Pre-war economic activities in Tawau
Published on: Sunday, May 03, 2020
By: Nicholas Chung
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What sort of place was Tawau? What were its economy, the life style, and its infrastructure like in the decade or so prior to the arrival of my parents from Sandakan? The economic picture could be summed up in four letters, C.C.R.F.—coal, coconut, rubber and fish. Today, in the wake of debate on the feasibility of extracting coal from the Maliau Basin, it is hard to imagine that a coal industry existed in Tawau or, to be more precise, at Silimpopon, about 80 miles west of the town. The discovery and the subsequent development of the coal deposits in 1905 came at a most opportune time for Tawau. In the immediate preceding years, the tobacco venture had failed and timber, though abundant and of extremely high quality, was flagging, due no doubt to the difficulty of extraction and transportation. The methods employed were primitive until the advent decades later of heavy bulldozing and loading equipment suppliers such as International Harvesters, Terex, Allis Chalmers, Clark, Caterpillar and Komatsu.
The Coal Mine at Silimpopon
Coal became the mainstay of the economic life of Tawau for a quarter of a century from 1905 to 1931. The Cowie Harbour Coal Company commenced coal-mining operations in 1904 in a portion of the twenty-square-mile lease given to the company by the British North Borneo (Chartered) Company. The mine’s first developmental phase was from 1905 to 1908. Open-cast mining was used at first in the hope of extracting 80,000 tons within a short period.
However, this method had to be abandoned after only a few hundred tons had been extracted due to flooding of the pit. Other problems soon emerged; the most serious was labour trouble, caused largely by the type of labourers employed: The work force was largely Cantonese.
In common with all immigrant groups, the workers had the insecurity of having been uprooted from their traditional environment. Also, they were almost all males, a contributing factor towards their restlessness. They were without exception of illiterate peasant stock and were suspicious of their new surroundings. Their difficulties were compounded further by certain other local factors. They were isolated and in an inhospitable place, and they were subject to an alien hierarchy (European) to a far greater extent than their compatriots in Tawau. It is hardly surprising that trouble occurred. In September 1906, when the labourers were being paid their wages, 260 malcontents stormed the company’s stores. Police help was rushed from Tawau, but this made matters worse and more labourers joined in the fray.
Reinforcements were requested from Tawau, and this time a larger contingent of policemen under the personal command of the Resident arrived. The unrest was effectively put down after the capture and incarceration of 11 ringleaders. The Europeans had a poor opinion of Chinese immigrants. Sir Hugh Low stated: “They are, of all men, the most rude, conceited and ignorant, with no confidence in the Europeans” and Frank Swettenham wrote, “It is almost hopeless to expect to make friends with a Chinaman. And it is, for the Government Officer, an object that is not very desirable to obtain.” These statements were made at around the same time that the Chinese immigrants in Malaya were also causing trouble.
Despite the technical and labour problems mentioned, the mining activities had a measure of success in the following years, and Tawau enjoyed the spin-off benefits in a number of ways. First, the Government earned revenue from exports of coal and imports of supplies and equipment through custom tariffs at the port of Tawau.
Secondly, enterprising shopkeepers and businessmen from Tawau moved into Silimpopon and thus expanded their activities in the area. Lastly, badly needed migrants and settlers relocated to the area. Between 1909 and 1917, the mine completed its second phase of development aimed at putting it on a paying basis. Production rose from 28,420 tons in 1909 to 62,876 tons in 1916 and 85,545 tons in 1917, a boom caused by World War I.
However, the development at Silimpopon affected the Tawau town community in economic and psychological rather than social ways. Few settlers came from the mine to live in the town at this stage, and social contacts were usually restricted to economic arrangements. The social organisation of Silimpopon with its secret societies did not affect Tawau at all; the conditions were very different. Economically, however, Silimpopon did play an important role as it gave Tawau entrepreneurs greater confidence to increase their stock inventories. This contributed to continued growth, enabling the local traders to continuously meet the replenishment needs of the mine. Psychologically it was important because it added confidence to the town, resulting in increased diversity of economic activities in the area.
In 1917, Silimpopon was entering a “golden age”, despite a drop in production to 72,000 tons in 1918 due to weaker demand as a result of the cessation of hostilities and then the end of the war. Coal output in the succeeding years remained fairly stable, with 75,000 tons mined in 1919 and 66,700 tons in 1920, but it increased to 82,000 tons in 1921, and 85,700 tons in 1922. Despite only 62,600 tons being mined in 1923, production peaked at 90,000 tons in 1924. In subsequent years, there was nothing dramatic about the production; while the company was able to sustain profitability, it nevertheless suffered tight financial constraints. More and more of the world’s coal-burning steamships were converting to the use of fuel oil. Inevitably, coal prices declined to the extent that Silimpopon’s relatively low-grade coal could no longer compete in the world market.
By the late 1920s, coal production recorded a sharp downward trend, never to recover its former glory. In 1929, the last year for which figures are available, the mine produced just 58,339 tons. The end came in July 1930 when the coal company ceased operations and handed over the mine to the Chartered Company, which continued to operate the pit until it was finally closed in 1932.
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