota Kinabalu Port remain as a general cargo port. While all ports in the northern and eastern Sabah served to handle palm oil related products such as fertiliser, palm kernel as well for general cargo.
Ferry service in the West Coast side provide trips to Labuan from the Jesselton Point Waterfront and Menumbok Ferry Terminal in Kuala Penyu. In the East Coast, the service are provided from the Tawau Ferry Terminal to Nunukan and Tarakan, North Kalimantan, Tarakan in Kalimantan, Indonesia. There is also ferry services from Sandakan to Zamboanga City and a new one that was planned from Kudat to Buliluyan, Bataraza of Palawan in the Philippines, but both services were terminated at the moment due to lack of security enforcement from the Philippine side prior to the persistent attack by pirates and kidnapping by militant groups based in the Sulu Archipelago of the southern Philippines. The planned ferry service from Kudat to Palawan was restored on 1 February 2017 after the increasing of security enforcement from the Philippines side,
but were postponed again until present mainly due to both ferry operators from Malaysia and the Philippines facing difficulties in complying with the necessary requirements and permits imposed by both national and state authorities.
Healthcare
![KotaKinabalu Sabah Gleneagles-Hospital-01](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/04/KotaKinabalu_Sabah_Gleneagles-Hospital-01.jpg)
Sabah has four major government hospitals: Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Kota Kinabalu, Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Queen Elizabeth Hospital II, Duchess of Kent Hospital and Tawau Hospital followed by 13 other government districts hospitals,
[See List of hospitals in Malaysia.] women and children hospital, mental hospital, public health clinics, 1Malaysia#1Malaysia clinics, 1Malaysia clinics and rural clinics. Besides government-owned hospitals and clinics, there are also a number of private hospitals such as: Gleneagles Kota Kinabalu Hospital, Gleneagles Kota Kinabalu, KPJ Sabah Specialist Hospital, KPJ Specialist Hospital, Damai Specialist Centre (DSC), Rafflesia Specialist Centre (RSC) and Jesselton Medical Centre (JMC).
There is also an addiction treatment facility known as Solace Sabah in the state capital to treat problems related to alcoholism and addiction, drug addiction.
In 2011, the state's doctor-patient ratio was 1:2,480 – lower than the World Health Organization (WHO) recommendation of 1 doctor to 600 patients. Because of the heavy workload and lack of interest from younger graduates, Sabah is facing the shortage of doctors. Many doctors who once served under the government hospitals have decided to move to private hospitals instead because of the heavy workload with low salaries in government hospitals although private hospitals won't easily recruiting them with some applications have been turned down.
Thus to prevent the continuous shortage of doctors, the federal government has initiated various measure to produce more physicians with massive funds has been allocated to healthcare sector in every year country budget.
Education
![KotaKinabalu-Universiti-Malaysia-Sabah-LamanCanselori-1](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b8/KotaKinabalu-Universiti-Malaysia-Sabah-LamanCanselori-1.jpg)
All primary and secondary schools are under the jurisdiction and observation of the Sabah State Education Department, under the guidance of the national Ministry of Education (Malaysia), Ministry of Education. The oldest schools in Sabah are: St. Michael's Secondary School, St. Michael's School Sandakan (1886), SM St. Michael, Penampang, St. Michael's School Penampang (1888), All Saints' School, Likas (1903) and St. Patrick's School Tawau (1917). Based on 2013 statistics, Sabah has a total of 207 government secondary schools, five international schools (comprising Charis International School, Kinabalu International School, Sayfol International School, as well the Indonesian School of Kota Kinabalu and Japanese School of Kota Kinabalu). and nine Chinese independent high school, Chinese independent schools. Sabah has a considerable number of indigenous students enrolled in Chinese schools.
Sabah state government also emphasises pre-school education in the state. This was followed with the aid from Sabah Foundation (Yayasan Sabah) and Nestlé who helped to establish pre-schools in the state. Sabah has two public universities: Universiti Malaysia Sabah (UMS) and Universiti Teknologi MARA (UiTM). Universiti Tun Abdul Razak (UNIRAZAK) has set up their regional centre in Kota Kinabalu. As of 2016, there is around 15 private colleges, two private university colleges together with other newly established colleges. In 1960, the overall literacy rate in North Borneo was only 24%. The recent findings in 2011 found the literacy rate have increase to 79%. Most of secondary schools leavers also did not continue their studies after completing their Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia (SPM) mainly due to financial burden as well because of the lack of interest and confidence to continue their studies in local higher learning institutes, with a survey in 2015 saw only 16,000 out of more than 20,000 secondary schools leavers continuing their studies.
![Sandakan Sabah School-boys-in-their-school-uniform-01](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/5d/Sandakan_Sabah_School-boys-in-their-school-uniform-01.jpg)
In early 2016, Sabah had a total number of 42,047 teachers teaching in various pre-schools, primary and secondary schools. Following the decentralisation of power from the federal government to state government as well to improve the education in the state, there has been a target to reach 90% of teachers from Sabahans itself. Sabah State Library are the main public library in the state. There is another 11 Indonesian schools (beside the main Indonesian school in the state capital) spreading across Sabah mainly for Indonesian migrants children residing in the state. Since 2014, Filipino migrants children also have been enrolled to recently established Alternative Learning Centre (ALC) that was set-up by Filipinos in Malaysia, Filipino volunteers in Sabah with a collaboration with various local non-governmental organisations (NGO).
Demography
Ethnicity and immigration
According to the 2020 Malaysian census, the population of Sabah stands at 3,418,785, making Sabah the third most populous state in Malaysia with the highest non-citizen population at 810,443. However, as Malaysia is one of the population density, least densely populated countries in Asia, Sabah is particularly sparsely populated with most of the population concentrated in the coastal areas since towns and urban centres have massively expanded. People from Sabah are generally called Sabahans and identify themselves as such. There are an estimated 42 ethnic groups with over 200 sub-ethnic groups with separate own languages, cultures and belief systems. The three largest indigenous groups in Sabah are the Kadazan-Dusun,
Bajau
The Sama-Bajau include several Austronesian ethnic groups of Maritime Southeast Asia. The name collectively refers to related people who usually call themselves the Sama or Samah (formally A'a Sama, "Sama people"); or are known by the exonym ...
and the Murut people, Murut. There are large Malays (ethnic group), Malay, Suluk people, Suluk and other Bumiputera (Malaysia), Bumiputera ethnic minorities,
while the Malaysian Chinese, Chinese makes up the main non-indigenous population.
High migration to the state was noticeable in the 1970s, when hundreds of thousands of Refugees of the Philippines, Filipino refugees, mostly the Moro people, Moros, began arriving due to the Moro conflict in the Philippines, Moro conflict in the county. There are also Indonesians in Malaysia, Indonesian labourers from Kalimantan, Sulawesi and Lesser Sunda Islands. Consequently, Non-Malaysian citizen comprises more than a fifth of the total Sabah population based on 2020 census. The arrival of uncontrollable illegal immigration have cause major impact on political, economic and socio-cultural problem particularly on local indigenous peoples. The arrival of these illegal immigrants and the slow economic growth have forced Sabahans to immigrate to Peninsular Malaysia or overseas to find better paying jobs and income opportunities.
Religion
Islam
Islam (; ar, ۘالِإسلَام, , ) is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic Monotheism#Islam, monotheistic religion centred primarily around the Quran, a religious text considered by Muslims to be the direct word of God in Islam, God (or ...
is the predominant religion in Sabah, although its society remained secularism, secular. In the 2020 census, the percentage of Muslims was around 69.6%, while that of Christianity, Christians was 24.7% and that of Buddhism, Buddhists 5.1%.
In 1960, the population percentage of Muslims was only 37.9%, roughly the same as Animism, Animists (33.3%), while the percentage of Christians was 16.6% and those of other religions 12.2%. The increase was mainly contributed through the uncontrolled high immigration rate and controversial mass conversions in recent decades.
According to the COLONY OF NORTH BORNEO ANNUAL REPORT, 1960, notes that many indigenous groups maintained pagan beliefs, while coastal areas were majority Muslim. Other religions mentioned were traditional Chinese beliefs and various Christian denominations. Many indigenous groups saw conversions to Christianity, in part due to cultural compatibility such as having no ban on pork.
Several other religions, such as Chinese folk religion as well as the Indian religions of Hinduism and Sikhism, are also practised in the state.
Languages
Malay
Malay may refer to:
Languages
* Malay language or Bahasa Melayu, a major Austronesian language spoken in Indonesia, Malaysia, Brunei and Singapore
** History of the Malay language, the Malay language from the 4th to the 14th century
** Indonesi ...
is the main language spoken in the state, although with a different Sabah Malay, creole from Sarawak Malay and Peninsular Malay. The state has its own slang for Malay which originated either from indigenous words,
Brunei Malay
The Brunei Malay language, or Kedayan (, Jawi alphabet, Jawi: ) is the most widely spoken language in Brunei and a lingua franca in some parts of East Malaysia, Sarawak and Sabah, such as Labuan, Limbang, Lawas, Sipitang and Papar.Clynes, A. (20 ...
, Suluk, Cocos Malay and Indonesian language. The indigenous languages of Sabah can be divided into four language families of Dusunic languages, Dusunic, Murutic languages, Murutic, Paitanic languages, Paitanic and Sama–Bajaw languages, Sama–Bajau. The indigenous languages however facing extinction due to widespread use of Malay language particularly in home as parents often see the indigenous language as inconvenient especially in job related. However as awareness for the indigenous language becoming more obvious, more modern parents insist on passing down their mother tongue language. As the Hakka forms the majority of Chinese in Sabah, the Hakka dialect is the most commonly spoken Chinese dialect in the state apart from Cantonese and Hokkien dialects.
Following the change of the government after the 2018 general election, the new Sabah government has stated that there is no restriction on the usage of English language, English in the state, adding that even if the Education Ministry stated that it is unlawful for English be used in Sabah, the restrictions will not be allowed to be imposed in the state, and that the state government will undo the previous improper law since the restrictions will only cause more damage to their younger generations especially when they need to work in private firms or organisations that require English proficiency. The new state government also stated that they will look into the matters if there is a need for a change in the state law.
Culture
![Kota Kinabalu Sabah NationalDepartmentOfCultureAndArts-SabahBranch-01](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/79/Kota_Kinabalu_Sabah_NationalDepartmentOfCultureAndArts-SabahBranch-01.jpg)
Sabah culture is diverse due to a wide range of different ethnicity.
In the coastal areas, Sabahan culture has been influenced by the Bruneian Malays and West Coast Bajaus on the west coast side while in the east coast it is influenced by either East Coast Bajau, Bugis, and Suluk cultures with Islam being the important part of their lives.
Christianity plays an important part to the indigenous cultures in the interior side in the daily lives of the Kadazan-Dusun, Lundayeh, Murut and Rungus beside their old practice of the traditional Animism and Paganism.
The indigenous culture however are in danger and facing extinction due to widespread cultural assimilation from Peninsular to the state. Controversial Malayisation take place in the state since Malaya-based political parties took over the Sabah Government.
There is a number of cultural villages exhibiting Sabah indigenous cultures such as the Borneo Cultural Village, Mari Mari Cultural Village and Monsopiad Cultural Village, where cultural performances are also performed. Sabah Museum houses a number of collection of various artifact (archaeology), artefacts, brassware and ceramics covering the diverse culture of Sabah, natural history, Timeline of international trade, trade history and Muslim world, Islamic civilisation together with an ethnobotanical garden and science and technology centre. Other museums include the Agop Batu Tulug Museum, Agnes Newton Keith, Agnes Keith House, Sandakan Heritage Museum, Teck Guan Cocoa Museum and 3D Wonders Museum. There is also a number of preserved British, German and Japanese colonial architecture such as the Atkinson Clock Tower, Batu Tinagat Lighthouse, Jesselton Hotel, ruins of Kinarut Mansion, the Sabah Tourism Board building, Tawau Bell Tower together with a number of memorials and monuments. Other unique tourist attractions include the ''Rumah Terbalik'' (Upside Down House) and Borneo Ant House.
File:Salarom Sabah Frame-of-a-new-house-01.jpg, alt=The wooden frame of a house under construction, with the floor raised off the ground, A traditional house under construction
File:Tambulian KotaBelud Sabah Traditional-houses-02.jpg, Bajau
The Sama-Bajau include several Austronesian ethnic groups of Maritime Southeast Asia. The name collectively refers to related people who usually call themselves the Sama or Samah (formally A'a Sama, "Sama people"); or are known by the exonym ...
house
File:Bisaya House.JPG, Bisaya (Borneo), Bisaya house
File:KotaKinabalu Sabah Rumah-Brunei-01.jpg, Bruneian Malay people, Brunei Malay house
File:Kanibongan Sabah Longhouse-01.jpg, Dusun
Dusun is the collective name of a tribe or ethnic and linguistic group in the Malaysian state of Sabah of North Borneo. Collectively, they form the largest ethnic group in Sabah. Dusun has been recognised as among the indigenous community of ...
longhouse
File:Iranun House.JPG, Illanun people, Illanun house
File:Lotud House.JPG, Lotud house
Fine arts and crafts
![KgKuaiKandazon Sabah Monsopiad-Cultural-Village-DansePerformance-10](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/82/KgKuaiKandazon_Sabah_Monsopiad-Cultural-Village-DansePerformance-10.jpg)
Handicraft and souvenir productions are part of the tourism products in Sabah. In addition, the Sabah Crafts Exotica programme has been held annually since 2011 in different small local museums. Following the various initiatives by state government to encourage local entrepreneurs for state handicrafts, there were a total of 526 entrepreneurs in 2012 which increased to 1,483 in 2013 and 1,702 in 2014 with total sales value up from RM31 million to RM56 million.
![Tambunan Sabah Roundabout-with Sompoton](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e0/Tambunan_Sabah_Roundabout-with_Sompoton.jpg)
Every ethnic groups in Sabah are known for their traditional music instruments, the coastal people of Bajau, Brunei Malays, Bugis, Illanun, Kedayan and Suluks known for their gendang, rebana, kompang and kulintangan; while the interior people such as the Dusun known with their bungkau,
sompoton
Sompoton or Sumpotan, is a mouth organ made from a gourd with bamboo pipes in northern Borneo. It originated in the state of Sabah and is played by indigenous men and women in Sabah, especially by the Kadazan-Dusun and Murut.
Description
A som ...
and turali, the Lun Bawang/Lun Dayeh with their bass, the Kadazan with their tongkungon, the Murut with their tagunggak, the Rungus with their sundatang, tontog and turuding;
suling is mostly played by all the interior ethnic groups of Kadazan-Dusun, Murut, Rungus and Lun Bawang/Lun Dayeh in the state. Every ethnic groups also known for their traditional dances; both Kadazan-Dusun were known for their ''Sumazau'' dance, the Murut with their ''Magunatip'', the Rungus with their ''Mongigol Sumundai'',
The Lun Bawang/Lun Dayeh with their ''Alai Busak Baku'', the Brunei Malays with their ''Adai-Adai'', the West Coast Bajau with their ''Limbai'' and ''Kuda Pasu'', the East Coast Bajau and Suluk with their ''Pangalay'' (also known as ''Daling-Daling'' or ''Mengalai''), Bisaya with their ''Liliput'' and the Cocos Malays with their ''Dansa'' and ''Nona Mansaya'' along with many other dances from other sub-ethnic groups. Beside that, the state of Sabah is also known for Malaysian batik, batik production though the industry are still small than the major batik producer states in the east coast of Peninsular Malaysia. The state batik has since been commercialised to enter the international market.
Cuisine
![Swordfish hinava](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/58/Swordfish_hinava.jpg)
Notable dishes in Sabah include the Beaufort mee,
bosou, hinava, ngiu chap, pinasakan, Sipitang satay, Tuaran mee,
tuhau, the bambangan fruit (''mangifera pajang'') along with many others. Apart from these, Sabah also features a number of snacks like amplang, cincin, lidah, roti kahwin, Unidentified flying object, UFOs pinjaram and Sandakan tart and dessert like lamban, nuba tingaa, punjung, sinamu and Tuaran coconut pudding. Every ethnic group has its own cuisine with different styles of preparing, cooking, serving and eating the food. Examples of Sabah-based companies promoting dairy product and state drinks are like the Desa Cattle, Tenom coffee and Sabah Tea. The indigenous people features a number of alcoholic drinks such as bahar, kinomol, lihing, montoku, sagantang, sikat and tuak; with the state itself becoming the third-highest in alcohol consumption in the country after Kuala Lumpur and Sarawak. The English Tea House and Restaurant in Sandakan is another attraction promoting the Tea in the United Kingdom, British tea culture. Other international shops and restaurants such as for Western food, Middle Eastern food, Bruneian food, Indonesian food, Filipino food, Japanese food, Korean food, Taiwanese food, Thai food and Vietnamese food have their presence there. The increasing number of tourists on the purpose of culinary tourism has since raised the local awareness on the importance of local food to state tourism.
Portrayal in media
![BNB-OfficialGazette-1892-04-16](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/51/BNB-OfficialGazette-1892-04-16.jpg)
Much of the information of the territory was kept in the records of Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society (since 1820) and British North Borneo Herald (since 1883). Joseph Hatton published one of the earliest book titled "North Borneo – Explorations and Adventures in the Equator" (1886) based on the exploration notes leave by his son Frank Hatton who served under the
North Borneo Chartered 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). ...
, his son was accidentally killed during his journey in Segama River on North Borneo. Ada Pryer wrote a book about her life in North Borneo titled "A Decade in Borneo" (1894, re-issued 2001) as her husband, William Burgess Pryer, William Pryer also served for the North Borneo Chartered Company. The earliest known footage of North Borneo is from three American movies by Martin and Osa Johnson titled "Jungle Adventures" (1921), "Jungle Depths of Borneo" (1937) and "Borneo" (1937). Australian author Wendy Law Suart lived in North Borneo capital between 1949 and 1953 and wrote a book titled "The Lingering Eye – Recollections of North Borneo" based on her experiences there.
![3CameHomePoster](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/21/3CameHomePoster.jpg)
An English author K.G. Tregonning wrote a book about his travel to Jesselton from Singapore in a book titled "North Borneo" (1960). Various other American films have been taken in the state, such as the "Three Came Home" (1950), a Cinema of the United States, Hollywood film based on the memoir of Agnes Newton Keith in her book depicting the situation of World War II in Sandakan.
Keith also wrote three other books about the state, such as "Land Below the Wind", "White Man Returns" and "Beloved Exiles". A Japanese film called "Sandakan No. 8" (1974) directed by Kei Kumai tells the story of prostitution by ''Karayuki-san'' in Sandakan Japanese brothel based on the 1972 book ''Sandakan Brothel No. 8: An Episode in the History of Lower-Class'' by Yamazaki Tomoko. In the Earl Mac Rauch novelisation of the American "The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension, Buckaroo Banzai" novel (Pocket Books, 1984; repr. 2001), as well in the DVD film, Buckaroo Banzai (character), Buckaroo's archenemy Hanoi Xan is said to have his secret base in Sabah, in a "relic city of caves". "Bat*21" (1988), another American film depicting the Vietnam War was shot at various locations in the suburbs north of Kota Kinabalu, including Menggatal, Telipok, Kayu Madang and Lapasan. Another English author Redmond O'Hanlon also wrote a book titled "Into the Heart of Borneo" (1984) about Borneo island. While Sydney-based Australian author Lynette Ramsay Silver wrote two books about the history of Sabah such as "Sandakan – A Conspiracy of Silence" (1998) and "Blood Brothers – Sabah and Australia 1942–1945" (2010). In early 2016, a "Roll of Honour" immortalising 2,479 British and Australian soldiers who died in Sabah during the World War II has been presented by a British Royal Artillery veteran to Sabah State Tourism, Culture and Environment Department, the roll lists a record of the identity of every
prisoner of war
A prisoner of war (POW) is a person who is held captive by a belligerent power during or immediately after an armed conflict. The earliest recorded usage of the phrase "prisoner of war" dates back to 1610.
Belligerents hold prisoners of wa ...
(POW) during the Sandakan Death March. In 2017, an English woman named Mary Christina Lewin (Tina Rimmer) who had lived in North Borneo since 1949, was given the ‘Sabah Cultural Icon’ as the first person to receive the award for her lifelong contribution to the people in the territory and her biggest role as educationist and artist who portrayed the life scene of North Borneo through her artworks.
Following the beginning of Malaysian films in 1970s along with the foundation of Sabah Film Production, several local films have been produced and filmed in the state by the state production, among those are "Keluarga Si Comat" (1975) and "Hapuslah Air Matamu" (1976) (produced with a collaboration with Indonesian Film Production). Abu Bakar Ellah (popularly known as Ampal) then became the leading artist of Sabah comedy film with his film titled "Orang Kita". In the present day, state-produced dramas and documentaries are usually aired either on TVi (Malaysia), TVi, TV1 (Malaysia), TV1 or TV2 (Malaysia), TV2 while state musics aired on radios through Bayu FM, Kupi-Kupi FM, Sabah FM and Sabah vFM. Sabah was featured in the British popular reality show of "Survivor: Borneo" and the American show of "Eco-Challenge Borneo" in 2000. In 2001, the state was featured in a 2001 Filipino documentary titled "Sabah: Ang Bagong Amerika?" by Vicky Morales on the story of Filipino immigrants from the Sulu Archipelago escaping Poverty in the Philippines, poverty and starvation in the Philippines by entering Sabah illegally to earn livehood but facing risk being caught, tortured and deported as Malaysian laws are getting strict on illegal migration. In 2003, the state was featured on "The Amazing Race 4, The Amazing Race" for the first time as well on a 2009 Hong Kong drama of "Born Rich (TV series), Born Rich". The state was also featured in a 2014 American documentary of "Sacred Planet" and featured again in a new edition of "The Amazing Race 24, The Amazing Race" as well on a Korean reality show programme titled the "Law of the Jungle (TV series), Law of the Jungle", both in 2014. In early 2017, Cinema of Hong Kong, Hong Kong film industry once again choose Sabah as one of the location for a new romance film titled "She Will Be Loved".
Holidays and festivals
![KotaKinabalu Sabah Borneo-Bug-Fest-2016-01](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/0d/KotaKinabalu_Sabah_Borneo-Bug-Fest-2016-01.jpg)
Sabahans observe a number of holidays and festivals throughout the year. Apart from the national Independence Day (Malaysia), Independence Day, Malaysia Day celebrations and the State Governor's birthday, Sabah has start to celebrates North Borneo Self-government Day, Sabah Self-government Day on 31 August. Every ethnic groups celebrate their own festivals and the culture of open house (''rumah terbuka'') with the visits of families and friends from other races and religion are a norm especially with the interracial marriage between different ethnic groups of different background.
Sabah are the only state in Malaysia to declare the Kaamatan celebration a public holiday. Both Sabah and Sarawak are also the only two states in Malaysia that declare Good Friday a public holiday.
Many festivals are being held annually in Sabah such as the Bon festival#Bon Odori, Bon Odori Festival, Sabah Jazz, Borneo Bird Festival, Borneo Bug Fest, Borneo Eco Film Festival, Kota Kinabalu Food Fest, Kota Kinabalu Jazz Festival, Sabah Dragon Boat Festival, Sabah Fest, Sabah International Folklore Festival and Sabah Sunset Music Festival.
Sports
![Kota-Kinabalu Sabah Borneo-International-Marathon-2015-03](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/75/Kota-Kinabalu_Sabah_Borneo-International-Marathon-2015-03.jpg)
North Borneo sent its own teams to participate in the North Borneo at the 1956 Summer Olympics, 1956 Summer Olympic Games, 1958 British Empire and Commonwealth Games, 1958 and 1962 British Empire and Commonwealth Games, as well on the 1962 Asian Games before its athletes started representing Malaysia after 1963. To produce more athletes and to improve and raise the standard of sports in the state after Sabah became part of Malaysia, the Sabah State Sports Council was established in 1972. In addition, the Sabah Sports and Cultural Board Sports was created on 1 September 1976 before being frozen in December 1978 for more than two years until 1 January 1981 due to specific reasons.
On 31 December 1996, the board been split into Sport Authority of Sabah and Sabah Cultural Board with a new board been established as the Sabah Sports Board that was maintained until present.
Sabah became the host of SUKMA Games in 2002 Sukma Games, 2002 and had recently been crowned overall champions of the 2022 Para SUKMA Games. The state also sending its teams to represent Malaysia at the Southeast Asian Games. Beside focusing to main sports, Sabah also features 11 traditional sports.
![KotaKinabalu Sabah LikasStadium-07](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e6/KotaKinabalu_Sabah_LikasStadium-07.jpg)
There are 12 sports complex within the state together with three main stadiums. Likas Stadium is the main stadium for the state football association of Sabah F.C. (Malaysia), Sabah FA, followed by Penampang Stadium and Tawau Stadium. Sabah FA was founded in 1963 with the association have won one title each on the Malaysia FA Cup in 1995, Malaysia Premier League in Liga Perdana (1994–97), 1996 and 2019 Malaysia Premier League, 2019, President Cup Malaysia in 1999, 13 titles in the past Borneo Cup and 11 titles in the women's football Tun Sharifah Rodziah Cup. The association was returned to private sector in early 1996, which had long under the purview of the state government. But following the argument between the association and Sabah Sports Board, Sabah FA was suspended by the state sports council on 15 January 1998 and the management was put under the Ministry of Youth and Sports (Malaysia), national sport ministry.
The move was seen as breaching FIFA rules that stated there should be no government interference on football organisations.
The persistent problems plaguing the Sabah FA since 1980s have significantly deteriorating the team performances and demoralising players in addition to the scandals that have embroiling the Malaysian football in 1994. In 2019, both Sabah and Sarawak Sports Ministries work together to establish the East Malaysia Sports Commission to facilitate the organisation of more sports programmes in the two territories including other places in the Borneo islands. With the increase of youth interests on e-sports, Sabah government also targeting to develop the sports as part of the tourism development in the state.
International relations
Sabah is a sister state/province to Jiangxi, Jiangxi Province in China, and Ratchaburi Province in Thailand.
See also
* List of people from Sabah
Notes
References
External links
*
Sabahat Sabah Tourism Board
Laws of Sabah
Sabahat Lonely Planet
{{Authority control
Sabah,
Borneo
States of Malaysia
Former British colonies and protectorates in Asia
British North Borneo
Malay-speaking countries and territories
Maritime Southeast Asia