The Tenom District ( ms, Daerah Tenom) is an

administrative district Local government is a generic term for the lowest tiers of public administration within a particular sovereign state. This particular usage of the word government refers specifically to a level of administration that is both geographically-loca ...

in the

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 ...

n state of

Sabah Sabah () is a 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 Indonesia to the south. The Federal Territory o ...

, part of the

Interior Division The Interior Division ( ms, Bahagian Pedalaman) is an administrative division of the state of Sabah, Malaysia. It occupies the southwest portion of Sabah, bordered by the neighbouring state of Sarawak on its west. With an area of 18,298 square ki ...

which includes the districts of Beaufort,

Keningau Keningau ( ms, Pekan Keningau) is the capital of the Keningau District in the Interior Division of Sabah, Malaysia. It is the fifth-largest town in Sabah, as well one of the oldest. Keningau is between Tambunan and Tenom. The town had an es ...

Kuala Penyu Kuala Penyu Town ( ms, Pekan Kuala Penyu) is the capital of the Kuala Penyu District in the Interior Division of Sabah, Malaysia. Its population was estimated to be around 659 in 2010, with ethnic Dusun Tatana sub-group forming the largest s ...

, Nabawan,

Sipitang Sipitang ( ms, Pekan Sipitang) is the capital of the Sipitang District in the Interior Division of Sabah, Malaysia. Its population was estimated to be around 4,298 in 2010. It is the closest town in Sabah to the Sarawak border, and is 44 kil ...

Tambunan Tambunan ( ms, Pekan Tambunan) is the capital of the Tambunan District in the Interior Division of Sabah, Malaysia. Its population was estimated to be around 35,667 in 2010. It is located 80 kilometres east of the state capital, Kota Kinabalu ...

and Tenom. The capital of the district is in Tenom Town.Majority Tenom is Murut while Kadazandusun as well as Lundayeh are minorities in Tenom.

Etymology

The area was first called "Fort Birch" which named after North Borneo Governor Ernest Woodford Birch. Following the completion of the North Borneo Railway Line from Beaufort railway station to

Tenom Tenom ( ms, Pekan Tenom, ) is the capital of the Tenom District in the Interior Division of Sabah, Malaysia. Its population was estimated to be around 5,148 in 2010. It is located about 176 kilometres south of Kota Kinabalu and 128 kilometres n ...

and Melalap railway stations, the place was subsequently renamed as "Tenom" in 1904.

History

The district was established in the 1900s by 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). ...

with first district officer named M.C.M. Weedon. The opening of Tenom by the British began with the opening of Sapong Estate and Melalap Estate.

Demographics

The population is made up of ethnic groups Murut (52%),

Kadazan-Dusun Kadazan-Dusun (also written as Kadazandusun or Mamasok Kadazan-Dusun) also less-known as "Mamasok Sabah" are two indigenous peoples of Sabah, Malaysia—the ethnic groups Kadazan and Dusun. The Kadazandusun is the largest native group of Bu ...

(12%),

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 ...

(8%), Lun Bawang/Lundayeh (5%) and Malay (4%) together with a small proportion of other ethnic groups such as Indonesians and Filipinos. The majority of nearly 5,000 Chinese, descendants of

immigrants Immigration is the international movement of people to a destination country of which they are not natives or where they do not possess citizenship in order to settle as permanent residents or naturalized citizens. Commuters, tourists, a ...

from Longchuan in

Guangdong Guangdong (, ), alternatively romanized as Canton or Kwangtung, is a coastal province in South China on the north shore of the South China Sea. The capital of the province is Guangzhou. With a population of 126.01 million (as of 2020) ...

, come from the ethnic group of

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 ...

. The population of the district according to the 2010 census is 55,553 inhabitants. The population is made up of ethnicities as follows:

Gallery

File:Tenom Sabah Masjid-Ar-Rahman-02.jpg, Ar Rahman Mosque. File:Tenom Sabah Gereja-St-Anthony-Tenom-05.jpg, St. Anthony Catholic Church. File:Tenom Sabah Gereja-Basel-Tenom-01.jpg, Tenom Basel Church. File:Tenom Sabah Tak-Pak-Kung-Chinese-Temple-04.jpg, Tak Pak Kung Temple. File:Kemabong Sabah Sungai-Padas-02.jpg, Padas River.

References

External links

*
Tenom District Council

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