Lahad Datu

Lahad Datu
Coordinates	5 ° 2 ′  N , 118 ° 20 ′  E Coordinates: 5 ° 2 ′  N , 118 ° 20 ′  E
Location of the city in the Lahad Datu district
Basic data
Country	Malaysia
State	Sabah
Residents	27,887 (2010)
Website	www.sabah.gov.my/pd.ld/

Lahad Datu

Pier of the New Darvel Bay Tobacco Company in Lahad Datu (ca.1897)

Lahad Datu is a city in the Malaysian state of Sabah . Lahad Datu is located on the east coast in the north of the island of Borneo in Darvel Bay, which is open to Lake Sulawesi . The city belongs to the Lahad Datu district of the same name . It is part of the Tawau Division to which the Kunak , Lahad Datu , Semporna and Tawau and Papar districts belong.

history

Ceramic finds from the Ming Dynasty suggest that there has been a settlement in Lahad Datu since the 15th century.

Islam first came to Sabah at the end of the 14th century. A 1408 Idahan manuscript written in Jawi mentions a man of the Ida'an indigenous people named Abdullah of Darvel Bay who converted to Islam.

Just east of Lahad Datu is the village of Tungku, which was known in the 19th century as the stronghold of Lanun pirates and slave traders.

Towards the end of the 19th century, the New Darvel Bay Tobacco Company settled in Lahad Datu. Licensed by the North Borneo Chartered Company , the company began growing tobacco on a large scale.

Demographics

The city of Lahad Datu has a population of 27,887. As in many other cities in Sabah, there are significant numbers of illegal immigrants from the nearby Philippines , especially from Sulu and Mindanao , who are not recorded in the population statistics. Lahad Datu is home to a significant number of Bajau and Malays from the Cocos Islands who settled here in the 1950s when the Cocos Islands became part of Australia .

economy

Lahad Datu is largely surrounded by cocoa and oil palm plantations. The processing of the palm products takes place in the refinery near the port, the Palm Oil Industrial Cluster (POIC) . The refinery covers an area of ​​5 km².

education

The Borneo Child Aid Society , which organizes schooling and vocational training for the more than 5000 children of the plantation workers, is also based in Lahad Datu. The private, non-profit aid organization, known by the locals as the “Humana Child Aid Society Sabah” , also grants children from other families access to free schooling if their parents cannot afford a public school. The organization looks after a total of 9,000 children in 116 schools.

Infrastructure

Lahad Datu is an important port for the export of tropical woods. The city is connected to the national flight network via Lahad Datu Airport .

Nature reserves

Lahad Datu is the starting point for visits and expeditions to the Danum Valley Conservation Area , the Tabin Game Reserve in the east and the Madai Caves further south .

See also

• Lahad Datu District

literature

• KG Tregonning: A History Of Modern Sabah (North Borneo 1881–1963) , 2nd edition, University of Malaya Press, Kuala Lumpur, 1965, reprint 1967.
• Owen Rutter: British North Borneo - An Account of its History, Ressources and Native Tribes , Constable & Company Ltd, London, 1922.
• WH Treacher: British Borneo - Sketches of Brunai, Sarawak, Labuan and North Borneo , Singapore, Government print department, 1891.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b} Census 2010 for Sabah (PDF; 1.9 MB), ed. from the Bureau of Statistics, Malaysia
2. ^ Palm Oil Industrial Cluster (POIC Lahad Datu) ; Accessed January 8, 2012
3. ↑ Homepage of the BORNEO CHILD AID SOCIETY ; Accessed January 8, 2012