Labuan

This article describes a federal territory of the state of Malaysia. See also Cape Labuan on the island of Heard in the Indian Ocean.

Federal Territory of Labuan (Wilayah Persekutuan Labuan) لابوان Labuan
Coordinates	5 ° 19 ′  N , 115 ° 13 ′  E Coordinates: 5 ° 19 ′  N , 115 ° 13 ′  E
Symbols
flag
Basic data
Country	Malaysia
Federal territory	Labuan
surface	91.6 km²
Residents	83,920 (2010)
density	915.8  Ew. / km²
Website	www.pl.gov.my
politics
mayor	Datuk Yusof Mahal
Political party	Barisan Nasional

Labuan ( Jawi :لابوان, officially Wilayah Persekutuan Labuan or Federal Territory of Labuan ) is a federal territory of the State of Malaysia . The name comes from the Malay word labuhan (port). The territory consists of the island of the same name, Pulau Labuan ("anchor or harbor island", old Victoria Island ) and six minor islands .

geography

Labuan
Climate diagram
J F. M. A. M. J J A. S. O N D.     174   30th 25th     115   30th 25th     73   32 25th     228   32 25th     307   32 25th     287   32 25th     308   31 25th     290   31 25th     301   31 25th     391   31 25th     334   31 25th     309   30th 25th Temperature in ° C ,  precipitation in mm Source: Malaysia Meteorological Department

The federal territory of Labuan consists of the main island of Labuan and six smaller islands. Three small islands in the southwest form the Labuan Marine Park .

 Map with all coordinates of the geography section : OSM

island	Area km²	Coordinates	comment
Pulau Labuan	87.52	5 ° 19 ′ 2 "  N , 115 ° 12 ′ 48"  E	Main island
Pulau Burung	0.03	5 ° 14 ′ 15 "  N , 115 ° 11 ′ 28"  E	South of the main island
Pulau Daat	2.38	5 ° 16'22 "  N , 115 ° 19'3"  E	East of the main island
Pulau Kuraman	1.47	5 ° 13 '30 "  N , 115 ° 8' 4"  E	Southwest of the main island, Labuan Marine Park
Pulau Papan	0.09	5 ° 15 ′ 12 ″  N , 115 ° 16 ′ 15 ″  E	Southeast of the main island
Pulau Rusukan Kecil	0.03	5 ° 12 ′ 52 "  N , 115 ° 8 ′ 51"  E	Southwest of the main island, Labuan Marine Park
Pulau Rusukan Besar	0.12	5 ° 11 ′ 14 "  N , 115 ° 8 ′ 2"  E	Southwest of the main island, Labuan Marine Park
Labuan Federal Territory	91.64	5 ° 19 ′ 0 ″  N , 115 ° 13 ′ 0 ″  E

All islands are located about eight kilometers off the coast of Borneo on the northern side of Brunei Bay , which is open to the South China Sea , in the immediate vicinity of the Malaysian state of Sabah and the Sultanate of Brunei .

Labuan is largely flat or gently undulated; the highest point on the island is 85 m above sea level. More than 70% of the island is covered with vegetation. The capital is Bandar Labuan , where eleven percent of the population live. Under British administration, the city was called Victoria .

climate

Labuan has a tropical, mild climate with two monsoons per year - the southwest monsoon from April to June and the northeast monsoon from September to December. Typhoons are not observed in this area. The daytime temperatures vary between 30 and 32 degrees Celsius.

history

Memorial stone commemorating Labuan's cession to England on December 24, 1846

Archaeological excavations on the islands of Burung and Enoe indicate a first settlement around 1300 BC. Chr. Before Labuan was ruled by the Sultans of Brunei, it was part of the Hindu Majapahit Empire and later to the Mughal Empire .

On December 24, 1846, the Sultan of Brunei, Sultan Omar Ali Saiffudin II, ceded the former pirate island to the British at the instigation of James Brooke . In addition to the intention to use it as a base to combat piracy, a free port for international trade and a coaling station for British ships should be set up here. In 1848 Labuan became a crown colony .

Governor was the British James Brooke, who, as Raja von Sarawak, was a feudal lord of the Sultan of Brunei. After his death on June 11, 1868, the governor of British North Borneo was always also the governor of Labuan. In 1888 Charles Vandeleur Creagh became governor of North Borneo and thus also responsible for Labuan. The public buildings in Labuan had seen considerable investment needs over the years. The necessary investments would have exceeded the income to be expected from the colony considerably. Therefore, in July 1889, the North Borneo Chartered Company, which in the meantime had established a tolerably functioning administration in Sabah, was asked to take over the administration of Labuan. Although Labuan was still a British Crown Colony, it was now administered by a private British company. Craigh was taken into the service of the Company and was therefore from January 1, 1890 both of the British North Borneo Chartered Company appointed Governor of North Borneo and the British colonial government assumed governor of Crown Colony Labuan.

In 1903, the North Borneo Chartered Company and the British Colonial Office suffered long-term resentments due to an indiscretion by Governor Birch. As a result of these disputes, the Company's Colonial Office withdrew from Labuan in January 1906. On October 30, 1906, Labuan was united with the Straits Settlements Crown Colony .

Second World War

Memorial plaque at Surrender Point

During World War II , Labuan was occupied by Japanese troops from December 1941 to June 1945 and administered by the Japanese 37th Army as part of the Northern Borneo Military District . Labuan was renamed Maida Island (Pulau Maida, 前 田島 [ Maeda-shima ]) after Marquis Toshinari Maeda , the commander in chief of the Japanese armed forces in North Borneo.

The liberation of Borneo began on June 10, 1945 with the landing of 100 ships of the Allied forces under General Douglas MacArthur on Labuan and Brunei.

The attack by the 9th Australian Division was supported by massive air and sea bombing and ended with the surrender of the Japanese 37th Army on September 9, 1945. Their commander, Lieutenant General Baba Masao , made a formal presentation on the island of Labuan the following day his sword to Major General George Wootten , the commanding officer of the Australian 9th Division.

The place where the document of unconditional surrender was signed is today marked with a memorial stone bearing the following inscription:

"HERE, ON THE 10th SEPTEMBER, 1945,
THE COMMANDER OF THE
9th DIVISION, AUSTRALIAN IMPERIAL FORCES,
RECEIVED THE SURRENDER
OF THE 37th JAPANESE ARMY
IN NORTH BORNEO."

In the following two years until 1947, this site was used as the headquarters of the 9th Australian Division and as the command center of the Allied Forces in North Borneo. There was also an internment camp for Japanese prisoners. As part of the Allied war crimes trials in New Guinea , 145 accused Japanese war criminals were tried in 16 trials up to January 31, 1946.

post war period

With the dissolution of the Crown Colony Straits Settlements on April 1, 1946, Labuan came to the Singapore Crown Colony and then to the newly established British Crown Colony of British North Borneo on July 15, 1946 . When Malaysia was founded on September 16, 1963, Labuan was part of the state of Sabah .

Until 1966, Labuan was the headquarters of the armed forces of the British Commonwealth during the border disputes with Indonesia over the border on Borneo .

Assigned to the Government of Malaysia

In a highly controversial decision, the BERJAYA government of Sabah ceded Labuan to the Malaysian federal government in 1984. The proposal for this was made in 1983 by Prime Minister Mahathir bin Mohamad at a meeting of the Barisan Nasional . The Prime Minister of Sabah , Harris Bin Mohd Salleh , forced the approval of his cabinet without further discussing the matter or even holding a referendum on the submission of Labuan .

While Labuan's handover was officially recognized as “a step in national integration”, many Sabah residents saw it as the inability of the BERJAYA administration to withstand the demands of the Malaysian federal government. The loss of confidence was evident in the elections to the state parliament of Sabah on April 21, 1985, in which the BERJAYA government lost landslide to the newly founded party Parti Bersatu Sabah (PBS).

Coal mining in the 19th century

"The chimney"

One of the goals the British had driven the cession of Labuan was to ensure the supply of coal to British ships. It was known that there were coal deposits on Labuan before Brooke's arrival on the island. The British Admiralty had given the English adventurer William Henry Miles a license to deliver coal to English steamers. Miles extracted the coal in the open pit with primitive means. The coal obtained in this way was of poor quality and the open coal pits were often full of water.

In July 1849, the coal mine was taken over by the Eastern Archipelago Company . The owner - Henry Wise - was previously Raja Brooke's agent in London. The company was also not particularly successful, as the coal fields ten kilometers from Victoria were infrastructural and it was difficult to find workers. Brooke obviously had the feeling that his former business partner was poaching in his sphere of interest and therefore sued the Eastern Archipelago Company on his return to London in 1851 . Brooke won the lawsuit and the company lost its license. Thereafter there were further attempts to make profit from the coal deposits; 1866–1869 by the Labuan Coal Company and 1869–1880 by the Oriental Coal Company . In 1872 there was a transition from open pit to underground mining.

The coal mines were connected to the port of Victoria Town by a rail link that also carried passengers. This coal railway was built by the engineer Arthur J. West , who later built the routes of the North Borneo Railway from Weston to Beaufort and from Beaufort to Melalap. Around this time - 1889 - Labuan and its coal mining license came under the control of the North Borneo Chartered Company .

Coal mining stopped in 1912.

List of companies producing coal in Labuan
Eastern Archipelago Company	1849-1868
Labuan Coal Company	1868-1876
Oriental Coal Company	1877-1879
WC Cowie (British North Borneo Chartered Company)	1880-1882
Coal mining stopped	1883-1888
Central Borneo Company	1889-1898
Labuan & Borneo (Chartered Company) Co. Ltd.	1898-1900
Labuan Coalfields Company Ltd.	1902-1911

Postage stamps and postal history

2 cents postage stamp from the British Crown Colony of Labuan from 1885

A first post office has been known in Labuan since 1864. A circular date stamp was used as the postmark . Some letters from Labuan were franked with stamps from India and Hong Kong, but they were likely brought by travelers and not sold in Labuan. Initially, mail was forwarded via Singapore. From 1867, Labuan officially used the Straits Settlements stamps. The first own stamps were issued in May 1879.

The first postage stamps from Labuan show the profile of Queen Victoria according to the customs of the time . What was unusual was the inscription in Arabic and Chinese characters next to the name LABUAN POSTAGE . Supply bottlenecks in subsequent deliveries led to a large number of overprints in the 1880s . The original stamps were minted, but the last stamps in this edition were made by lithography in April 1894 .

From May 1894, the issues of North Borneo were printed in different colors, with “Labuan” either embossed on the vignette or printed. On September 24, 1896, on the 50th anniversary of the assignment of Labuan, a special edition was produced in which the North Borneo edition was overprinted with "1846 / JUBILEE / 1896". Other prints are known from the 1890s. In 1899 many brand values ​​were given a premium of four cents.

The last pure Labuan issue with a crown and the inscription "LABUAN COLONY" appeared in 1902. After Labuan was incorporated into the Straits Settlements in 1906, Labuan stopped issuing its own postage stamps. The use of the already printed stamps was still allowed for a transitional period. Many of the remaining stamps were officially canceled and given to collectors. These brands are no longer worth much. The situation is different with the original Labuan stamps, which are traded at considerable prices.

Administrative division

The federal territory of Labuan is divided into the capital Bandar Labuan (formerly Victoria ) in 27 kampung ( mal. For village, settlement ), which partly consist of several villages and which are headed by appointed Ketua Kampung (village headman):

 Map with all coordinates of the administrative division : OSM

No.	Capital or camp	Area km²	Population census 2010	Population density	Coordinates
00	Bandar Labuan	...	9,149	...	5 ° 16 ′ 45 "  N , 115 ° 14 ′ 29"  E
01	Bukit Kalam	...	...	...	5 ° 18 ′ 56 "  N , 115 ° 12 ′ 54"  E
02	Durian Tunjung	...	...	...	5 ° 19 ′ 27 "  N , 115 ° 13 ′ 52"  E
03	Tanjung Aru	...	...	...	5 ° 20 ′ 30 "  N , 115 ° 14 ′ 33"  E
04	Pohon Batu	...	...	...	5 ° 21 ′ 47 "  N , 115 ° 12 ′ 58"  E
05	Batu Arang	...	...	...	5 ° 20 ′ 4 "  N , 115 ° 14 ′ 17"  E
...	...	...	...	...	...
...	...	...	...	...	...
	Labuan	91.64	83,920	915.6	5 ° 19 ′ 13 "  N , 115 ° 12 ′ 40"  E

1. Bukit Kalam
2. Durian Tunjung
3. Tanjung Aru
4. Pohon Batu
5. Batu Arang
6. Patau-Patau 2
7. Belukut
8. Sungai Keling
9. Sungai Bedaun / Sungai Sembilang
10. Layang-Layangan
11. Sungai Labu
12. Pantai
13. Gersik / Saguking / Jawa / Parit
14. Sungai buton
15. Kilan / Kilan Pulau Akar
16. Lajau
17. Rancha-rancha
18. Nagalang / Kerupang
19. Bebuloh
20. Sungai Lada
21. Lubok Temiang
22. Sungai Bangat
23. Sungai Miri / Pagar
24. Patau-Patau 1
25. Batu Manikar
26. Bukit Kuda
27. Ganggarak / Merinding

Infrastructure

Roundabout at the airport with a fountain

Labuan Airport

The ferry terminal

port

The Labuan Liberty Port is a free port . It is operated by Labuan Liberty Port Management Sdn Bhd . The port is equipped with the following mooring options:

Public moorings

Landing stage	Length (m)	Water depth (m)	Ship size (DWT)
New Liberty Wharf	244.0	10	16,000
Labuan Passenger	020.0	-	-
Terminal (pontoon)	008.0	-	-
Victoria Wharf	083.6	04.6	-

Private moorings

Landing stage	Length (m)	Water depth (m)	Ship size (DWT)	purpose
Shell Jetty	213	09.4	006,000	petroleum
Iron Ore Jetty	220	18th	150,000	Iron ore
Methanol Jetty	650	13	035,000	Methanol
Asian Supply Base Jetty	120	08th	006,000
Sabah Flour Mill Jetty	-	-	-	Wheat / corn

Ferries

Labuan is connected to Brunei and Kota Kinabalu by a ferry terminal.

Air traffic

The island is connected to the international air traffic through the airport Labuan Airport .

economy

Labuan Financial Park

Bell tower

Former District Office , now a local museum

Labuan War Cemetery

Labuan was declared an offshore financial center on October 1, 1990 . Since then, attempts have been made to establish banking and finance on the island through legal measures and the creation of the appropriate infrastructure. The Labuan Offshore Financial Services Authority (LOFSA) was established to regulate and monitor the law. According to its statutes, it checks interested parties for an impeccable history and international reputation as well as for the necessary experience and serious intentions. The approved offshore companies are only allowed to conduct business with foreigners and not in the Malaysian currency ringgit . You are also not allowed to engage in any oil and gas business or maritime transport business and fiduciary business. There is no sales tax and no import or export fees. Offshore companies that do not trade do not pay taxes. Trading companies pay three percent of their net income as tax.

On Labuan, coconut and sago palms as well as rice are grown and rubber is extracted.

Attractions

"The chimney"

In the north-east of the island there is a huge brick chimney, which the locals call the punil . It was likely built in the early 1900s when coal mining in Tanjung Kubong was at its peak under the administration of the British North Borneo Chartered Company . The chimney is located in the middle of the former coal mining area.

There are several hypotheses about the purpose of the fireplace. For a long time it was believed that it was part of the ventilation system for the underground coal mines, but recent excavations have shown that there were no tunnels below the chimney. The assumption that the chimney belonged to a combustion system could also be refuted, as there were no traces of soot inside the rectangular structure. Other speculations were the use as a beacon for the passing ships or anchored in the former port of Raffles Anchorage or as a bell tower to report incoming ships.

The fireplace was extensively restored in 1997. Today it is part of the associated Muzium Chimney , which offers an insight into the history of coal mining on Labuan.

Surrender Point and Peace Park

The location of the surrender of the Japanese 37th Army already described is part of the Peace Park on the west coast of Labuan. The park is home to several memorial stones that urge peace. The center of the park is the Peace Monument , a large wall surrounded by a heaped wall with the inscription

"IN MEMORY OF ALL THOSE WHO SACRIFICED THEIR LIVES ON LAND AND AT SEA IN AND AROUND BORNEO DURING WORLD WAR II AND IN DEDICATION TO WORLD PEACE".

Labuan Museum and History Square

The history of Labuan is detailed in the Labuan Muzium . In front of the museum, housed in a colonial-style house, is the History Square with various memorial stones.

Labuan War Cemetery

The Labuan War Cemetery is the central cemetery for anyone who died in combat in Borneo during World War II or who died in captivity. The cemetery houses 3,908 graves, more than half of which have remained nameless. The identified remains of 1,752 people - five sailors, 1,523 soldiers, 220 Air Force personnel and four civilians - represent 814 British, 858 Australian, one New Zealander, 43 Indians and 36 Malays. A further 34 Indian soldiers, whose remains were cremated, are commemorated by a separate memorial in the cemetery area of ​​the Indian army.

On the site of the war cemetery there is also a memorial to the Australian land and air forces as well as the local armed forces who died during the liberation of Borneo or as prisoners of war in Borneo or the Philippines, of which no grave is known. The plaques bear the names of 2,207 Australian, one British and three New Zealand soldiers in the Australian Army, 51 Air Force personnel and 65 combatants from the local armed forces of North Borneo, Brunei and Sarawak. Some of these dead are believed to have been buried in the nameless graves of the Labuan war cemetery.

Bell tower

The Labuan Clock Tower is an exact replica of the original 1906 clock tower built by Malacca businessman Chee Swee Cheng. It is one of the few structures that survived the bombing of World War II. The British administration had the bell tower demolished in 1948, but, contrary to the original intentions, did not rebuild it. Half a century later, the clock tower was rebuilt by the Labuan Corporation using funds from the Malaysian Ministry of Tourism.

Labuan Marine Park

Labuan Marine Park is two kilometers south of Labuan Island . The 10 km² area includes the three islands Pulau Kuraman, Pulau Rusukan Kecil and Pulau Rusukan Besar with their extensive beaches, mangrove forests, jungle areas and coral reefs. The sea area is a snorkeling and diving paradise and the most important advertising icon for tourism on Labuan.

Shipwrecks

The sea off Labuan is known for its shipwrecks, including the Cement Wreck , which is one of the most colorful and photogenic shipwrecks in the world.

Well-known shipwrecks off Labuan

Surname	Type	nationality	size	Construction year
SS De Klerk (The Australian Wreck)	Cargo ship / passenger steamer	Australia	L 85 m, W 12 m, draft 6 m	1900
Mabini Padre (The Blue Water Wreck)	trawler		L 80 m, W 12 m, draft 6 m	-
MV Tung Hwunag (The Cement Wreck)	freighter		L 92 m, W 15 m, draft 7 m	-
USS Salute (The American Wreck)	US Navy minesweeper	United States	L 61 m, W 11 m, draft 3 m	1943

Stilt colony

The Patau Patau 2 stilt house colony was established in the 1930s by Kedayan , an indigenous group from Brunei . The kampung air (Malay for water settlement) fell victim to a Japanese bombing raid during World War II, but was completely rebuilt after the fighting stopped. The architecture and the concept of the pile dwelling colony reflect the culture of the Brunei Kedayans to this day.

literature

• Stephen R. Evans, Abdul Rahman Zainal, Rod Wong Khet Ngee: The History Of Labuan, Victoria Island , Opus Publications, Kota Kinabalu, 2007, ISBN 978-983-3987-20-7
• Regina Lim: Federal-state relations in Sabah, Malaysia: the Berjaya administration 1976-85 , Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, 2008, ISBN 978-981-230-811-5
• KG Tregonning: A History Of Modern Sabah (North Borneo 1881-1963) , 2nd edition, University of Malaya Press, Kuala Lumpur, 1965, reprint 1967

Web links

• Tax haven Labuan ( Memento from August 24, 2006 in the Internet Archive )
• Labuan Corporation (English)
• State Development Office (English)
• Labuan Tourism (English)
• Case Study: Water Infrastructure in Labuan Island, Malaysia

Remarks

1. ↑ Translation: On September 10, 1945 the commander of the 9th Division of the Australian Armed Forces accepted the surrender of the 37th Japanese Army here.
2. ↑ ^{a b} Tons deadweight , see ship dimensions
3. ↑ Translation: In memory of all those who gave their lives on land and at sea, in and around Borneo, and as a dedication for peace in the world.
4. ↑ The other structures are "the chimney", the hospital and the lighthouses of Papan Island and Kuraman Island

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b} Census 2010 for Labuan (PDF; 256 kB) Statistical Office, Malaysia. Retrieved September 23, 2012.
2. ^ Johann Jakob Egli : Nomina geographica. Language and factual explanation of 42,000 geographical names of all regions of the world. , Friedrich Brandstetter, 2nd ed. Leipzig 1893, p. 519
3. ^ Official Portal of Labuan Corporation: Area
4. ↑ Accompanying information in the historical department of the Labuan Muzeum , on-site research on November 20, 2011
5. ↑ Tregonning, p. 42
6. ↑ Tregonning, p. 48
7. ↑ Borneo Post Borneo Post, March 20, 2011 edition , accessed June 5, 2011
8. ^ Peace Park . virtualmalaysia.com. Retrieved June 7, 2011.
9. ↑ Piccigallo, Philip; The Japanese on Trial; Austin 1979; ISBN 0-292-78033-8 (Chapter 7 "Australia and Others")
10. ^ Lim, page 77
11. ↑ The History of Labuan, page 15
12. ↑ Explanations in the Muzium Chimney; On-site exploration on November 20, 2011
13. ^ The History of Labuan, pp. 16/17
14. ↑ Tregonning, page 47
15. ↑ JADUAL PELAKSANAAN PROGRAM KESEDARAN KITAR SEMULA BAGI KAMPUNG-KAMPUNG DI WP LABUAN UNTUK TAHUN 2011 ( Memento of the original from January 6, 2014 in the web archive archive.today ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
16. ^ Email from the Territorial Administration to Wikipedia dated June 11, 2012
17. ^ The National Maritime Portal ; Accessed December 6, 2011
18. ↑ Labuan Liberty Port Management Sdn Bhd ; Accessed December 6, 2011
19. ↑ Information in the Muzeum Chimney ; On-site exploration on November 20, 2011
20. ^ Translation of the inscription on the memorial plaque of the war cemetery; On-site exploration on November 20, 2011
21. ^ ^{A b c} Labuan Tourism Action Council: Labuan Island