Preliminary Study on New Border Town in Serudong, Kalabakan: Impacts, Issues and Potentials

Abstract

In the past few years, Borneo island had witnessed some promising development plans and announcements made by various governments. In Indonesia, the government announced that there will be relocation of Indonesia’s capital city from Jakarta to East Kalimantan. In Malaysia, the federal government announced that there will be allocation for road project to connect Sabah with North Kalimantan. In Sabah, the state government did announce that there is plan to have new border town in Serudong. The new border town proposal has invited various positive reaction. At the same time, there were also some concern with regard to the impact and issues associated with the new border town. This preliminary work attempts to study the views of various stakeholders, especially the business community and households in Tawau and Kalabakan, by engaging them via focus group discussion and interview.