For the federal constituency represented in the Dewan Rakyat, see Lawas (federal constituency). For the state constituency formerly represented in the Sarawak State Legislative Assembly (1969–2006), see Lawas (state constituency).
Lawas (Malay: Pekan Lawas) is a small town and the capital of Lawas District, Limbang Division, Sarawak, Malaysia. This district area is 3,811.90 square kilometres, and population (year 2020 census) was 46,200. It is 1,200 km from the state capital, Kuching and 200 km from the capital city of Sabah, Kota Kinabalu.
Etymology
There are several versions of the origin of the name "Lawas". It reportedly came from the Malay word luas which means "spacious". During earlier times, people tended to settle down in spacious areas and thus the town was born. In another version of the story, there was once a group of merchants who were attacked and chased by the pirates at the mouth of the Lawas river. The merchants managed to hid themselves in the middle of the jungle and the pirates could not find them. Feelling relieved and secure, the merchants returned to the sea. In the local dialect, "Lawas" means "relief, safe, and secure".[2]
History
On 7 September 1901, the British North Borneo Company (BNBC) had obtained the administrative rights of the Lawas river from Brunei Sultanate in order to stem the smuggling of weapons that worked against the BNBC government in North Borneo (present day Sabah) and the trading of slaves in the interior of the Lawas district. There were two types of rights exist in the Brunei administrative system: sungai kerajaan (government river) and sungai tulin (private river). Government control on the river includes the rights to all the minerals mined from the river and the right to interfere if there is any political disturbances around the river. Private ownership of the river functioned like a private inheritance which includes the right collect taxes from the residents living near the river.[3]
At that time, Pengiran Abu Bakar and Pengiran Tajudin had the private ownership of the Lawas river. They refused to surrender their private ownerships to BNBC but keen to sell their rights to Kingdom of Sarawak. When the British Consul at Labuan decided that BNBC should take over the Lawas river by force, Pengiran Abu Bakar quickly invited Rajah Charles Brooke from Kingdom of Sarawak to govern the Lawas river. BNBC initially was unhappy with the Brooke involvement in the administration of Lawas river. However, in November 1904, BNBC decided the sell their administrative right to Brooke in view of private owners unwilling to cooperate with BNBC; taking Lawas river by force will only spark more rebellion against BNBC and drain the BNBC cash reserves. On 19 January 1905, an agreement was signed between BNBC and Rajah Charles Brooke which saw the official handover of Lawas river to the Brooke government in exchange of 5000 pounds and several administrative areas around Brunei bay to BNBC. An agreement was later reached with the private owners to sell Lawas river to the Brooke government with reparation of 6,000 dollars per year to the private owners.[3]
As with Limbang, the town is a busy transit point between Sarawak, Sabah, and Brunei.
Timber and agriculture are the mainstays of the economy. The highland area known as Ba'Kelalan has been experimenting with the cultivation of apples. In addition, the tourism industry is being developed in Ba'Kelalan. However, these plans have been met with controversy due to the probable effects on several traditional tribal villages. Plans to develop small and middle scale industries in Lawas have been proposed by the state government.
At this time much of the land in Lawas, Sundar and Trusan has been transformed from padi fields into oil palm plantations. Lawas is also known as the producer of smoked fish called 'Tahai' in local dialect. One of the villages that produces 'Tahai' commercially is Kampung Awat-Awat in the Sundar sub-district.
Transport
Road
Lawas, by virtue of its geographical location, is cut off from the rest of Sarawak's road network. It is however linked by main road to Sabah and Brunei's Temburong district. There is a good local road network around Lawas district which is relatively free of traffic jams.
Travelling from Miri to Lawas would need to go through checkpoints in Brunei and Limbang, totaling eight immigration checkpoints. Drive from the town of Lawas to Sarawak-Sabah border requires 30 minutes.[5]
Merapok: Immigration guard posts are located here which borders with Sindumin checkpoint located in Sabah. In 2015, Merapok-Sindumin guard posts handled 700,000 visitors.[7]
Exit stamp from Mengkalap ICQS Checkpoint.
Entry stamp from Merapok ICQS Checkpoint.
Water transport
Another mode of transport is via the Lawas River. The cleaned river serves as an important link to neighbouring towns and deep interior settlements. Besides that, Lawas is also served by an airport. There has also been a plan to build a new airport. Commonly, four wheel drive would be the main transport for most of the highlanders.
Brunei, Labuan and Limbang can be reached by boat. The journey will take around two hours to get to the destination. Boats to Brunei, Labuan and Limbang are available at Lawas Wharf every morning. The boats can accommodate around 150 passengers.
A government hospital was proposed to be built for the town under the Ninth Malaysia Plan.[8] As of May 2016, the hospital is scheduled to be completed in 36 months.[8]
Culture and leisure
Lawas Mall
A planned RM210 million state government office complex cum three-storey shopping mall will be built next to Hotel Seri Malaysia and Lawas Town Square.[9] The mall will houses a supermarket, departmental store and 132 commercial lots.[9]
Pasar Tamu Lawas
The open-air market, locally known as tamu, is held weekly on from Friday evening until Saturday afternoon. Local produce such as fresh fruits, vegetables, fresh meat, Adan rice, Bario rice, Ikan Tahai, Hill salts (Garam Bakelalan), handycraft traditional and live poultry are sold. The days of this weekly community occasion differ from district to district.
One of the most popular tourist attractions in Lawas is its Tamu Lawas (or Lawas Produce Market), which is held every Saturday. Local products such as vegetables, fruits and sea products are sold by locals in this market which is frequented by locals and people from the neighbouring Temburong district of Brunei.
Besides Tamu Lawas, other interesting places in Lawas are Punang Beach, Sungai Bangat Beach, Pa' Lelau in Merarap, Mount Murud, Kampung air Terjun (along Jalan Trusan).
Kuala Lawas, Punang and Awat Awat are famous with its Kampung Air. It is similar to Kampung Ayer in Brunei but smaller. The main mode of transportation is perahu (boat) to cross the river.
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