page_title: Sandakan
section_title: Ethnicity and religion
hierarchical_section_title: Sandakan / Demography / Ethnicity and religion
caption_attribution_description: English: Sandakan, Sabah: Puu Jih Shih Temple (also known as Bu Tzi Shih or Puu Jih Syh Temple) during CNY 2013
context_page_description: Sandakan formerly known at various times as Elopura, is the capital of the Sandakan District in Sabah, Malaysia. It is the second largest town 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. The town has an estimated population of 157,330 while the surrounding municipal area has a total population of 396,290.
  Before the founding of Sandakan, Sulu Archipelago was the source of dispute between Spain and the Sultanate of Sulu for economic dominance in the region. By 1864, Spain had blockaded the Sultanate possessions in the Sulu Archipelago. The Sultanate of Sulu awarded a German consular service ex-member a piece of land in the Sandakan Bay to seek protection from Germany. In 1878, the Sultanate sold north-eastern Borneo to an Austro-Hungarian consul who later left the territory to a British colonial merchant. The German presence over the area raised concern among the British.
context_section_description: According to the Malaysian Census in 2010, the whole town municipality's area has a total population of 396,290. Non-Malaysian citizens form the majority of the town population with 144,840 people followed by other Bumiputras (100,245), Chinese (63,201), Bajau/Suluk (38,897), Malay (Bruneian Malays as well as Kedayans who are migrants from the West Coast and their descendants together with ethnic Cocos Malay internal migrants from the Tawau division, as well as ethnic Malays native to the town originating from these ethnic groups such as the Bugis, Javanese and Banjarese peoples) (22,244), Kadazan-Dusun (16,616), Indian (974), Murut (519) and others (8,754).
  Most of the non-Malaysian citizens are from the southern Philippines. The Chinese population here are equal proportions of mostly Cantonese (descendants of seafaring traders who settled in the East Coast of North Borneo then) and also Hakka (mostly descended from voluntary migrants and Taiping Rebellion refugees), who arrived during the British period and had their original settlements before in the town which is now known as the Chinese Farm River Village. The Bajau, Suluk and Malays are majority Muslims, Kadazan-Dusuns and Muruts mainly practice Christianity with some of them having become Muslims while the Chinese are mainly Buddhists, Taoist and some Christians. There is also a small number of Hindus, Sikhs, Animists, and secularists.
  The large group of non-citizens have been identified as a majority Muslim, and there are some Christian Filipino women who converted to Islam to marry Muslim Filipinos here. Like in Kota Kinabalu, the first wave of these immigrants arrived in the late 15th century during the Spanish colonisation, while the others arrived in the early 1970s because of the troubles in southern Philippines. They consist of migrant workers, with many of them being naturalised as Malaysian citizens.  However, there are still many who live without proper documentation as illegal immigrants in the town with their own illegal settlement.
caption: Puu Jih Shih Temple, built in 1987, the main Chinese temple in Sandakan.
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