Save Sandakan

Source: The Star

Lovely harbour, history and seafood — Sandakan is more than just a gateway to Sabah’s nature reserves.

By STEVEN CHING

Many people think that Sandakan is on the tourist map because of its proximity to the world famous Sepilok Orangutan Rehabilitation Centre. Sandakan is much more than Sepilok. I didn’t know, until I stood at the waterfront in Harbour Square and looked out into the bay.

Sandakan, in north-eastern Sabah, has one of the most beautiful natural harbours in the world. If Sabah looks like a dog’s head, then Sandakan is somewhere near its eye. The waters of the bay open up to the Sulu sea, just south of the Philippines.

The town derived its name from the Suluk word “sanda”, which means “to pawn”. Exactly who pawned what to whom is none too clear, the truth being lost in the murky annals of Borneo’s history.

In the early 1870s, William Clarke Cowie, a Scottish adventurer and engineer, delivered guns and ammunitions to the Sultan of Sulu, who needed them to fend off a possible onslaught by Spaniards who had by then overrun much of the Philippine islands.

In return, the Sultan granted Cowie permission to set up base in Pulau Timbang, a sparsely inhabited island within the bay. Cowie christened his territory “Sandakan”, but strangely enough, it soon became known as “Kampong German”, due perhaps to the increasing number of German traders who dropped by to visit the Scotsman. And there you have it, Sandakan’s early international connections!

In 1879, the settlement was relocated to a place on the mainland known by the quirky-sounding name of Buli Sim Sim. Cowie renamed this new settlement “Elopura”, or beautiful city. The name, however, didn’t catch on and soon reverted to ‘Sandakan’. The British North Borneo Company, which was governing Sabah, then moved its capital from Kudat in the northern tip of the land (think dog’s ears) to Sandakan, which then went through a building boom.

Sadly though, Allied forces, in their attempt to liberate it towards the end of WW2 nearly bombed the new Sandakan to smithereens. The Japanese, in retaliation, finished the job by burning it to the ground, thus wiping Sandakan from the face of the map in June 1945. The following year, the capital was moved to Jesselton, now Kota Kinabalu. Sandakan was and still is a port for the export of timber.

With its strategic location, it soon grew into the bustling metropolis it is today. Today, it is more well-known as the gateway to Sabah’s rich nature and wildlife reserves in Sepilok, Lanyakan islands (leatherback turtles), Sukau and Labuk Bay (famed for sightings of the rare proboscis monkeys) and the world-famous wildlife park in the Danum Valley.

If you love seafood, Sandakan is your paradise on earth. The catch here is so fresh, you could almost taste the sea in every bite. And more importantly, the prices don’t burn a hole in your pocket. Seafood restaurants are built on stilts and extend out to the sea. Live seafood is kept in holding ponds in the sea itself, next to and below the dining platform. Just take your pick of fish, crab, lobster or giant prawns or even rock oysters.

The cook will scoop them up and throw them into the sizzling wok just for you. Places like the Ocean King seafood restaurant in Jalan Labuk enjoys “full house” patronage every night.

A finger-licking feast of butter prawns, chilli squid, a 1.2 kg whopper of a garoupa, sweet and sour crab and giant rock oysters along with a plate of stir-fried greens and chrysanthemum-scented Chinese tea for eight costs less than RM200.

If you ask a taxi driver what’s the local specialty dish, he’ll probably drop you off at Jetty No.7, along Jalan Buli Sim Sim. This predominantly Chinese settlement on stilts is linked to the main road by a number of jetties (or jambatan). At the end of No. 8, is a kopitiam. Their specialty is sui kow (dumpling) filled with seafood and century egg.

Atop a hillock in Jalan Istana, overlooking the bay sits a colonial-looking two-storey wooden bungalow. Nothing visually striking about it but I was awed to learn that it holds a notable link to the past.

It was home to Agnes, a writer, and her husband Harry Keith, who was Conservator of Forests, from the 1930s until 1942.

Agnes’ book on life in pre-war Sandakan brought the old seafaring name for Sabah “Land Below The Wind”, to international renown. The name refers to Sabah’s location just below the typhoon belt.

Agnes’ second novel about their war experiences Three Came Home was immortalised in a movie. And to think, the novels were written in that nondescript bungalow in Sandakan.

If you are feeling a little peckish, from all that history trawling, there is a neat little English teahouse cum restaurant that specialises in quintessentially English high tea and cakes right next to Agnes’ old house.

Sandakan has its fair share of Chinese and Buddhist temples. The Three Saints Temple (Sam Sing Kung temple), near the town padang (field), also happens to be the oldest building in town. The three saints in question are Kwan Woon Cheong, (the saint of righteousness), Tin Hou (goddess of the sea) and Emperor Min Cheong whose divine help is called upon by those who seek success in passing exams.

This temple was the collaborative effort of the early Cantonese, Teochew, Hakka and Hainanese communities who made Sandakan their home.

Dawn comes early in Sandakan. It’s already bright at 5am. That’s the best time to visit the new Central Market at Harbour Square, which boasts the biggest fish market in Sabah.

Boats filled with their bounty from the sea dock next to the market and unload their catch there. You can’t get fish any fresher than that! At that unearthly hour, housewives and restaurateurs are already thronging the market, moving from stall to stall and haggling over prices.

Sandakan is indeed much more than that “place near Sepilok”, or the town that timber built. For those of us who think of Kuala Lumpur as the epicentre of urban activity in Malaysia, Sandakan bustles with a briskness that is uncommon for a town in a far flung corner of the country.

Getting there
There are direct flights on Air Asia and Malaysia Airlines connecting Kuala Lumpur and Kota Kinabalu to Sandakan. Buses take six to seven hours from Kota Kinabalu to Sandakan.

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