Sabah
(2000 est. pop. 2.4 million). Sabah is a Malaysian state on the northern part of the island of Borneo, bordered by Indonesia in the south, Sarawak in the west, and the Philippines in the east. Its coastline includes the South China Sea, the Sulu Sea, and the Celebes (Sulawesi) Sea. Once known as British North Borneo, Sabah has a land area of 73,619 square kilometers (28,400 square miles) and is the secondlargest state of the Federation of Malaysia, with almost 22 percent of its territory and 12 percent of its population. Sabah's capital city, Kota Kinabalu (formerly Jesselton), is located in the northwest of the state. The capital's population was 354,100 in 2000, up from 209,200 in 1991.
According to historical records, the area of what is now Sabah was under control of the sultans of Brunei before the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. In the early eighteenth century some of its coastal areas were ruled by the sultans of Sulu. In the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries the power of the Brunei sultanate was weakened by internal political instability and rivalry between traditional rulers. In 1877 Baron Von Overbeck and Alfred Dent leased 28,000 square miles of territory from the sultans of Brunei and Sulu. In 1882 the British North Borneo Chartered Company was established, and in 1884 it named Sandakan city the capital of British North Borneo, which became a British protectorate in 1888. However, from 1942 to 1945 most of Sabah was occupied by the Japanese Imperial Army. In 1946 Sabah became a British crown colony. In 1963 it gained independence from Britain and joined Malaysia.
Agriculture, forestry, tourism, and mining are the main sectors of the Sabah economy. Traditionally, Sabah exported rubber, copra, and timber, but since the 1980s crude oil has become one of the most important export items. In the 1990s the state attempted to diversify its economy, attracting manufacturing and services, especially tourism. Due to ecological concerns, the export of timber was banned by the state government in 1994, but the tropical rain forest is still under heavy exploitation for domestic needs. Oil palm was introduced in the 1960s and has become an important crop.
Further Reading
Kaur, Amarjit. (1998) Economic Change in East Malaysia: Sabah and Sarawak since 1850. New York: St. Martin's Press.
Leong, Cecilia. (1982) Sabah, The First 100 Years. Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia: Pecetakan Nan Yang Muda.
Roff, Margaret Clark. (1974) The Politics of Belonging: Political Change in Sabah and Sarawak. New York: Oxford University Press.
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