Tawau Division

Tawau Division is one of the five administrative sub-divisions of Sabah, east Malaysia, on the island of Borneo. It occupies a total of 14,905 square kilometres or 20% of Sabah's territory. The main towns include the capital of Tawau, Lahad Datu, Kunak and Semporna.

Tawau division has 26% of Sabah's total population, with the main native ethnic groups consisting of Bajau, Suluk, Ida'an and Tidong indigenous ethnic groups, a minority of mixed Malay ethnic groups such as Malay Arab, Malay Bugis (Wajo), Malay Iban, Malay Jawa, Malay Banjar, Kokos or Bulungan, and indigenous ethnic groups Lun Bawang/Lun Dayeh. A large numbers of legal and illegal immigrants from Indonesia such as Buginese and Tators, from East Timor the Timorese and from the Philippines the Tausūg and Visayans can be found on this area. As with the rest of Sabah, the cities have a large minority of ethnic Chinese.

Tawau port is the third largest port after Kota Kinabalu and Sandakan. The port serves as a major timber and agricultural products export center. There are two domestic airports serving the Tawau division: one in Tawau and one in Lahad Datu. Independent Power Producer in Tawau produces 3 x 12 MW power generating capacity for the region.

Tawau

Tawau (Malaysian pronunciation: [ˈta wau], Jawi: تاواو‎, Chinese: 斗湖; pinyin: Dǒu Hú) formerly known as Tawao, is the third-largest town in Sabah, after Kota Kinabalu City and Sandakan, and lies on the south-eastern coast of Borneo in Malaysia. It is the administrative centre of Tawau Division which is bordered by the Sulu Sea to the east, the Celebes Sea to the south at Cowie Bay and shares a border with North Kalimantan. The town had an estimated population as of 2010 of 113,809, while the whole municipality area had a population of 397,673.