Tawau’s Street Names Uncovered

27 April 2010 2,128 views 7 Comments

Tawau is a melting pot of various cultures. It is evident just by walking on the street – you can somehow feel that you are in Indonesia, the Philippines and Malaysia all at the same time. This was caused not only by political reasons but also due to the fact that people are naturally attracted to Tawau.

Who is this Chester person? (photo courtesy of Chua Hui Mee)

If you look at the town map, you will notice that a lot of the roads and street names are actual people’s names. There are English, Chinese, Malay, Japanese and even Arabic sounding names. Do you know who these people are?

We compiled a short list below so hopefully it will give you some ideas on why their names were chosen. We plan to grow this list as we discover more information.

Jalan Tengku Osman – Named after Jeneral Tengku Osman Mohd Jewa, who was the Armed Forces Chief.

Jalan Dunlop – The district offer of Tawau in the early 1920’s called A.R. Dunlop.

Jalan Kee Abdullah - A Sino-Dusun Muslim who was appointed by the British North Borneo (Chartered) Company as a custom examiner and revenue collector in 1894.

Jalan James Power – Head Master of St. Patrick school in 1957.

Jalan Dominic – Named after Cornelius Dominic whose grave was recently found. He came from a prominent clan in Sabah.

Jalan Habib Hussein – A famous Arab preacher and leader for the Muslim community in Tawau.

Jalan Stephen Tan – A Chinese “Kapitan” who was killed by Japanese invaders.

Jalan Cole Adam – The district officer of Tawau in 1945.

Jalan Kuhara – Named after Kuhara Fusanosuke (?????), the owner of Kuhara Mining Co., later called Nissan.

Jalan Abaca – Tawau was once home to big plantations planted with abaca which is also known as Manila hemp.

Jalan Dr. Yamamoto – A Doctor from Japan who was practicing in Tawau in 1920’s and was also the acting Medical Officer at the old Tawau Hospital.

Cowie Bay – British North Borneo (Chartered) Company headed by William Cowie.

Other names which we have yet to identify – Persiaran Traulsen (also known as “highway”), Jalan Chen Fook, Jalan Morrell and so on. If you know who these people are please kindly leave your comments below.

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7 Comments »

adriansabah said:

It is information like this that makes me keep coming back to your site. This is part of the rich but obscure history of Sabah.

# 19 May 2010 at 5:54 pm

Roz K said:

It’s like having my morning coffee before work starts everyday… Keep it up, bro & Dan…

# 20 May 2010 at 9:27 am

Daniel Yap said:

Thank you Roz….we will continue updating and improving it.

# 20 May 2010 at 6:37 pm

Kee Heritage said:

Jalan Kee Abdullah was named after a Chinese national who was appointed as the first the British North Borneo (Chartered) Company as a custom examiner and revenue collector in 1894 in Tawau. His name is Kee Kim Swee and later known as Kee Abdullah after he embraced Islam.

# 29 December 2010 at 2:45 am

richardker (author) said:

Thank you for the additional information!

# 30 December 2010 at 12:22 am

ajib said:

Mendiang Stephen Tan ( pemimpin bangsa Cina di Tawau ) dan Allahyarham Habib Hussein ( pemimpin masyarakat Melayu di Tawau ) adalah sebahagian mangsa kekejaman pemerintahan tentera Jepun. Nama-nama kedua pemimpin berjasa yang dibunuh tentera Jepun ini telah diabadikan pada dua buah jalan utama di bandar Tawau pada ketika ini.

# 20 September 2011 at 10:08 pm

richardker (author) said:

ya betul tu @ajib

# 21 September 2011 at 3:05 pm