Kundasang is a hill station in the district of Ranau in Sabah, Malaysia that lies along the bank of Kundasang Valley within the Crocker Range, and also neighboring the town of Pekan Nabalu. It is located about 6 kilometres away from Kinabalu National Park, 15.6 kilometres from Ranau town and is renowned for its vegetable market which is open seven days a week. It is the closest town to Mount Kinabalu and has a panoramic view of the mountain. It is populated mainly by the native Dusun and a small population of Chinese people. Almost all the shops are operated by locals.
At an elevation of almost 1,900m (6,200ft), it is the highest settlement in Malaysia. Kundasang is also famously known as the New Zealand of Borneo for its unique mountainous geographical terrain almost similar to New Zealand.
The memorial is on a hill immediately behind the vegetable wholesale stalls. Major G. S. Carter, D.S.O. (Toby Carter) a New Zealander employed with Shell Oil Co. (Borneo) initiated the building of the Memorial in 1962, together with the launching of Kinabalu Park to commemorate the 2,428 Australian and British prisoners who died during World War II at the Sandakan POW Camp, and the casualties of the three infamous forced death marches from Sandakan to Ranau. It also serves as a tribute to the many local people who risked their lives while aiding the prisoners of war. Only six Australians survived in this tragedy to tell their horror and there were no English survivors.
The fort-like Memorial was designed by J.C. Robinson, a local architect. It has four interlocking but separate gardens to represent the homelands of those who died: an Australian Garden, a formal English Garden of roses, a Borneo Garden with wild flowers of Kinabalu and at the top level is the 'Contemplation Garden' with a reflection pool and pergola.
To commemorate the 60th anniversary of the end of World War II, the Memorial was restored in 2005 by Mr Sevee Charuruks and with his own personal funds. No government funding was available during the major restoration project in 2005. However, years later help came from the Australian Government in the form of several grants.
The Australian Government Grants aided in:
The building of a perimeter fence around the Memorial. The Estimated grant: RM120,000
The building of the Australian Memorial Hall to enable visitors to view WW2 Documentary Films. The Estimated grant: RM350,000
The Demolishment & Re-construction of concrete wall of Contemplation Garden. The Estimated grant: RM120,000
The Construction of Confrontation Memorial. The Estimated grant: RM14,000
In recognition of his hard work and commitment to the Kundasang War Memorial, in 2007 Queen Elizabeth II awarded Mr Charuruks the MBE (Member of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire). Later in 2012, the Australian Government awarded Mr Charuruks the Member of the Order of Australia (AM).
The Gardens have been replanted with flowers, particularly roses and rare orchids that include the Paphiopedilum rothschildianum (Rothschild's slipper orchid). The Memorial is open to all visitors not only to view the gardens but to remember those who sacrificed their lives for the freedom of others.
ANZAC Memorial Services and private Memorial Services are welcomed with prior arrangements. The Memorial is open to visitors with minimal entrance fees charged. An access road with ramp allows easy access for wheelchair users.
Vegetable wholesale stalls
Fruits such as rambutan, salak, oranges and lemons can also be found at the vegetable stalls in Kundasang.
Beside the main road vegetables wholesalers can be found in a long row of wooden stalls (Malay: gerai). Bulk buyers come from all over the state of Sabah, Sarawak and even Brunei for the fresh harvest. Pick up trucks are seen laden fully with harvest from the farms nearby the valley and delivered to the stalls. Passing tourists and travellers also stop by the road for shopping at a good bargain with the stalls are open seven days a week.
Village
There are several small village fractions found in 'Kundasang among them;
No
Village Name
1
Kundasang Town(Center)
2
Kampung Lembah Permai
3
Kampung Cinta Mata
4
Kampung Kauluan
5
Kampung Mesilou
6
Kampung Mentoki
7
Kampung Bambangan
8
Kampung Desa Aman
9
Kampung Kinasaraban
10
Kampung Bundu Tuhan
11
Kampung Dumpiring
12
Kampung Desa Sunyi (Kundasang Lama)
13
Kampung Mohimboyon
14
Kampung Nosorob
15
Kampung Pinousok
16
Kampung Giman
17
Kampung Sinisian
18
Kampung Ratau
19
Kampung Karanaan
20
Kampung Kituntul
21
Kampung Lapai
22
Kampung Sinar
23
Kampung Liwagu
24
Kampung Muhibah
25
Kampung Kinandusan
26
Kampung Kiwawoi
27
Kampung Waang
28
Kampung Semuruh
29
Kampung Sosondoton
30
Kampung Tudan
31
Kampung Tinatasan
School
There are 13Elementary School and 2Secondary School in Kundasang, Which is:
No
School Name
Type of School
1
SK Kundasang
Elementary
2
SK Mesilou
3
SK Don Bosco
4
SK Bundu Tuhan
5
SK Kinasaraban
7
SK Kauluan
8
SK Lipasu
9
SK Mohimboyon
10
SK Waang
11
SK Pahu Himbaan
12
SK Tagudon Lama
13
SK Pinausuk
14
SMK Kundasang
Secondary
15
SMK Bundu Tuhan
Golf course
Mount Kinabalu Golf Club is located near the border of Kinabalu National Park at an altitude of approximately 2000 metres above sea level.
Mount Kinabalu is the highest mountain in Borneo and Malaysia. With an elevation of 4,095 metres (13,435 ft), it is the third-highest peak of an island on Earth, the 28th highest peak in Southeast Asia, and 20th most prominent mountain in the world. The mountain is located in Ranau district, West Coast Division of Sabah, Malaysia. It is protected as Kinabalu Park, a World Heritage Site.
Kota Kinabalu, colloquially referred to as KK, is the state capital of Sabah, Malaysia. It is also the capital of the Kota Kinabalu District as well as the West Coast Division of Sabah. The city is located on the northwest coast of Borneo facing the South China Sea. The Tunku Abdul Rahman National Park lies to its west and Mount Kinabalu, which gave the city its name, is located to its east. Kota Kinabalu has a population of 452,058 according to the 2010 census; when the adjacent Penampang and Tuaran districts are included, the metro area has a combined population of 628,725. The 2020 Census revealed an increase in the municipal population to 500,421, while the wider area including the Penampang and Putatan districts had a population of 731,406.
Sandakan formerly known at various times as Elopura, is the capital of the Sandakan District in Sabah, Malaysia. It is the second largest city in Sabah after Kota Kinabalu. It is located on the Sandakan Peninsula and east coast of the state in the administrative centre of Sandakan Division and was the former capital of British North Borneo. In 2010, the city had an estimated population of 157,330 while the overall municipal area had a total population of 396,290. The population of the municipal area had increased to 439,050 by the 2020 Census.
Kinabalu Park, established as one of the first national parks of Malaysia in 1964, is Malaysia's first World Heritage Site designated by UNESCO in December 2000 for its "outstanding universal values" and the role as one of the most important biological sites in the world with more than 4,500 species of flora and fauna, including 326 bird and around 100 mammal species, and over 110 land snail species.
The Sandakan Death Marches were a series of forced marches in Borneo from Sandakan to Ranau which resulted in the deaths of 2,434 Allied prisoners of war held captive by the Empire of Japan during the Pacific campaign of World War II at the Sandakan POW Camp, North Borneo. By the end of the war, of all the prisoners who had been incarcerated at Sandakan and Ranau, only six Australians survived, all of whom had escaped. It is widely considered to be the single worst atrocity suffered by Australian servicemen during the Second World War.
The Ranau District is an administrative district in the Malaysian state of Sabah, part of the West Coast Division which includes the districts of Kota Belud, Kota Kinabalu, Papar, Penampang, Putatan, Ranau and Tuaran. The capital of the district is in Ranau Town. The landlocked district bordering the Sandakan Division to the east until it meets the Interior Division border. Ranau sits 108 km (67 mi) east of Kota Kinabalu and 227 km (141 mi) west of Sandakan. As of the 2010 Census, the population of the district was 94,092, an almost entirely Dusun ethnic community.
West Coast Division is an administrative division of Sabah, Malaysia. It occupies the northwest portion of Sabah. With an area of 7,588 square kilometres, it occupies 10.3% of Sabah's territory. It also has approximately 30% of Sabah's total population, with the main indigenous inhabitants comprising the Bajau, Bisaya, Bruneian Malay, Dusun, Illanun, Kadazan and Kedayan, as well with a significant numbers of Chinese. The division is divided into the districts of Ranau, Kota Belud, Tuaran, Penampang, Papar, and the state capital Kota Kinabalu. The main towns are as in the names of the districts, plus other towns including Putatan, Inanam, Telipok, Tamparuli, Tenghilan and Kinarut.
Keningau is the capital of the Keningau District in the Interior Division of Sabah, Malaysia. It is the fifth-largest town in Sabah, as well one of the oldest. Keningau is between Tambunan and Tenom. The town had an estimated population of 173,130. Dusuns, Muruts and Lundayehs is the major ethnics in Keningau.
Tambunan is the capital of the Tambunan District in the Interior Division of Sabah, Malaysia. Its population was estimated to be around 35,667 in 2010. It is located 80 kilometres east of the state capital, Kota Kinabalu, 48 kilometres south of Ranau and 48 kilometres north of Keningau. At an average altitude of 750 metres, this valley town, which is part of the Crocker Range, experiences a mild tropical climate all year long. The valley is peppered with terraced paddy fields and 70 villages. The dense forests of bamboo around Tambunan town are a legacy of the British colonial period, during which an edict stated that 20 bamboo sprouts had to be planted for every bamboo cut.
Poring is a small tourist resort in Sabah, Malaysia. Located 40 km south-east of the Kinabalu National Park Headquarters, in the district of Ranau, Poring is situated in lowland rainforest, contrasting with the montane and submontane rainforest of Kinabalu National Park. The name Poring comes from a Kadazandusun word for a bamboo species found in the area.
Federal Route 22, Asian Highway Route AH150, is a 310-kilometre (193 mi) federal highway in Sabah, Malaysia, which is also a component of the larger Pan Borneo Highway network. It starts from Tamparuli and ends at Sandakan. The section running from Tamparuli to Ranau, which is known as Tamparuli-Ranau Highway, crosses the Crocker Range just to the south of Mount Kinabalu.
Major Gordon Senior 'Toby' Carter DSO was a New Zealand surveyor and road engineer who worked in Sarawak, Borneo prior to World War II for Shell Oil. He enlisted with the British Army during the war, and served in the Royal Australian Engineers and later in Z Special Unit in Borneo, where he was the Officer in Command of the Semut II operation in the Kelabit Highlands of Sarawak. In 1962 Carter had the initial idea for and was the driving force behind the establishment of both the Kinabalu National Park and the Kundasang War Memorial and Gardens near Mount Kinabalu in Sabah.
Before the outbreak of World War II in the Pacific, the island of Borneo was divided into five territories. Four of the territories were in the north and under British control – Sarawak, Brunei, Labuan, an island, and British North Borneo; while the remainder, and bulk, of the island, was under the jurisdiction of the Dutch East Indies.
The Kundasang War Memorial is a memorial located in Kundasang in the Malaysian state of Sabah, which is dedicated to the British and Australian soldiers who died in the Sandakan POW camp during their death marches to Ranau. Besides that, it also recognises the suffering and sacrifice of the native population of Sabah.
The Sandakan camp, also known as Sandakan POW Camp, was a prisoner-of-war camp established during World War II by the Japanese in Sandakan in the Malaysian state of Sabah. This site has gained notoriety as the Sandakan Death Marches started from here. Now, part of the former site houses the Sandakan Memorial Park.
The Sandakan Memorial Park is a memorial site built in the former grounds of the former Sandakan camp in the Malaysian state of Sabah. The site is dedicated as a memory for all prisoners in the camp who died during the Sandakan Death Marches, and to those died during a march to Ranau. It is also recognises the suffering and sacrifice of the native population. This park hosts the Sandakan Memorial Day service on August 15.
The 2015 Sabah earthquake struck Ranau, Sabah, Malaysia with a moment magnitude of 6.0 on 5 June, which lasted for 30 seconds. The earthquake was the strongest to affect Malaysia since the 1976 Sabah earthquake.
The Penampang District is an administrative district in the Malaysian state of Sabah, part of the West Coast Division which includes the districts of Kota Belud, Kota Kinabalu, Papar, Penampang, Putatan, Ranau and Tuaran. The capital of the district is in Penampang Town.
The Putatan district is an administrative district in the Malaysian state of Sabah, part of the West Coast Division which includes the districts of Kota Belud, Kota Kinabalu, Papar, Penampang, Ranau and Tuaran. The capital of the district is in Putatan Town.
Nabalu or better known as Pekan Nabalu is a small town that is the main focus of visitors to see Mount Kinabalu in its entirety. The variety of restaurants and the fresh weather, also the view that shows Mount Kinabalu as a whole are the main reasons why many tourists come to visit Pekan Nabalu. This town is close to SK. Dalas, Kota Belud and became the main education center for the residents of Pekan Nabalu.
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