Lahad Datu

A settlement is believed to have existed here in the 15th century, as excavations have unearthed Ming dynasty Chinese ceramics.{{cite web|url=http://www.sabah.edu.my/itls07014/Cities%20&%20Towns-Lahad%20Datu.html|title=Journey Through The Land Below The Wind|access-date=23 October 2019}} Just east of Lahad Datu is the village of Tunku, a notorious base for pirates and slave traders in the 19th century.{{cite book|author=Oxford Business Group|title=The Report: Sabah 2011|date=5 February 2024 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nKJoQ4o-_DsC&pg=PA12|publisher=Oxford Business Group|isbn=978-1-907065-36-1|pages=12–}}

File:TobaccoEstateLahadDatu.jpg

Based on a Jawi manuscript from 1408 in the Ida'an language, the town is believed to be the first site in northern Borneo where Islam was first introduced. The Jawi manuscript gives an account of an Ida'an man named Abdullah in Darvel Bay who embraced Islam.{{cite web|url=http://www.sabah.edu.my/kaupin/guest/sabah/sabah_forever.htm|title=About Sabah|access-date=23 October 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160515105207/http://www.sabah.edu.my/kaupin/guest/sabah/sabah_forever.htm|archive-date=15 May 2016|url-status=dead}}

{{main|1985 Lahad Datu ambush|2013 Lahad Datu standoff}}

On 23 September 1985, 15 to 20 armed foreign pirates from the neighbouring Philippines landed on this town, killing at least 21 people and injuring 11 others.{{cite web|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1309&dat=19870924&id=emNPAAAAIBAJ&sjid=DZADAAAAIBAJ&pg=4938,4898789|title=Lahad Datu Recalls Its Blackest Monday|publisher=New Straits Times|date=24 September 1987|access-date=30 October 2014}}{{cite web|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1301&dat=19851030&id=fjZWAAAAIBAJ&sjid=KugDAAAAIBAJ&pg=2040,10656153|title=Filipino pirates wreak havoc in a Malaysian island paradise|author=Masayuki Doi|publisher=The Sydney Morning Herald|date=30 October 1985|access-date=30 October 2014}}

Another standoff occurred in February 2013 and lasted for over a month between Malaysian authorities and the Filipino-based militants of the self-proclaimed "Royal Security Forces of the Sultanate of Sulu and North Borneo" led by Jamalul Kiram III{{cite web|author=Jethro Mullen|url=https://edition.cnn.com/2013/02/15/world/asia/malaysia-philippines-standoff|title=Filipino group on Borneo claims to represent sultanate, Malaysia says|publisher=CNN|date=15 February 2013|access-date=25 February 2013}}{{cite web|url=https://globalnation.inquirer.net/64577/heirs-of-sultan-of-sulu-pursue-sabah-claim-on-their-own|title=Heirs of Sultan of Sulu pursue Sabah claim on their own|publisher=globalnation.inquirer.net|date=20 February 2013}} and resulted in a Malaysian victory and creation of the Eastern Sabah Security Command and Eastern Sabah Security Zone.

The standoff reportedly saw a total of 68 deaths – 56 from the Sulu sultanate, nine from the Malaysian authorities and six civilians.{{Cite web |url=https://www.astroawani.com/berita-malaysia/lahad-datu-invasion-painful-memory-2013-27579 |access-date=2024-02-05 |website=www.astroawani.com}} Before this incursion, the government of Malaysia continued to dutifully pay an annual cession payment amounting to roughly $1,000 to the indirect heirs of the Sultan honoring an 1878 agreement, where North Borneo – today’s Sabah – was conceded by the late Sultan of Sulu to a British company.{{Cite web |title=Sovereignty, Forum Shopping, and the Case of the Sulu Sultanate's Heirs |url=https://thediplomat.com/2022/11/sovereignty-forum-shopping-and-the-case-of-the-sulu-sultanates-heirs/ |access-date=2024-02-05 |website=thediplomat.com |language=en-US}}{{Cite web |title=Sulu claim shows Southeast Asia cannot yet escape colonial legacy |url=https://asia.nikkei.com/Opinion/Sulu-claim-shows-Southeast-Asia-cannot-yet-escape-colonial-legacy |access-date=2024-02-05 |website=Nikkei Asia |language=en-GB}} After the event, the Malaysian government halted the payment. Years later, eight of these Sulu heirs, who insisted they were not involved in the standoff, hired lawyers to pursue legal action based on the original commercial deal.{{Cite news |date=2023-06-13 |title=Analysis {{!}} Malaysia Wins Respite in $15 Billion Spat With Philippines. Here's How the Fight Began. |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/energy/2023/06/07/malaysia-14-billion-fight-over-oil-rich-sabah-with-philippine-sulu-sultan-heirs/1603a176-0511-11ee-b74a-5bdd335d4fa2_story.html |access-date=2024-02-05 |newspaper=Washington Post |language=en-US |issn=0190-8286}} The case is still ongoing.{{needs update|date=November 2024}}

File:Lahad Datu Tamaco Plantation.jpg plantation in Lahad Datu, palm oil has become the main economic source for the town.]]

File:LahadDatu Sabah CentralMarket-1.jpg

Lahad Datu also has several palm oil refineries. The Palm Oil Industrial Cluster (POIC) is located near Lahad Datu township. POIC owns and operates its own port, POIC Port Lahad Datu and received its first vessel on 1 March 2013.{{cite web|url=http://www.poic.com.my/files/pressrelease/pr110313.pdf|title=Maiden Voyage into POIC Port|publisher=POIC Sabah Sdn. Bhd.|date=11 March 2013|access-date=14 March 2013}} It consists of {{convert|1150|acre|km2|0}} of industrial land developed (with a centralised bulking facility, dry, liquid, barge and container terminals with a sea draft of 20 meters, making it one of the few deep sea ports in the world). To date, 55 companies have invested in POIC with 11 companies involved in fertilizer (making it the biggest cluster of fertilizer companies). POIC is a wholly state-owned company under the purview of the Ministry of Industrial Development, Sabah. Its Chairman is YB Senator Datuk Donald Mojuntin, and the Acting Chief Executive Officer is Mdm. Lynette Hoo (ADK). POIC was started by Datuk Dr Pang Teck Wai in 2005 and now retired since June 2020.

Lahad Datu is linked to other towns and districts via Federal Route 13, a part of larger Pan-Borneo Highway network in the east coast of Sabah. Works of constructing a new bypass road on Sandakan-Tawau route has been commenced on mid 2016, to relieve the traffic congestion on the town itself. Lahad Datu is served by many different methods of transportation. Taxis, buses and minibuses are abundant and provide connectivity around the town and other districts such as Sandakan and Tawau. Lahad Datu Port is a container port administered by Sabah Port Sdn. Bhd.

First Palm City Centre (FPCC) along Jalan Pantai is an integrated commercial development by Titijaya Land Berhad. It consist of 2-3 storey of retail shoplots, bus terminal and anchor business, Econsave operating in this strategic business address. 1.5 km to town, 2 km to Lahad Datu Airport and 2.5 km to Lahad Datu Hospital.

MASwings, a regional airline and subsidiary of Malaysia Airlines (MAB) provides five direct flights daily to Kota Kinabalu, the state's capital from Lahad Datu Airport.

Lahad Datu has a tropical rainforest climate (Af) with heavy rainfall year-round.

{{Weather box

|width = auto

| location = Lahad Datu

| metric first = Yes

| single line = Yes

| Jan high C = 29.6

| Feb high C = 29.6

| Mar high C = 30.3

| Apr high C = 31.1

| May high C = 31.7

| Jun high C = 31.5

| Jul high C = 31.5

| Aug high C = 31.7

| Sep high C = 31.5

| Oct high C = 31.2

| Nov high C = 30.6

| Dec high C = 29.9

| Jan mean C = 26.3

| Feb mean C = 26.3

| Mar mean C = 26.7

| Apr mean C = 27.2

| May mean C = 27.6

| Jun mean C = 27.3

| Jul mean C = 27.1

| Aug mean C = 27.3

| Sep mean C = 27.1

| Oct mean C = 27.0

| Nov mean C = 26.8

| Dec mean C = 26.4

| year mean C =

| Jan low C = 23.0

| Feb low C = 23.1

| Mar low C = 23.1

| Apr low C = 23.3

| May low C = 23.5

| Jun low C = 23.1

| Jul low C = 22.8

| Aug low C = 22.9

| Sep low C = 22.8

| Oct low C = 22.9

| Nov low C = 23.1

| Dec low C = 23.0

|rain colour=

|Jan rain mm=249

|Feb rain mm=211

|Mar rain mm=159

|Apr rain mm=132

|May rain mm=155

|Jun rain mm=141

|Jul rain mm=135

|Aug rain mm=151

|Sep rain mm=138

|Oct rain mm=184

|Nov rain mm=182

|Dec rain mm=226

|source 1 = Climate-Data.org{{cite web

|url = https://en.climate-data.org/location/54128/

|title = Climate: Lahad Datu

|publisher=Climate-Data.org

|access-date = 30 October 2020}}

}}

{{commons category-inline|Lahad Datu}}

• [https://www.etawau.com/Geography/Sabah/5_TawauDivision/LahadDatu/ExpressBusStation.htm Express Bus Station in Lahad Datu]

{{Sabah}}

Category:Lahad Datu District

Category:Towns in Sabah