The pretty little island of Labuan located at the mouth of Brunei Bay, just 8km off the coast of Sabah once belonged to the Sultanate of Brunei. The Sultan ceded the island to the British in 1846, who were quite happy to receive it as rich deposits of coal had been found on the island.

The British ruled over the life and times of Labuan for more than a century before the island returned to the fold in 1963, as part of the territory of Sabah, a member state of the Federation of Malaysia. At present, the Federal Government of Malaysia administers the main island and six smaller ones that make up the 92 sq km landmass of Labuan as a federal territory.

Labuan’s strongest plus point is its location - happily equidistant from Southeast Asia’s most important cities like Kuala Lumpur, Bangkok, Manila, Singapore, Hong Kong and barely an hour-long ferry ride from Brunei Darussalam. Labuan’s strategic position on the major sea routes of the Asia -Pacific region, its potential worth as Malaysia’s sole deepwater anchorage and the discovery of rich deposits of offshore oil and natural gas were reasons for its development into a major offshore financial centre and booming duty free port.

For visitors to its shore, Labuan offers plenty to take their minds of commerce and finance. The pride of Labuan, for its resident Muslim population is the An’Nur Jamek Mosque. Built for the grand sum of US $11 million, the mosque avant-garde design reflects the island’s progressive attitude. Tourists can spend hours wandering in the Botanical Garden that dates back to the days of the British Empire, indulge in the delights of romantic dive sites, swim between shipwrecks or play a taxing game of golf on the small (9 hole) but tough golf course.

Japanese forces occupied Labuan for three years during WWII and the beautifully landscaped Allied Forces War Memorial with its neat rows of tombstones evokes memories of those grim days. Situated on the outskirts of Labuan Town, at Tanjung Purun and maintained by the Commonwealth War Commission, the War Memorial is the resting place of the 4000 Allied soldiers who died at the hands of the Japanese in South Asia. On the island’s west coast is the village of Layang Layang, the place where Japanese surrendered in 1945;close by is the war memorial dedicated to Japanese troops.

The island lies swathed in the deceptively tranquil waters of the South China Sea - deceptive because in its depths lie the barnacle encrusted skeletons of innumerable ships that came to a sorry and untimely end in these sparkling clear waters. The plentitude of shipwrecks have made Labuan a regional centre for wreck diving with tours operated by locally based specialised diving companies. One of the many little islands that are part of Labuan is Pulau Papan, barely a few minutes from the mainland. The island of Papan has some fine beaches and plenty of opportunities for deep-sea fishing, scuba diving, surfing and swimming.

Getting There: travelling to Labuan is simple - visitors to the island can either fly in by Malaysia Airlines or Royal Brunei Airlines to Labuan airport from Kuala Lumpur or Kota Kinabalu or directly from Singapore, Sydney, Hong Kong or Manila. A high-speed state of the art air-conditioned ferry service connects Labuan to Brunei, Sabah and Sarawak. On Labuan, buses, cabs and rental vehicles provide transportation around the island.

Accommodation options are ample and most hotels are fairly well equipped to handle the 500,000 odd tourists who come to Labuan.

For detailed country and visitor information, see Malaysia.