History of Tawau in 1891

Thursday, 24 October, 2019 08:43:07 PM

1891

On 20 January 1891 came the resolution of the rough delineation of the boundary between Dutch Borneo and the British North Borneo Chartered Company territory across Sebatik Island.
Before that, at least from 1857, Sebatik Island had been nominally Dutch with a predominantly Bugis population from at least 1882.

After 1891, with the arrival of the first Chinese shopkeepers and a regular boat service, the relocation of the town centre to the Tanjong from Tawau Lama, the declaration of free port status and a valuable jungle produce trade, Tawau was on the way to economic stability.

The first two decades of the twentieth century saw the following remarkable economic growth of Tawau :
1) the extraction of coal from Silimpopon (first discovered in 1903),
2) the planting of rubber (beginning in 1907),
3) the purchase of a rubber estate by a Japanese company in 1916, the purchase of land for rubber by another Japanese company in the same year and
4) the formation of a Japanese fishing company in 1919.

Development follows : Road construction, a deep water wharf, a customs house, government offices, a hospital, a Chinese Chamber of Commerce, a wireless station, a lighthouse, bridges, schools and town markets supported this development, particularly that in the rapidly growing rubber estates and the established coal mine, in the period to 1930.

By 2000 TAWAU TOWN became an important entrepot port where trading has been of considerable value since about 1880. This trading has been the impetus to the hinterland development, making it a major contributor to the economies of the rest of Malaysia and the neighboring states of Indonesia, the Philippines and Singapore.

From a district population of a few dozen in the 1880s and about 10,000 in 1942, it has grown to one of over half a million inhabitants, and Tawau is now Sabah's second largest town. Its strategic location at the south-eastern extremity of Sabah, bordering Indonesia and maritime Philippines, has enabled it to take advantage of the economic potential of the region. Borders in the region have always been artificial and porous, and the relative peace, stability and prosperity of the Tawau region have been a magnet to those from areas around less well endowed.