Tawau

Infobox City
official_name = Tawau
other_name =
nickname = Toyen and aspar
motto =
website = http://mpt.sabah.gov.my/main.html




image_



map_caption = Location of Tawau District in Sabah, Malaysia
pushpin_

pushpin_mapsize =360
subdivision_type = Country
subdivision_type1 = State
subdivision_name = flag|Malaysia
subdivision_name1 = Tawau
established_title = Establishment
established_date =
leader_title = Council President
leader_name = tuan haji Salsidu bin haji Ibrahim jr
area_magnitude = 1 E8
area_total_sq_mi = 2,365
area_total_km2 = 6,125
population_as_of = 2006
population_total = 370,800
population_footnotes =
population_density_sq_mi = 156.79
population_density_km2 = 60.54
timezone = MST
utc_offset = +8
timezone_DST = Not observed
elevation_m =
elevation_ft =
latd = 4
latm = 17
lats = 53
latNS = N
longd = 117
longm = 52
longs = 59
longEW = E
footnotes =

Tawau is the administrative center of Tawau Division and the third largest town of Sabah after Kota Kinabalu and Sandakan.

Geography

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

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

History

In early 1890s, Tawau's population was about 200 comprising mainly immigrants from Bulungan and Tawi-Tawi who had fled from the Dutch rule in Kalimantan, Borneo. This small village maintained trade with the Dutch. In 9 February 1893, the vessel S.S.'Normanhurst' sailed into Tawau (or Tawao as it was then known) for the first time with a full cargo of dammar, gutta percha, Indian rubber, tortoise shell, and ivory to barter for "rattan", raisins, Birds' nests and rubber.

It was in 1898 that a settlement was established and Chinese immigrants began to settle in Tawau. The Chinese especially in southern part of China migrated to the British and Dutch colonies particularly in South East Asia. One of the prominent and important Chinese was Mr.Kee Kim Swee who embraced Islam and changed his name into Kee Abdullah. In 1894, Mr.Kee Abdullah was the first civil servant (a tax collector) in Tawau and a year later Tawau development was entrusted to his hands by British Administration who administered Tawau during that time. Tawau (also known as Tanjung) became a modern town under Mr. Kee Abdullah Kim Swee's lead who engineered Tawau into business and commercial area in the early 1900s.

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

In 1930s, Tawau prospered rapidly due largely to its agricultural potential. The inhabitant population rose to 1800 in 1931. The Kuhara Rubber and Manila Hemp Estates and the Kubota Coconut Estates were the two largest plantations of the time. The First World War (1914-1918) did not directly affect Tawau, which had, however, suffered its share of the world slump. Sandakan was the permanent seat of Government and centre of commerce; Tawau was a small but prosperous town.

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

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

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

There were 300 Japanese working on the estates and 100 on Si-Amil Island. They owned the biggest estates (Kuhara Estate) (and a golf course). There was an estate hospital and representative office of a Japanese Bank set up for the benefit of the Japanese inhabitants. Their commercial fishing (mainly tuna) was unique. Their company, Borneo Fishing Company, whose office and factory was situated at Si-Amil Island (east of Mabul and Sipadan Islands). Apparently, all workers there were Japanese. Japanese men crewed the fishing boats, while canning factory was worked mainly by Japanese women. The workers and suppliers arrived in Tawau in Japanese ships, and all were disembarked into launches and lighters and taken direct to Si-Amil. Despite their commercial activities, they left no impact on Tawau in terms of local affairs, social or cultural life.

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

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

A letter from Tawau to Sandakan could take more than 9 days to arrive and nineteen days was the average time for a letter to get to Singapore. Since it took many days for the locals to receive mails and newspapers, they tended to rely on radio to keep themselves informed of world news - for the wars in Europe, China etc. Even then, few people could afford a radio set.

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

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

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

Demographics

As of 1991, the population of the Tawau was estimated at 345,000. The ethnic composition is mainly Bugis, (see "Bugis of Sabah") and Chinese with about 12% of the population, 8% Bajau, 5% Malay, and with significant minorities of Kadazan, and Murut. However, there is also a very large non-registered illegal immigrant population from Philippines and Indonesia as well.

Population statistics (2007 census)
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Gallery

External links

*wikitravel
* [http://www.sabah.org.my/bm/daerah/daerah/twu/tawau/index.html Sabah official site on Tawau]
* [http://www.eTawau.com Tawau information]
* [http://x-xtra.blogspot.com/ More History of Tawau]