Photo : Lankayan Island

History

During the 15th century, Sabah together with Sarawak were vassals of the Sultan of Brunei. Then in 1658, Sultan of Brunei gave Sultan of Sulu the north east coast of Borneo in return for his help in settling a civil war dispute between the Sultan Abdul Mubin and Pengeran Bongsu.

In 1761, an officer of the British East India Company at Madras in India, Alexander Dalrymple, concluded an agreement with the Sultan of Sulu, which permitted him to set up a trading post in the North Borneo region. He chose Pulau Balambangan (Balambangan Island), an island off the northern tip of the mainland, and renamed it 'Felicia'. But the island was abandoned in November 1805 after several attempts to turn it into a port.

Then the British turned to Labuan, an island situated north west of Borneo. On December 18, 1846, a treaty was signed in which the Sultan of Brunei ceded in perpetuity Labuan and its islets to the British Crown. But like Balambangan, Labuan failed as a port.

In 1890, Labuan was placed under the control of the British North Borneo Chartered Company. Seventeen years later, the island was placed under the Government of the Straits Settlements.

After World War II, Labuan became part of the colony of North Borneo. Together with North Borneo, it was made a State within the Federation of Malaysia on September 16, 1963. Then on April 16, 1984, Labuan was proclaimed a Federal Territory of Malaysia. After the disappointment with Labuan, the British Government temporary lost interest in North Borneo. Then in 1881, the privately owned British North Borneo Chartered Company began administering the State that it named British North Borneo.

The company's ruling brought great impact on the region's development. It effectively ruled the State up to 1942 when the Japanese forces landed in Labuan on January 1 and occupied North Borneo until the island was liberated in 1945 by the Ninth Division Australian Imperial Forces.

After the War, North Borneo was administered by the British Military Administration until civil Government was restored on July 15, 1946. In 1946, Sabah was placed under the British Crown as the Company could not afford to rebuild Sabah, after the devastation of the War.

Peace ruled over the State until the 1960s when political consciousness emerged among the people of the State. It all began with an announcement by the first Prime Minister of Malaya, the late Tunku Abdul Rahman Putra Al-Haj in 1961 pertaining to the formation of the Federation of Malaysia which were to include Malaya, Sabah, Sarawak, Brunei and Singapore. On August 31, 1963, North Borneo obtained self-government from the British.

Together with Sarawak, Singapore and Malaya, Malaysia was formally established on September 16, 1963. North Borneo's name was changed to Sabah. However by 1965, Singapore was out of the Federation.

Today, Sabah is a prosperous state with an expanding economy, fuelled by mining, forestry, agriculture, manufacturing and tourism.

Economy

Sabah, mainly an agricultural state, is rich in timber resources. More than 30% of Sabah's exports comprise logs, plywood, sawn timber and veneer while 40 per cent is from the mining industry. Other then forestry and mining industries, agriculture produce namely cocoa, oil palm and rubber, is another main source of income for the State. Pearl is also cultivated for export especially to Japan.

Sabah is the third most important petroleum and natural gas producer. Its natural gas generates electricity, which fuels a hot briquette iron plant and a methanol plant on Labuan Island. Sabah has also the largest copper mine in Malaysia in the form of Mamut Mines, which is located 1,900 metres above sea level, south of Mount Kinabalu.

Over the last three decades, Sabah's economy has expanded considerably from an estimated Gross Domestic Product of RM400 million in 1963 to RM12.1 billion in 1993.

In the 1970s, the economy grew at average annual rates of 13.1%. But from 1980s onwards, the rate has slowed down to an average of around 5%. This is probably due to the softening of primary commodity prices and lower production expansion.

Thus, the Sabah State Government recognised the need to transform the economy to one which is more diversified and value-added, to ensure long-term growth. As part of its efforts, the Government is currently offering many opportunities for the setting up of potential downstream processing industries mostly in the forestry and agricultural produce, fisheries, livestock and minerals sectors.

Geography

Sabah is the second largest State in Malaysia. The State is bordered by Sarawak on its southwestern side, Kalimantan (Indonesian Borneo) to the south, the South China Sea in the west and north, the Sulu Sea in the northeast and the Celebes Sea in the east.

Measuring 76,115 sq km, Sabah is dominated by Mount Kinabalu (4,093 m), the highest mountain in Malaysia as well as the South East Asia. The Kadazandusun, Sabah's major native tribe, believe that the mountain is the resting-place of the souls of the departed Kadazandusun people.

Climate

On the whole, Sabah has an equatorial climate. The temperature is relatively uniform within the range of 23°C to 31°C throughout the year. During the months of March to September, the weather is generally dry and warm. Humidity is consistently high on the lowlands ranging between 85% to 95% per annum. The average rainfall per year is 2,400 mm, depending on locality, and the wettest months are from November to March.