Lahad Datu
Encyclopedia
Tawau Division
Tawau Division is one of the five administrative sub-divisions of Sabah, east Malaysia, on the island of Borneo. It occupies a total of 14,905 square kilometers or 20% of Sabah's territory...
, in the east of Sabah
Sabah
Sabah is one of 13 member states of Malaysia. It is located on the northern portion of the island of Borneo. It is the second largest state in the country after Sarawak, which it borders on its southwest. It also shares a border with the province of East Kalimantan of Indonesia in the south...
, eastern Malaysia on the island of Borneo
Borneo
Borneo is the third largest island in the world and is located north of Java Island, Indonesia, at the geographic centre of Maritime Southeast Asia....
. It occupies the peninsula on the north side of Darvel Bay
Darvel Bay
Darvel Bay or Lahad Datu Bay is a bight on the east side of Sabah on the island of Borneo. It is the largest semi-enclosed bay on the east coast of Borneo and faces the Sulawesi Sea...
. Its population was estimated to be around 118,000 in 1991 and 156,059 in the 2000 census. Lahad Datu is surrounded by stretches of cocoa and oil palm
Oil palm
The oil palms comprise two species of the Arecaceae, or palm family. They are used in commercial agriculture in the production of palm oil. The African Oil Palm Elaeis guineensis is native to West Africa, occurring between Angola and Gambia, while the American Oil Palm Elaeis oleifera is native to...
plantations. It is also an important timber
Timber
Timber may refer to:* Timber, a term common in the United Kingdom and Australia for wood materials * Timber, Oregon, an unincorporated community in the U.S...
exporting port. The town has an airport
Lahad Datu Airport
Lahad Datu Airport is an airport located 1 km from Lahad Datu, a town in the state of Sabah in Malaysia. It is near an orangutan rehabilitation center. The airport can accommodate ATR72 and smaller aircraft and the terminal can handle 100,000 passengers annually...
for domestic flights.
A settlement is believed to have existed here in the 15th century, as excavations have unearthed Ming dynasty
Ming Dynasty
The Ming Dynasty, also Empire of the Great Ming, was the ruling dynasty of China from 1368 to 1644, following the collapse of the Mongol-led Yuan Dynasty. The Ming, "one of the greatest eras of orderly government and social stability in human history", was the last dynasty in China ruled by ethnic...
Chinese
China
Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
ceramics
Pottery
Pottery is the material from which the potteryware is made, of which major types include earthenware, stoneware and porcelain. The place where such wares are made is also called a pottery . Pottery also refers to the art or craft of the potter or the manufacture of pottery...
. Just east of Lahad Datu, is the village of Tunku, a notorious base for Lanun pirates and slave traders in the 19th century. Lahad Datu is a gateway to the Danum Valley Conservation Area
Danum Valley Conservation Area
Danum Valley Conservation Area is a 438 square kilometres tract of relatively undisturbed lowland dipterocarp forest in Sabah, Malaysia. The area holds unique status in the sense that before it became a conservation area there were no human settlements within the area, meaning that hunting,...
, the Tabin Wildlife Reserve
Tabin Wildlife Reserve
Tabin Wildlife Refuge is a nature preserve in Sabah, eastern Malaysia, on the island of Borneo. It was created in 1984 to preserve Sabah’s disappearing wild animals...
in the east, and Madai Caves
Madai Caves
Madai Caves are famed as a source for swiftlet's nests used in bird's nest soup. The caves are located in Tawau Division of Sabah, eastern Malaysia, on the island of Borneo....
further south.
In the end of the 14th century, it was believed that Islam was first introduced in Sabah. This based on a jawi manuscript in the Idahan language dated 1408 A.D, which gives an account of an Ida'an
Ida'an
The Ida'an are an ethnic group of Borneo, residing primarily in the Lahad Datu districts on the east coast of Sabah, Malaysia. Their current population is estimated to be around 6,000 , but it appears that they once inhabited a much larger area along the east Sabah coast than present...
man named Abdullah in Darvel Bay who embraced Islam.http://www.borneo-online.com.my/sabah.htm
Lahad Datu is also home to Sabah's population of Orang Bajau and Cocos Island
Cocos (Keeling) Islands
The Territory of the Cocos Islands, also called Cocos Islands and Keeling Islands, is a territory of Australia, located in the Indian Ocean, southwest of Christmas Island and approximately midway between Australia and Sri Lanka....
Malays, who were settled in this area in the 1950s when the Cocos Islands became part of Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
.
Besides, Lahad Datu also has palm oil refineries.
The Palm Oil Industrial Cluster (POIC)http://www.poic.com.my is located near the Lahad Datu Port and will be completed by Mid-2007. It consists of 1150 acres (5 km²) of land developed (with a centralised bulking facility and a jetty, currently under construction, which will have a draft of 20 meters, making it one of the few deep sea ports in the world) specifically for palm oil downstream industries. To date, 18 companies have bought land in POIC with eight being companies involved in the production of palm biodiesel. POIC is a wholly State-owned company under the purview of the Ministry of Industrial Development. Its Chairman is the current minister, Datuk Dr. Ewon Ebin and the Chief Executive Officer is Dr. Pang Teck Wai.
Lahad Datu is also the base of Borneo Child Aid Society
Borneo Child Aid Society
Borneo Child Aid Society/Humana is an independent Not-for-Profit NGO based in Sabah, Malaysia on the island of Borneo. It is locally known and registered as "Humana Child Aid Society Sabah"....
(Locally Humana Child Aid Society Sabah) Homepage which provides education for more than 5000 children of plantation workers and others without access to basic education.