page_title: Gaya Island
section_title: Illegal settlement
hierarchical_section_title: Gaya Island / History / Illegal settlement
caption_attribution_description: English: Immigrant dwellings off Pulau Gaya, Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, Malaysia
context_page_description: Gaya Island is a sizeable Malaysian island of 1,465 ha, just 10 minutes off Kota Kinabalu, Sabah and forms part of the Tunku Abdul Rahman National Park. Gaya Island derived its name from the Bajau word "Gayo" which means big and occupies an area of 15 km² with an elevation of up to 300 metres. Several ridges rise more than 600 feet, peaking at 1,000 feet, along the backbone of Gaya Island.
  Gaya is the largest island in the Tunku Abdul Rahman National Park, closest to downtown Kota Kinabalu and is covered with dense virgin, tropical forest. It has been a forest reserve since 1923. The island has 20 km of hiking trails and three 5 star resorts named Gayana Marine Resort, home to the Marine Ecology Research Centre, the neighboring Gaya Island Resort, the Bunga Raya Island Resort on the north-east part of the island. Historically, Gaya Island was also the site of the English colonialist's British North Borneo Company's harbour, razed by the folk hero Mat Salleh on 9 July 1897.
  In recent years, there has been a plan to turn Gaya Island into a city island and tourism hub. A cable car line has also been proposed before to connect with the city centre.
context_section_description: Starting from 1970s, Filipino-Moro refugees comprising Tausūg and Bajau peoples began to inhabit the island in their bid to escape from the war in the southern Philippines. Both the Malaysian federal government and the Sabah state government do not officially recognise the settlement and the inhabitants as they are known as illegal immigrants. The eastern shore of Gaya Island supports a well-known illegal Filipino colony, called Kampung Lok Urai, with stilt houses girdling the beach as far as the eye can see. It has a 6,000 floating population of largely Filipinos who provide Kota Kinabalu with a source of cheap labour. It is considered a dangerous, high crime or "no-go" area by the police and KK-ian locals. The stilt houses are linked by walkways of weathered planks. As the population grew, new houses spread seaward, with no regard for sanitation. The population in the island have also been criticised for their rubbish throwing attitude, where most of the rubbish will be found floating around the sea near their settlements. Three fires in 1994, 1998 and in 2014 have wiped out nearly half of Kampung Pondo.
  The Sabah state government has since been working to end the Filipino squatter problems that have become the main cause for rampant crimes, terrorism and drug trafficking in the state, especially in the capital city, as their location is too close within business areas, by relocating these squatters to a proper place for proper management, while many of the problematic, illegal immigrants will be deported back to the Philippines and their further entry will be prevented. After the fire in Kampung Pondo on 2014, the Sabah state government has proposed to move the illegal immigrants in the island to Kinarut with a better facility of modern houses. This proposal has been vehemently opposed by the Sabahan citizens, including some demands addressed to the current Chief Minister to resign for mishandling his power. In late 2016, the state government submitted recommendations to the Malaysian federal government through the Main Committee on Management of Foreigners to move any refugee placement schemes in the state to other more suitable locations far from the towns and industrial development areas.
  The squatters relocation is in line with the Kota Kinabalu metropolitan development to turn Gaya Island into a city island and tourism hub.
caption: Kampung Pondo, with a huge colony of illegal immigrants house in Gaya Island.
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