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I made my first trip to the Federal State of Labuan in 2011.
A petro-chemical company based on the island had invited me over to deliver a talk. Coincidently, the event was held during the school holidays, so I brought my family along with me on the trip.
Also known as the Pearl of Borneo, Labuan is a peaceful island covering an area of 92km², with a population of not more than 100,000 people (based on latest data in 2019).
The island also houses several interesting sites such as the Labuan Chimney, a water village called Kampong Patau Patau, and the largest World War II grave in Malaysia. This is where 3,908 fallen Australian, British and Indian soldiers are buried.
We visited all these sites, but the one that was particularly attractive to me (mainly because it had some engineering facts which I found really interesting) was the Labuan Chimney.
The chimney is located at Tanjung Kubong in the north-eastern tip of Labuan, which was known as the Coal Point during the British rule. Among locals, however, the chimney is referred to as the “Punil”.
There were two interesting structures at the site: A tall chimney tower and a two-storey museum with colonial architecture.
The Labuan Chimney Museum had exhibitions on the history of coal mining in Labuan, as well as information on the chimney.
A variety of mining artefacts unearthed at the site during archaeological excavations were also on display. Among them were original bricks used in the construction of the chimney tower, old coal mining equipment, ceramic artefacts, and remains of locomotive components used in transporting the miners and coal.
There was also a special chamber in the museum that showed the technical and construction details of the chimney tower.
The chimney was a red, rectangular-shaped brick tower with a charming decorative frieze at the top. The base had two arched entrances facing south and north. Each arched entrance was 2.2m high, which functioned as a wind breaker to protect the tower from strong winds.
Standing at approximately 32.5m tall and facing the South China Sea, the tower was made from more than 23,000 pieces of red bricks that were imported from England. There were 12 layers of bricks beneath the ground and the tower sat firmly on limestone rock, containing highly concentrated kaolin or porcelain clay.
All these design features – the arches, lean structure, solid layering and stable foundation – are well-thought engineering considerations which enable the tower to remain standing for over a century. Constructing such a structure at that time with limited support of machines and technology can be considered quite an engineering achievement.
The tower was constructed around 1900 when coal mining activities were booming in Labuan (1847 till 1911). It has faced plenty of harsh weather conditions all these years, and withstood a few bombings during the World War II too.
Several theories have been suggested to describe the exact function of the tower. Initially, it was thought to be a ventilation shaft for an underground coal mine since it was situated at a coal-rich area.
However, the suggestion was dismissed after excavation work at the site failed to find any evidence of an underground mine.
It was also believed to be used as a light house because of its strategic location – next to Raffles Port.
There was even an Australian who conducted an in-depth research on the chimney, and suggested that it was built as a smoke stack for brick-making when large quantities of bricks were needed to construct buildings and coal mines back then.
Till today, the exact function of the tower remains unknown.
The views expressed are entirely the reader’s own.
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