Victoria, Labuan

Victoria (Malaysian pronunciation: [vikˈtɔriˈa]) (Malay: Bandar Victoria), sometimes known as Bandar Labuan, is the capital of the Federal Territory of Labuan in Malaysia, an island group off the north coast of Borneo. It is in the southeast corner of Labuan and its Malay name, Bandar Victoria, is commonly used in honor the reign of Queen Victoria [1][2][3][4][5]. The town is an urban district within the wider city limits of Victoria which includes Labuan Port, a sheltered deep-water harbour which is an important trans-shipment point for Brunei Darussalam, northern Sarawak and western Sabah.

Victoria Bandar Victoria
Territorial capital
Labuan Financial Park in Victoria, Labuan.
Etymology: Named after Queen Victoria
Victoria Location in Borneo
Coordinates: 5°17′N 115°14′E
Country	Malaysia
Federal territory	Labuan
Established	1946
Time zone	UTC+8 (MST)
Postcode	87xxx
Area code(s)	087

History

Soldiers from the Australian Army's 9th Division jog through the ruins of Victoria town hall and remains of the clock tower on 26 June 1945 after heavy bombing by Allied forces.

Since the 15th century, the town area including other parts of Labuan were under the Bruneian Empire.[1][6][7] Its history dates back to the time when the island was ceded by Sultan Omar Ali Saifuddin II to the British.[1][8][9] Rodney Mundy, a British naval officer, later visited the island under the name of Queen Victoria.[1][10][11] The island was then occupied by Japan from 3 January 1942 until June 1945 and governed as part of the Northern Borneo military unit by the Japanese 37th Army.[1][12] During the Battle of Labuan it was liberated by the 9th Division of Australian Imperial Force on 10 June 1945 and placed under a British Military Administration until 15 July 1946, when it was incorporated into North Borneo Crown Colony.[1] During this time, the Crown Colony government re-established much of the infrastructure that had been destroyed during the war.[13][14] The island later became part of the state of Sabah and Malaysia in 1963 before the state government of Sabah ceded the island to the federal government in 1984.[1] It was declared an international offshore financial centre and free trade zone in 1990 to assist the development of Victoria.[1][15]

Economy

Labuan Port, an important area where economic activities for the island operated.

The major products produced on Labuan and exported through Labuan Port include copra, rubber and sago.[16] The port is on a natural deep-water bay where large vessels can anchor as it is sheltered from typhoons. Vessels received include containers, bulk, and general cargoes. The main jetty is 244 metres long with an alongside depth of 8.5 metres and it can accommodate vessels to 16,000 DWT. The wharf has four berths. There are about 15,600 m² available in open storage, two warehouses and a container yard. A 10,000 m² yard and warehouses are available outside the port. Its capacity is 100,000 TEUs of containerised cargo per annum. Five private jetties are installed: the Shell Jetty that specialises in petroleum; the Iron Ore Jetty; the Methanol Jetty; and two offshore wheat and maize jetties called the Asian Supply Base Jetty and the Sabah Flour Mill Jetty.[16]

Victoria's Financial Park along Jalan Merdeka houses offshore teams of international banks, insurance and trust companies. Victoria is an offshore support hub for deepwater oil and gas activities in the region. In 2012, Victoria had a population of over 85,000 with nearly half of those coming from elsewhere in Malaysia and from Brunei Darussalam. It has a 1,500-seat convention hall adjoining a large shopping mall; these form a modern complex which enhances Victoria's status among International Offshore Financial Centres.

Climate

Victoria, Labuan features a tropical rainforest climate (Af), which is true for virtually all of Malaysia due to its close proximity near the equator, with constantly high temperatures and abundant rainfall over the course of the year. Like all cities and town with this climate, there is no dry season and the temperature in the city averages 27.8 °C (82.0 °F), while the average annual rainfall is 3,413 millimetres (134.4 in).

Climate data for Victoria
Month	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec	Year
Average high °C (°F)	30.0 (86.0)	30.0 (86.0)	30.9 (87.6)	31.6 (88.9)	31.6 (88.9)	31.4 (88.5)	31.1 (88.0)	31.0 (87.8)	31.0 (87.8)	30.6 (87.1)	30.4 (86.7)	30.3 (86.5)	30.8 (87.5)
Daily mean °C (°F)	27.3 (81.1)	27.3 (81.1)	27.8 (82.0)	28.3 (82.9)	28.4 (83.1)	28.3 (82.9)	27.9 (82.2)	27.9 (82.2)	27.8 (82.0)	27.5 (81.5)	27.4 (81.3)	27.4 (81.3)	27.8 (82.0)
Average low °C (°F)	24.6 (76.3)	24.6 (76.3)	24.8 (76.6)	25.1 (77.2)	25.3 (77.5)	25.2 (77.4)	24.8 (76.6)	24.8 (76.6)	24.6 (76.3)	24.5 (76.1)	24.5 (76.1)	24.6 (76.3)	24.8 (76.6)
Average precipitation mm (inches)	257 (10.1)	123 (4.8)	166 (6.5)	217 (8.5)	308 (12.1)	275 (10.8)	285 (11.2)	314 (12.4)	376 (14.8)	387 (15.2)	401 (15.8)	304 (12.0)	3,413 (134.2)
Source: Climate-Data.org[17]

International relations

See also: List of twin towns and sister cities in Malaysia

Sister city

Victoria currently has one sister city:

Xianning, China.[18]

References

1. Stephen R. Evans; Abdul Rahman Zainal; Rod Wong Khet Ngee (1996). The History of Labuan Island (Victoria Island) (PDF). Calendar Print Pte Ltd. ISBN 981-00-7764-5. Archived from the original (PDF) on 1 July 2013. Retrieved 16 August 2014.
2. Sabah. Jawatankuasa Penerbitan Perayaan Sabah 100 Tahun (1982). Sejarah Sabah dalam gambar (1881–1981) (in Malay). Jawatankuasa Penerbitan Perayaan Sabah 100 Tahun.
3. Stephen R. Evans; Abdul Rahman Zainal; Rod Wong Khet Ngee (1996). The history of Labuan Island (Victoria Island). Calendar Print Pte Ltd. ISBN 978-981-00-7764-8.
4. Begum, B., & Mohamad, N. (2009). Labuan: Its Legal History and Land Tenure System. Journal of the Malaysian Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society, 82(1 (296)), 17-54. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/stable/41493733
5. http://movies2.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/bday/0524.html
6. R. W. McColl (1 January 2005). Encyclopedia of World Geography. Infobase Publishing. pp. 123–. ISBN 978-0-8160-7229-3.
7. Carlos Ramirez-Faria (1 January 2007). Concise Encyclopeida of World History. Atlantic Publishers & Dist. pp. 97–. ISBN 978-81-269-0775-5.
8. B.A. Hussainmiya (2006). "Brunei Revival of 1906 (A Popular History) – The Surrender of Labuan and The First Brunei-British Treaty" (PDF). Brunei Press Sdn Bhd. Bandar Seri Begawan: Universiti Brunei Darussalam. pp. 12/34. ISBN 99917-32-15-2. Archived from the original (PDF) on 12 September 2014. Retrieved 29 April 2014.
9. W. H. Treacher, C.M.G. M.A. Oxon (1891). "British Borneo: Sketches of Brunai, Sarawak, Labuan and North Borneo" (PDF). University of California Libraries. Trinity Theological College. pp. 12 / Chapter VI. Pages 84–92. Archived from the original (PDF) on 11 October 2013. Retrieved 29 April 2014.
10. Sabah. Jawatankuasa Penerbitan Perayaan Sabah 100 Tahun (1982). Sejarah Sabah dalam gambar (1881–1981) (in Malay). Jawatankuasa Penerbitan Perayaan Sabah 100 Tahun.
11. Stephen R. Evans; Abdul Rahman Zainal; Rod Wong Khet Ngee (1996). The history of Labuan Island (Victoria Island). Calendar Print Pte Ltd. ISBN 978-981-00-7764-8.
12. T. A. Edwin Gibson; G. Kingsley Ward (1989). Courage remembered: the story behind the construction and maintenance of the Commonwealth's military cemeteries and memorials of the wars of 1914–1918 and 1939–1945. McClelland & Stewart. ISBN 978-0-7710-8786-8.
13. Keat Gin Ooi (1 January 2004). Southeast Asia: A Historical Encyclopedia, from Angkor Wat to East Timor. ABC-CLIO. pp. 1177–. ISBN 978-1-57607-770-2.
14. Dewan budaya (in Malay). Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka. 2002.
15. "Chapter 8: Labuan International Offshore Financial Centre". Bank Negara Malaysia. Archived from the original on 2 May 2014. Retrieved 1 May 2014. Labuan was declared as an International Offshore Financial Centre (IOFC) in October 1990 to complement the activities of the domestic financial market in Kuala Lumpur, strengthen the contribution of financial services to Gross National Products of Malaysia as well as develop the island and areas within its vicinity.
16. WPS – Labuan Port. Retrieved 26 January 2014.
17. "Climate: Victoria". Climate-Data.org. Retrieved 1 August 2020.
18. Sohan Das. "Labuan to twin with Xianning". Daily Express. Archived from the original on 4 April 2017. Retrieved 4 April 2017.