Heritage & Culture

The Borneo Campaign

To understand Labuan's war heritage, you need to understand what happened in Borneo during World War II — and why the events on this small island mattered so much.

Japan invaded and occupied British Borneo — which then comprised North Borneo (now Sabah), Sarawak, Brunei, and Labuan — in early January 1942. The occupation lasted more than three years and was marked by severe hardship for the local population and Allied prisoners of war. Civilians faced forced labour, food shortages, and reprisals for resistance. The infamous Sandakan Death Marches, in which more than 2,400 Australian and British POWs were force-marched through the jungle with almost no survivors, remain one of the worst atrocities of the Pacific War.

Liberation came in mid-1945 through a series of amphibious operations collectively known as the Borneo Campaign. The Australian 9th Division, supported by Allied naval and air forces, landed on Labuan on 10 June 1945 — Operation Oboe Six. The fighting was fierce. Japanese defenders had fortified positions across the island, and the battle for Labuan cost the Australians significant casualties. But within weeks, the island was secured, and it became the base from which further liberation operations in North Borneo were launched.

The choice of Labuan as the surrender location was deliberate. The island had been the first major territory liberated during the Borneo Campaign, and its secure harbour provided a controlled environment for the formal ceremony. The surrender marked the end of fighting across all of Borneo, including the liberation of remaining POW camps.

War Sites on Labuan

Three primary sites preserve Labuan's WWII heritage. Each is free to visit, and together they form a circuit that takes about two hours — though visitors who take the time to read the inscriptions and absorb the atmosphere often spend longer.

The Labuan War Cemetery is the most significant site. Maintained by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission, it holds nearly 3,900 burials — predominantly Australian soldiers of the 9th Division, along with Indian, British, and other Allied forces. The cemetery sits less than a kilometre from the airport, and its rows of white headstones on immaculate lawns create a scene of quiet reverence that stays with visitors long after they leave.

Peace Park at Layang-Layangan commemorates all who fell during the conflict, regardless of nationality. A Japanese-built memorial within the park reflects a spirit of reconciliation, and the park's coastal setting — overlooking the South China Sea — provides a contemplative atmosphere. Surrender Point, nearby, marks the exact location where General Baba signed the surrender document. A commemorative plaque preserves the moment.

Each November, these sites become the focus of Labuan's Remembrance Day ceremony — one of the most significant memorial gatherings in the Asia-Pacific, attended by veterans' descendants, diplomats, military personnel, and islanders.

Labuan's Multicultural Identity

Walk through Labuan's town centre on any given day and you'll hear Malay, English, Mandarin, and several indigenous languages. You'll pass mosques, Chinese temples, and churches within a few blocks of each other. You'll smell nasi lemak and char kuey teow from adjacent stalls. This is the texture of a genuinely multicultural island — not a marketing line, but a daily reality shaped by centuries of migration, trade, and coexistence.

The Bumiputera Communities

Labuan's indigenous population includes several distinct Bumiputera groups. The Brunei Malay community reflects the island's historical ties to the Sultanate of Brunei — Labuan was part of the Brunei domain before being ceded to the British Crown in 1846. The Kedayan people, closely related to the Brunei Malays, maintain distinct cultural practices including their own dialect and agricultural traditions. The Bisaya community, also indigenous to this part of Borneo, contribute their own customs, language, and traditional knowledge to the island's cultural mosaic.

These communities share the Islamic faith with the broader Malay population, but retain distinctive cultural identities visible in their language, food, social customs, and approach to community life. The interplay between these groups — and the ease with which they interact — is one of the things that distinguishes Labuan from mainland Malaysian towns.

Chinese & Indian Communities

Labuan's Chinese community arrived primarily during the colonial era, drawn by trade opportunities and the island's status as a coal station and free port. Today, the Chinese community remains an integral part of Labuan's commercial and cultural life. Chinese temples, clan associations, and family businesses line the streets of Bandar Labuan, and Chinese New Year is one of the island's most visible celebrations.

The Indian community, though smaller, adds its own distinct flavour to the island's cultural landscape. Indian traders and workers arrived during the British colonial period, and their descendants maintain cultural traditions including Hindu temple worship, Deepavali celebrations, and the culinary contributions that make Labuan's food scene richer — from roti canai to banana leaf rice.

Festivals & Celebrations

Labuan's multicultural population means the island celebrates festivals from multiple traditions throughout the year. For visitors, catching one of these celebrations offers a window into the island's communal spirit — neighbours visiting neighbours, open houses, shared meals, and a warmth that transcends cultural boundaries.

Hari Raya Aidilfitri marks the end of Ramadan and is the most widely celebrated festival on the island. Open houses — where families welcome anyone, including visitors and strangers, to share food — are a genuine tradition here, not a formality. Expect ketupat, rendang, and an abundance of kuih.

Chinese New Year brings lion dances, red lanterns, and firecrackers to Bandar Labuan. Chinese families host open houses with mandarin oranges, ang pao, and reunion dinners. The town centre takes on a distinctly festive atmosphere for two weeks.

Deepavali, the Festival of Lights, sees the Indian community illuminate homes and temples with oil lamps. The celebration is smaller in scale than on the peninsula, but no less heartfelt — and the sweets that accompany it are worth seeking out.

Kaamatan, the harvest festival celebrated by the Kadazan-Dusun and other Bornean communities, resonates on Labuan through the Bisaya and other indigenous groups. While the major celebrations happen in Sabah, Labuan's indigenous communities mark the occasion with traditional food, music, and tapai (rice wine).

Water Villages as Living Heritage

Labuan's water villages — clusters of wooden houses built on stilts over the shallow coastal waters — are not museum exhibits. People live in them. Children walk to school along boardwalks. Fishermen moor boats beneath their homes. Mosques rise on wooden platforms over the sea. These are functioning communities that happen to be built on water, and they represent a way of life that has existed on the coasts of Borneo for centuries.

The water village tradition reflects a deep practical wisdom. Building over water provides natural cooling, direct access to fishing grounds, and protection from land-based threats. The architecture itself — lightweight timber frames, elevated platforms, connecting walkways — has evolved over generations to handle tides, storms, and the daily needs of community life. Walking through a water village, you'll notice the ingenuity: rainwater collection systems, clever use of tidal flows, and a spatial layout that balances privacy with communal interaction.

For visitors, the water villages offer something no resort or attraction can replicate: a glimpse into authentic daily life. The best approach is respectful curiosity — walk slowly, greet people, accept invitations to tea if they come, and ask before photographing homes or families. The villages are accessible by road (the boardwalks connect to the shore) and are safe to visit during daylight hours.

Traditional Crafts & Music

Labuan's traditional crafts reflect its Bornean roots and Malay-Islamic cultural influences. Weaving — particularly the creation of tikar (woven mats) from pandanus leaves — is a skill still practised by older women in the island's villages. The mats serve both practical and ceremonial purposes, and the geometric patterns carry cultural meaning that varies between communities.

Songkok-making (the traditional Malay cap) and beadwork are other surviving crafts, though they're increasingly rare as younger generations move into other occupations. The Labuan Museum displays examples of traditional craftsmanship, and some villages still produce items for local use and sale.

Music on Labuan blends Malay, Bornean, and modern influences. Traditional instruments include the kulintangan (a set of small gongs laid horizontally on a frame), the gong ensemble, and the gambus (a stringed instrument of Arab origin adopted into Malay musical tradition). These instruments surface during cultural events, weddings, and festival celebrations. The kulintangan in particular produces a distinctive cascading sound that's immediately recognisable as Bornean — if you hear it during your visit, stop and listen.

Labuan as Cultural Crossroads

Labuan's cultural identity can't be understood by looking at the island alone. Its position — physically between Sabah, Sarawak, and Brunei, and historically at the junction of Malay, Bornean, and colonial influences — has created something that doesn't quite exist anywhere else in Malaysia.

From Brunei, Labuan inherits courtly Malay traditions, the Brunei Malay dialect, and culinary staples like ambuyat (the starchy sago dish that's Brunei's national dish and is eaten daily by many Labuan families). From Sabah, the island shares indigenous Bornean traditions, the harvest festival spirit, and a frontier-like openness to different cultures. From Sarawak, echoes of the Brooke-era and longhouse traditions filter across the water. And over all of this lies the legacy of British colonialism — Labuan was a Crown Colony from 1848 to 1963 — which left its mark in the legal system, place names, and the cricket-on-the-green sensibility of some of the island's institutions.

The result is a cultural character that's distinctly Labuan. It's Malaysian, but not quite like anywhere else in Malaysia. It's Bornean, but with a cosmopolitan edge that comes from being a trading port and, later, a financial centre. Visitors who spend a few days on the island — eating in different restaurants, visiting different neighbourhoods, talking to different people — begin to sense this layered identity. It's one of Labuan's most fascinating, if least marketed, qualities.

Coal Mining Heritage

Before Labuan was a duty-free island or a financial centre, it was a coal station. The British Crown acquired Labuan in 1846 largely because of its coal deposits — the Royal Navy needed coaling stations across its trade routes, and Labuan's harbour and coal seams made it a strategic acquisition.

Coal mining operations ran through the latter half of the 19th century and into the early 20th century, shaping the island's infrastructure, economy, and demographics. Workers were brought in from China and elsewhere, establishing the Chinese community that persists today. The mines themselves were never hugely profitable — the coal was of variable quality and extraction was expensive — but the mining legacy left physical traces that endure.

The most dramatic is the Chimney at Tanjung Kubong — that enigmatic 106-foot brick structure that most theories connect to coal processing or ventilation. But the mining heritage also connects directly to the Labuan National Geopark, which was designated in 2021. Several of the geopark's eight geosites feature the same geological formations — coal seams, sedimentary layers, fossilised plant material — that drew the miners in the first place. The difference is that today, these formations are valued for their scientific and educational significance rather than their fuel content.

Heritage Walking Trail

For visitors who prefer to explore Labuan's cultural heritage on foot, a walking trail through the town centre covers the key cultural and historical sites within Bandar Labuan. The circuit takes about 90 minutes at a leisurely pace and passes through the commercial district, past Chinese temples and the mosque, through the market area, and along the waterfront.

Start at the Labuan Museum on Jalan Dewan for historical context. Walk south through the town centre, noting the mix of colonial-era shophouses and modern buildings. Pass the Chinese temple — often fragrant with incense — and the mosque, which anchors the Malay quarter. Continue to the waterfront and the old commercial pier, where trade goods once arrived from Brunei, Sabah, and beyond. The wet market, best visited in the morning, offers a sensory immersion in local food culture — this is where you'll see the mud crabs, the tropical fruit, and the spices that define Labuan's cuisine.

From the market, the boardwalk leads toward the water village area. Walking the boardwalk out over the water — passing homes, small boats, and fishing equipment — is one of Labuan's most memorable experiences. Return to town via the coastal road for waterfront views and a coffee stop at one of the local kopitiam.

Practical Info