Semporna ( ms, Pekan Semporna) is the capital of the
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 ...
in the
Tawau Division
Tawau Division ( ms, Bahagian Tawau) is one of the five administrative sub-divisions of Sabah, Malaysia. It occupies a total of 14,905 square kilometres or 20% of Sabah's territory. The main towns include the capital of Tawau, Lahad Datu, Kunak ...
of
Sabah
Sabah () is a States and federal territories of Malaysia, state of Malaysia located in northern Borneo, in the region of East Malaysia. Sabah borders the Malaysian state of Sarawak to the southwest and the North Kalimantan province of Indone ...
,
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 ...
. Its population was estimated to be around 35,301 in 2010.
History
![OldSemporna](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/12/OldSemporna.jpg)
Semporna was founded soon after the
British 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) ...
established
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 initially settled by
Chinese
Chinese can refer to:
* Something related to China
* Chinese people, people of Chinese nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity
**''Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic concept of the Chinese nation
** List of ethnic groups in China, people of va ...
traders, most fleeing from Spanish attacks on the Sulu Sultanate. Before being named "Semporna", this area was known as "Tong Talun" in
Bajau language
Bajaw is the language of the Bajaw, widely known as the ' sea gypsies' of Maritime Southeast Asia. Differences exist between the language's varieties in western Sabah, Mapun (previously Cagayan de Tawi-Tawi/Sulu) in southern Philippines, easter ...
which means "Hujung Hutan" in
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 ...
or "at the end of the forest" in English.
Panglima Uddang, Panglima Sallehangni and Panglima Sakti of ''Bajaus Kubang'' ancestry were responsible for this name.
Governor Treacher renamed the place "Labuan Semporna" which is Malay for "perfect anchorage" but the word Labuan was subsequently dropped. Other sources translate "Semporna" as "Peaceful Place".
Including other parts of eastern Sabah, this area was ruled by 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) ...
before being handed over to the British North Borneo Chartered Company in 1876 by agreement.
From that time on the area came under permanent British administration.
Other western powers, including the Dutch, tried to conquer this area in June 1876 but were repelled by the British presence here.
![District-Semporna Sabah Semporna-Kunak-Road-01](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/1d/District-Semporna_Sabah_Semporna-Kunak-Road-01.jpg)
This area also was long a main landing point for
pirates
Piracy is an act of robbery or criminal violence by ship or boat-borne attackers upon another ship or a coastal area, typically with the goal of stealing cargo and other valuable goods. Those who conduct acts of piracy are called pirates, v ...
.
Very few people lived on the coasts for fear of these marauders,
as they roamed the seas, kidnapping, raiding and killing.
Action by Sir
James Brooke
Sir James Brooke, Rajah of Sarawak (29 April 1803 – 11 June 1868), was a British soldier and adventurer who founded the Raj of Sarawak in Borneo. He ruled as the first White Rajah of Sarawak from 1841 until his death in 1868.
Brooke was bor ...
, and other western colonial powers such as the Dutch and Spanish, managed to successfully combat the pirates over the course of the 1800s.
Upon the advent of the Chartered Company in the early 1880s, only one pirate stronghold remained at
Omadal island, which was defeated by ''
HMS Zephyr
Nine ships of the Royal Navy have been named HMS ''Zephyr'' after Zephyrus, the Greek god of the west wind:
* HMS ''Zephyr'', originally the sloop HMS ''Merlin'', was captured by a French privateer in 1757. The British recaptured her in 1757 and ...
'' in 1886.
By mid 1887, a trading station on the southern side of the entrance to Darvel Bay was established.
With pirates having recently destroyed the settlement of
Maimbung
Maimbung, officially the Municipality of Maimbung ( Tausūg: كاومن سين ماءيمبوڠ; tl, Bayan ng Maimbung), is a 5th class municipality in the province of Sulu, Philippines. According to the 2020 census, it has a population of 59,597 ...
in Sulu, some of the Chinese merchants there asked for permission to settle in the Company's territory, under the rule of law and its resulting security.
Semporna was the site of a small-scale migration of
Chavacano
Chavacano or Chabacano is a group of Spanish-based creole language varieties spoken in the Philippines. The variety spoken in Zamboanga City, located in the southern Philippine island group of Mindanao, has the highest concentration of speakers. ...
speakers from
Zamboanga, fleeing the
Malaysia-funded Moro Conflict between Muslim rebels and the Philippine government. These Chavacanos speak a Creole of Mexican-Spanish and are partially descended from Peruvian settlers mixed with indigenous Filipinos
["SECOND BOOK OF THE SECOND PART OF THE CONQUESTS OF THE FILIPINAS ISLANDS, AND CHRONICLE OF THE RELIGIOUS OF OUR FATHER, ST. AUGUSTINE"](_blank)
(Zamboanga City History)
"He (Governor Don Sebastían Hurtado de Corcuera) brought a great reënforcements of soldiers, many of them from Perú, as he made his voyage to Acapulco from that kingdom." from the former Rajahnate of
Sanmalan
The polity of Sanmalan is a precolonial Philippine state centered on what is now Zamboanga. Labeled in Chinese annals as "Sanmalan" 三麻蘭. The Chinese recorded a year 1011 tribute from its Rajah or King, Chulan, who was represented at the i ...
.
Reading Song-Ming Records on the Pre-colonial History of the Philippines
By Kansai University
Geography
Semporna is located at the tip of Semporna Peninsula around Lahad Datu Bay (also known as 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 ...
), and is visited by tourists as a base for scuba diving
Scuba diving is a mode of underwater diving whereby divers use breathing equipment that is completely independent of a surface air supply. The name "scuba", an acronym for "Self-Contained Underwater Breathing Apparatus", was coined by Chris ...
or snorkelling trips to Pulau Sipadan
Sipadan ( ms, Pulau Sipadan) is the only oceanic island in Malaysia, rising from the seabed. It is located in the Celebes Sea off the east coast of Sabah, Malaysia. It was formed by living corals growing on top of an extinct volcanic cone that ...
(Sipadan Island), some 36 kilometres southeast of town.
Climate
Semporna has a tropical rainforest climate
A tropical rainforest climate, humid tropical climate or equatorial climate is a tropical climate sub-type usually found within 10 to 15 degrees latitude of the equator. There are some other areas at higher latitudes, such as the coast of southea ...
(Af) with heavy rainfall year-round.
Demographics
The majority of the population is 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 ...
, many of whom live in sprawling stilt villages over the water on the outskirts of town. Thousands of Bajau Laut (also known as Sea Gypsies or Pala'u) people live on the sea around Semporna. They are one of the few nomadic seaborne peoples of the world, and spend most of their lives on boats, making a livelihood from the coral reefs in the area. For some Bajau Laut people, the only time that their bodies spend any extended time on land is when they are buried after death.
The main ethnic minority populations in Semporna are the Kadazan
The Kadazans are an ethnic group indigenous to the state of Sabah in Malaysia. They are found mainly in Penampang on the west coast of Sabah, the surrounding locales, and various locations in the interior.
As a result of integration in culture ...
and Chinese
Chinese can refer to:
* Something related to China
* Chinese people, people of Chinese nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity
**''Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic concept of the Chinese nation
** List of ethnic groups in China, people of va ...
communities. The majority of Chinese people in Semporna are from the Hakka
The Hakka (), sometimes also referred to as Hakka Han, or Hakka Chinese, or Hakkas are a Han Chinese subgroup whose ancestral homes are chiefly in the Hakka-speaking provincial areas of Guangdong, Fujian, Jiangxi, Guangxi, Sichuan, Hunan, Zhej ...
ethnic group.
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 most represented religion with 85% of the citizens being Muslim
Muslims ( ar, المسلمون, , ) are people who adhere to Islam, a monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God of Abrah ...
, followed by Christian
Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words ''Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρι ...
with 12.45%, while Buddhists represent 1% of residents.
Languages
Sabah Malay
In addition to its classical and literary form, Malay had various regional dialects established after the rise of the Srivijaya empire in Sumatra, Indonesia. Also, Malay spread through interethnic contact and trade across the Malay Archi ...
creole is the lingua franca in Semporna. Semporna is also home to the only Chavacano
Chavacano or Chabacano is a group of Spanish-based creole language varieties spoken in the Philippines. The variety spoken in Zamboanga City, located in the southern Philippine island group of Mindanao, has the highest concentration of speakers. ...
-speaking community in Malaysia. Semporna's Chavacano speakers are refugees (or descendants of refugees) who fled the Moro conflict
The Moro conflict is an insurgency in the Mindanao region of the Philippines, which has involved multiple armed groups, and has been ongoing since March 1968. Peace deals have been signed between the Philippine government and two major arme ...
of the Philippines
The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no),
* bik, Republika kan Filipinas
* ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas
* cbk, República de Filipinas
* hil, Republ ...
. A large number of these refugees live in Malaysia illegally.
Economy
Marine products are still the mainstay of the local economy, as well as tourism. 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 ...
culturing is a major component of this industry.
Tourism
Semporna is also known for the Regatta Lepa traditional boat races which occur annually in April. Semporna was also the location of the finish line of Eco-Challenge: Borneo, held in 2000. Off the coast is a marine park called Tun Sakaran Marine Park
Tun Sakaran Marine Park, also known as Semporna Islands Park, is a marine park located off the east coast of Sabah, Malaysia. It consists of the islands of Bodgaya, Boheydulang, Sebangkat, and Salakan, the sand cays of Maiga, Sibuan, and Man ...
, also known as Semporna Islands Park. It was gazetted by Sabah Parks
Sabah Parks ( ms, Taman-Taman Sabah) is a conservation-based statutory body established in 1964 with the purpose of conserving the scenic, scientific and historic heritage of the state of Sabah, Malaysia, on the island of Borneo. The organisation ...
in 2004.
Semporna is the gateway to diving in world-renowned island paradises like Sipadan
Sipadan ( ms, Pulau Sipadan) is the only oceanic island in Malaysia, rising from the seabed. It is located in the Celebes Sea off the east coast of Sabah, Malaysia. It was formed by living corals growing on top of an extinct volcanic cone that ...
, Mabul, Kapalai, Mataking, Sibuan, Mantabuan, Siamil and Pom Pom
A pom-pom – also spelled pom-pon, pompom or pompon – is a decorative ball or tuft of fibrous material.
The term may refer to large tufts used by Cheerleading, cheerleaders, or a small, tighter ball attached to the top of a hat, al ...
among others. Visitors to Semporna are mainly sunseekers looking for relaxation or watersports activities such as scuba diving or snorkelling.
Cuisine
As Semporna is a coastal town, various fresh seafood
Seafood is any form of sea life regarded as food by humans, prominently including fish and shellfish. Shellfish include various species of molluscs (e.g. bivalve molluscs such as clams, oysters and mussels, and cephalopods such as octopus an ...
are readily available, cheap, and delicious.
References
External links
*
{{Sabah
Semporna District
Towns in Sabah