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Sabah
Sabah
The eastern part of Sabah was ceded to the Sultan of Sulu by the Sultan of Brunei in 1658 for the former helping a victory over Brunei enemies. Sabah became a protectorate of the United Kingdom in 1888 and subsequently became a crown colony until 1963, during which time it was known as North Borneo .
History of Sabah
In 1658, the Sultan of Brunei ceded the northern and eastern portion of Borneo to the Sultan of Sulu in compensation for the latter's help in settling the Brunei Civil War in the Brunei Sultanate. The Sultan of Brunei continued to loosely govern the west coast of Sabah In 1761, Alexander Dalrymple , an officer of the British East India Company , concluded an agreement with the Sultan of Sulu to allow him to set up a trading post in the region but thia plan to be a failure In 1846, the island of Labuan on the west coast of Sabah was ceded to Britain by the Sultan of Brunei and in 1848 it became a British Crown Colony. In 1865 the American Consul General of Brunei, Charles Lee Moses , obtained a 10-year lease over North Borneo from the Sultan of Brunei Abdul Momin .
Was leased to Charles Lee Moses in 1865 and subsequently sold to Baron Von Overbeck The Sulu Sultanate agreed to give up their land in Sabah to Overbeck and Dent in 1878.
In the treaty, the Sultan appointed Overbeck as "Maharajah of Sabah and Rajah of Gaya and Sandakan." The treaty granted Overbeck the right over whole region of Sabah, including parts purporting to be the dominion of the Sulu Sultanate including Sandakan and Tawau . The treaty was signed on December 29, 1877 at the Brunei Palace. On the east coast of North Borneo near Sandakan, William Cowie, on behalf of Dent's [ 21 ] company, negotiated and obtained a lease in perpetuity from the Sultan of Sulu over its holdings in this region in 1878. The rights were subsequently transferred to Alfred Dent , who in 1881 formed the British [ 23 ] North Borneo Provisional Association Ltd. In 1881, the British government granted the British North Borneo Company a royal charter.
The history of Sabah can be traced back to about 2330,000 years ago when evidence suggests the earliest human settlement in the region existed. The history is interwoven with the history of Brunei and the history of Malaysia , to which Sabah was previously part of and is currently part of respectively. The earliest recorded history of Sabah being part of any organised civilisation began in the early 16th century during the thriving era of the Sultanate of Brunei . Prior to this, early inhabitants of the land lived in predominantly tribal societies, although [1] such tribal societies had continued to exist until the 1900s. The eastern part of Sabah was ceded to the Sultan of Sulu by the Sultan of Brunei in 1658 for the former helping a victory over Brunei enemies. By the late 19th century, both territories previously owned by Sultan of Brunei [2] and Sultan of Sulu was granted to British syndicate. Sabah became a protectorate of the United Kingdom in 1888 and subsequently became a crown colony until 1963, during which time it was known as North Borneo . On September 16, 1963, Sabah merged with Malaya, Sarawak and Singapore (left in 1965) to form the Federation of Malaysia .
Contents
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1 Prehistoric Sabah 2 Pre-16th century 3 Sultanate of Brunei 4 North Borneo 5 World War II 6 Independence and formation of Malaysia
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7 Post-independence 8 References
deglaciation, which caused global sea level to rise, resulted in the Sundaland being submerged, separating Borneo from the rest of Asia. Earliest human settlement in the region is believed to have dated back about 20,00030,000 years ago. These early humans are believed to be Australoid or Negrito people. Stone tools and artifacts have been found in Madai and Baturong caves and in the archeological site in Lake Tingkayu near the district of Kunak which were estimated to date back from 28,00017,000 years [3] ago. The tools found there were considered advanced for its period. There was evidence of human cave-dwellings around 15,0006,000 years ago. An ongoing 2012 study by Universiti Sains Malaysia and Sabah Museum revealed the discovery [4] of stone tools in Mansuli Valley near Lahad Datu believed to be 235,000 years old and in [5] another site in Kampung Lipasu, Bingkor believed to be at least 200,000 years old. These recent findings suggests that human settlement in Sabah and Malaysia have existed much earlier than previously thought, which is about 40,000 years ago in Niah Caves , Sarawak . The earliest ascertained wave of human migration, believed to be Austronesian Mongoloids , occurred around 3000 BC. This wave of migration is believed to represent the time when the indigenous hill people of present day Sabah had first arrived, namely the Murut and the Kadazan[6] Dusun , while Brunei Malays settlement appeared somewhat later. It is believed that some Australoid or Negrito people have interbred with later Mongoloid migrants and remained in [3] Borneo, while others have migrated to other places such as Melanesia , the Lesser Sunda [7] Islands or Australia . The theory that Austronesians in Southeast Asia arrived from China through Taiwan has been challenged by Stephen Oppenheimer who suggested that many cultures including the people of China and India might have actually originated from Sundaland. A new finding based on DNA research in 2008 supported Oppenheimer's theory that migration flow might have been radiated out from Sundaland sometime around 15,000 to 7,000 years ago following the submergence of [8] [9] Sundaland due to rise in sea level. The findings of Stephen Oppenheimer was doubted. The poor cultures of sunderland do not support his theory that the people of China and India might have actually originated from Sundaland. It was the Austronesians in Southeast Asia arrived from China through Taiwan. As for the case of Sabah, the Dusun or the Muruts cultures are less than 200 years old.
The Brunei Annals in 1410 mentioned about a Chinese settlement or province centering in the Kinabatangan Valley in the east coast surrounding Kinabatangan River founded by a man known as Huang Senping . This is consistent with the recent discovery of timber coffins in the Agop Batu Tulug cave in the Kinabatangan Valley. The coffins, adorned with carvings believed to resemble similar cultural practices in China and Vietnam , are believed to date back from around [ 12 ] 700 to 1,000 years ago (11th to 14th century). From the 14th to the 16th century, the Majapahit empire expanded its influence towards Brunei and most of the coastal region of Borneo. Sometime around the late 15th to 18th century, the seafaring Bajau-Suluk people arrived from the Sulu archipelago and had settled on the coasts of Sabah. It is believed that they were fleeing from the oppression of the Spanish colonist in that [ 13 ] region.
control over most parts of north Borneo seems to have remained loosely under the Sultanate of Brunei. In 1846, the island of Labuan on the west coast of Sabah was ceded to Britain by the Sultan of Brunei and in 1848 it became a British Crown Colony. Labuan became a base for British operations against piracy in the region.
The first recorded ascent to the highest peak of Mount Kinabalu was made in 1851 by Hugh Low . In 1964, the region was designated as Kinabalu National Park and it was declared a World Heritage Site in 2000.
The first recorded ascent of Mount Kinabalu , the highest mountain in Borneo, was made in 1851 by British Malaya colonial administrator and naturalist Hugh Low . The highest peak and the deep gully of the mountain was later named after him. In 1865 the American Consul General of Brunei, Charles Lee Moses , obtained a 10-year lease over North Borneo from the Sultan of Brunei Abdul Momin . Ownership was then passed to an American trading company owned by Joseph William Torrey , Thomas Bradley Harris , and some Chinese merchants. They set up a base and settlement in Kimanis and the Sultan of Brunei appointed Torrey as "The Rajah of Ambong and Marudu". His fortress "Ellena" was located in Kimanis with hundreds of Iban trackers led by Lingkanad. Torrey returned to America in 1877 and died near Boston, Massachusetts, in March 1884. The rights of the trading company were then sold to Gustav Baron Von Overbeck , the Austro-Hungarian Consul in Hong Kong (though he was actually a German national), and he later obtained another 10-year renewal of the lease. The lease was subsequently converted into a cession via a treaty which was signed by the Sultan of Brunei Abdul Momin. In the treaty, the Sultan appointed Overbeck as "Maharajah of Sabah and Rajah of Gaya and Sandakan." The treaty granted Overbeck the right over whole region of Sabah, including parts purporting to be the dominion of the Sulu Sultanate including Sandakan and Tawau . The treaty was signed on December 29, 1877 at the Brunei [ 20 ] Palace. On the east coast of North Borneo near Sandakan, William Cowie, on behalf of Dent's [ 21 ] company, negotiated and obtained a lease in perpetuity from the Sultan of Sulu over its holdings in this region in 1878. This lease was signed on January 22, 1878 in the palace of the [ 22 ] Sultan of Sulu. The lease would later be the subject of dispute by the modern republic of Philippines regarding the sovereignty of the state of Sabah. The rights were subsequently transferred to Alfred Dent , who in 1881 formed the British North Borneo Provisional
Association Ltd. In 1881, the British government granted the British North Borneo Company a royal charter. William Hood Treacher was appointed the first British Governor of North Borneo. In the following year, the British North Borneo Company was formed and Kudat was made its capital. Beginning 1882, the Company brought in Chinese people mainly Hakkas fromGuangdong province to work as labourers in plantation farms. Most of the migrants settled in Kudat and Jesselton (now Kota Kinabalu ). In 1883 the capital was moved to Sandakan to capitalise on its potential of vast timber resources. In 1885, United Kingdom, Spain and Germany signed the Madrid Protocol of 1885. The purpose of the protocol was to recognise the sovereignty of Spain in the Sulu [ 24 ] Archipelago and also for Spain to relinquish all claims it might have had over North Borneo. In 1888 North Borneo became a protectorate of the United Kingdom. Administration and control over North Borneo remained in the hands of the Company despite being a protectorate and they effectively ruled until 1942. Their rule had been generally peaceful except for some rebellions, [ 25 ] including one led by the Bajau - Suluk leader Mat Salleh from 1894 to 1900, and another led [ 26 ] by Antanum of the Muruts known as the Rundum resistance in 1915. Beginning 1920, more Chinese migrants arrived from the provinces of Guangdong, Fujian and even Hebei after the British changed its immigration policy to stimulate the stagnant economy during that [ 27 ] period. There was also Javanese migration into Sabah beginning 1891 and subsequent [ 28 ] recruitment of laborers by the British from 1907 onwards. Other significant migrants from [ 29 ] present-day Indonesia into Sabah consists of the Bugis people beginning 1890s and the [ 30 ] Florenese people from Flores beginning early 1950s. The First Natives Paramount Leader was Pehin Orang Kaya-Kaya Koroh bin Santulan of Keningau "The father of former Sabah State Minister Tan Sri Stephen (Suffian) Koroh, and Sabah's fifth State Governor Tun Thomas (Ahmad) Koroh (the elder brother of Suffian)". Santulan which also a Pengeran, the father to Pehin Orang Kaya-Kaya Koroh was a Murut descendant of Hashim Jalilul Alam Aqamaddin , the 25th Sultan of Brunei.
[ 23 ]
As part of the Second World War Japanese forces landed in Labuan on January 1, 1942, and continued to invade the rest of North Borneo. From 1942 to 1945, Japanese forces occupied North Borneo , along with most of the island. Bombings by the allied forcesdevastated most towns including Sandakan, which was razed to the ground. Resistance against Japanese occupation was concentrated on the west and north coast of North Borneo. The resistance in Jesselton was led by Albert Kwok and Jules Stephens of the Kinabalu Guerillas . Another resistance was led by Panglima Alli from Sulug Island, off the coast of Jesselton. In Kudat , there was also some resistance led by Tun Datu Mustapha . On October 10, 1943, the Kinabalu Guerrillas together with followers of Panglima Alli staged a surprise attack on the Japanese. The attack however was foiled. The 324 local residents who participated in the attacks, including Albert Kwok and Panglima Alli, were detained in Petagas and later executed on January 21, [ 31 ] 1944. The site of the execution is today known as the Petagas War Memorial . In Keningau during World War II, Korom was a rebel and some said he was a Sergeant with the North Borneo Armed Constabulary . It was claimed that he spied for the Allied Forces by pretending to be working for the Japanese. He provided intelligence on Japanese positions and some credited him with the escape of 500 Allied POWs. Fighting alongside with Korom in his platoon was Garukon, Lumanib, Kingan, Mikat, Pensyl, Gampak, Abdullah Hashim, Ariff Salleh, Langkab, Polos, Nuing, Ambutit, Lakai, Badau and many more including the Chinese. In Sandakan there was once a brutal POW camp run by the Japanese for British and Australian POWs from North Borneo. The prisoners suffered in agony in their first year of captivity under notoriously inhuman conditions, but much worse was to come through the forced marches of January, March and June 1945 (refer to Sandakan Memorial Park WWII POW Museum Records). Allied bombardments caused the Japanese to relocate the POW camp to inland Ranau , 260 km away. All the prisoners, who by then were reduced to 2504 in number,
were to be moved, but instead of transport, were forced to march the infamous Sandakan Death March . Sickness, disease, exhaustion, thirst, hunger, whipping, and shooting killed most of the prisoners, except for six Australians who successfully escaped, were never caught, and survived to tell the horrific story of the death march. The fallen of this march are commemorated each year on Anzac Day (Memorial Day) in Australia and in Sandakan, at the original POW campsite where a POW hut style museum and a black marble memorial obelisk monument are nestled in a peaceful park setting with a lily pond. The war ended with the official surrender by Lieutenant-General Baba Masao of the 37th Japanese Army in Labuan on September 10, 1945. After the surrender, North Borneo was administered by the British Military Administration and in 1946 it became a British Crown Colony . Jesselton replaced Sandakan as the capital and the Crown continued to rule North Borneo until 1963.
Leading up to the formation of Malaysia until 1966, Indonesia adopted a hostile policy towards Malaya and subsequently Malaysia, which was backed by British forces. This undeclared war stems from what Indonesian President Sukarno perceive as an expansion of British influence in the region and his intention to wrest control over the whole of Borneo under the Indonesian republic. Around the same time, there were proposals from certain parties, particularly by the Brunei People's Party , for the formation of a North Borneo Federation consisting of Sabah, Sarawak and Brunei . The proposal culminated in rebel attacks in Brunei and some parts of Sabah and Sarawak. The rebellion was foiled by the Bruneian Army with the help of the British colonials in December 1962.
Kota Kinabalu in 2008. It became the first city in the state in 2000 and has become not only the administrative capital but also the economic and transportation hub of the region.
In 1985, following the state elections , Pairin Kitingan of Parti Bersatu Sabah (PBS) became the seventh chief minister and this marked the second time in Malaysia where a party not affiliated with the nation ruling coalition Barisan Nasional (BN) or its predecessor, the Alliance Party , formed government in any state (preceded by Gerakan in Penang in 1969 and followed by PAS in Kelantan in 1990). In 1986, opponents of the newly elected PBS government started riots around the state , mainly in the cities of Kota Kinabalu , Tawau and Sandakan , resulting in bombings and five fatalities. Peace was gradually restored following a snap election in [ 40 ] [41 ] 1986 which consolidated PBS' position as the ruling state government. From 1990 to 1991, several PBS politicians were arrested under the Internal Security Act for allegedly being involved in plans to secede Sabah from the Malaysian Federation and detained for two years. Among those arrested were Jeffrey Kitingan and Maximus Ongkili . Other politicians, including Pairin, were hit with corruption charges . The arrests and charges were [ 42 ] suspected to be politically motivated. Following the 1994 state election , Barisan Nasional regained control of the state via the creation of the Sabah chapter of the United Malays National Organisation (UMNO) party and other parties. The rotation system was introduced by the then prime minister Mahathir Mohamad in which the chief ministerial post would be rotated every two years among the three main communities in Sabah, namely, the Muslim Bumiputeras, non-Muslim Bumiputeras and the Chinese. Sakaran Dandai became the first chief minister under this system in 1994. The rotation system was finally abolished in 2005 with current chief minister Musa Aman at the helm. On December 26, 1996, Sabah was hit by one of the worst tropical storm known as Tropical Storm Greg . The storm hit the western coast of the state resulting in over 200 deaths and thousands of home destroyed. In 2000, the state capital Kota Kinabalu was granted city status, making it the 6th city in Malaysia and the first city in the state. Also this year, Kinabalu National Park was officially designated by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site , making it the first site in the country to be given such designation.
On May 3, 2000, the Abu Sayyaf militant group from southern Philippines arrived on the resort island of Sipadan and kidnapped 21 people consisting of tourists and resort workers for ransom. Most hostages were rescued on September 16, 2000 following an offensive by the Philippine army. In 2002, the International Court of Justice ruled that the islands of Sipadan and Ligitan , claimed [ 43 ] by Indonesia , are part of Sabah and Malaysia . In early 2013, an armed group who identified themselves as the Royal Sulu Army entered Sabah with the purpose of reclaiming Sabah as part of the Sultanate of Sulu . This resulted in a standoff and later on an armed conflict between the group and Malaysian security forces.