Tawau and Semporna - 4th till 9th August 2011
If you are wondering where is Tawau, well, it is located in the South East Coast of Sabah and faces the Celebes Sea (see maps below). Sabah is the second largest state in Malaysia after Sarawak. It shares a border with Kalimantan, Indonesia in the south. Sabah is divided into 5 administrative divisions, Tawau Division being one of 5. Tawau Division comprises of 4 districts which is Tawau, Semporna, Kunak and Lahad Datu.
The places we visited were Tawau and Semporna.
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| Map of Malaysia showing the location of Sabah state |
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| Map of Sabah showing the location of the Tawau Division |
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| Map of Sabah showing the location of Tawau & Semporna |
According to 2009 census (Wikipedia), Tawau has a population of 474,728. 41% are Malaysians and the rest are non-Malaysians, to be exact, Indonesians 59%!.
Shocking yes but this is the reality! 59% non-Malaysians….that explains it all. No wonder we felt like we had landed in Indonesia. Seriously, being in Tawau makes you doubt whether you are really in Malaysia. Non-Malaysians outnumber Malaysians….so strange yet true. How did this happen? Some govt departments sleeping on their jobs? Or making money through corruption? Perhaps some attempt to increase the Muslim population? Or increase vote banks? I can only guess.
From a total of 192,694 Malaysian population in Tawau (Wikipedia), 18% comprise of Chinese (Hakka origin) while the rest comprise of Malay, Dusun, Kadazan, Bajau, Murut and other Bumiputeras (natives).
We met Indonesians of Bugis origin (from Sulawesi, Indonesia), Suluk origin and Timor origin and they seem to have comfortably settled down in Tawau to make a living. They said life in Indonesia is hard (poverty) so they ventured via boats (sometimes over 3 to 4 days) towards Tawau’s coastline. These were pleasant and helpful folks. We also met people of Philippines origin whose parents came here in the 70s and 80s from Mindanao.
The Chinese are mainly concentrated in Tawau city, and they are the rich ones. We noted this immediately . They drive MPVs like Toyota Hilux and other expensive vehicles and own almost all shops and businesses. What is with the MPVs, we saw so many in Tawau town?
Shocking yes but this is the reality! 59% non-Malaysians….that explains it all. No wonder we felt like we had landed in Indonesia. Seriously, being in Tawau makes you doubt whether you are really in Malaysia. Non-Malaysians outnumber Malaysians….so strange yet true. How did this happen? Some govt departments sleeping on their jobs? Or making money through corruption? Perhaps some attempt to increase the Muslim population? Or increase vote banks? I can only guess.
From a total of 192,694 Malaysian population in Tawau (Wikipedia), 18% comprise of Chinese (Hakka origin) while the rest comprise of Malay, Dusun, Kadazan, Bajau, Murut and other Bumiputeras (natives).
We met Indonesians of Bugis origin (from Sulawesi, Indonesia), Suluk origin and Timor origin and they seem to have comfortably settled down in Tawau to make a living. They said life in Indonesia is hard (poverty) so they ventured via boats (sometimes over 3 to 4 days) towards Tawau’s coastline. These were pleasant and helpful folks. We also met people of Philippines origin whose parents came here in the 70s and 80s from Mindanao.
The Chinese are mainly concentrated in Tawau city, and they are the rich ones. We noted this immediately . They drive MPVs like Toyota Hilux and other expensive vehicles and own almost all shops and businesses. What is with the MPVs, we saw so many in Tawau town?
If you pass a row of shoplots, you can be sure that majority if not all are Chinese owned and run. We heard that the Chinese Sabahans are richer than their West Malaysian brothers. And the further you get away from the town centre, the more of such Chinese businesses you will see.
The disparity between the lifestyle of the Chinese locals and the others hits you smack on your face, you can’t help but notice. Chinese businesses employ Indonesian girls to work at their restaurants and shops, and local Sabahans. I guess labour must be cheap. But then, the Chinese were early settlers as far back as the 1800s and always the enterprising lot.
The disparity between the lifestyle of the Chinese locals and the others hits you smack on your face, you can’t help but notice. Chinese businesses employ Indonesian girls to work at their restaurants and shops, and local Sabahans. I guess labour must be cheap. But then, the Chinese were early settlers as far back as the 1800s and always the enterprising lot.
But I digress…I'll go back to my travel story now.
I can be reached at sivakay2009@gmail.com.
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Sivakay