Sipadan () is the only oceanic island in

Malaysia Malaysia is a country in Southeast Asia. Featuring the Tanjung Piai, southernmost point of continental Eurasia, it is a federation, federal constitutional monarchy consisting of States and federal territories of Malaysia, 13 states and thre ...

, rising from the seabed. It is located in the Celebes Sea off the east coast of

Sabah Sabah () is a States and federal territories of Malaysia, state of Malaysia located in northern Borneo, in the region of East Malaysia. Sabah has land borders with the Malaysian state of Sarawak to the southwest and Indonesia's North Kalima ...

. It was formed by living

coral Corals are colonial marine invertebrates within the subphylum Anthozoa of the phylum Cnidaria. They typically form compact Colony (biology), colonies of many identical individual polyp (zoology), polyps. Coral species include the important Coral ...

s growing on top of an extinct volcanic cone that took thousands of years to develop. Sipadan is located at the heart of the Indo-Pacific basin, the centre of one of the richest marine habitats in the world. More than 400 species of fish and hundreds of coral species have been classified in this ecosystem. The island sits within Sipadan Island Park, a marine park encompassing 16,860 hectares and managed by Sabah Parks.

Political history

In the past, the island was at the centre of a territorial dispute between

and

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania, between the Indian Ocean, Indian and Pacific Ocean, Pacific oceans. Comprising over List of islands of Indonesia, 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, ...

. The matter was brought for adjudication before the

International Court of Justice The International Court of Justice (ICJ; , CIJ), or colloquially the World Court, is the only international court that Adjudication, adjudicates general disputes between nations, and gives advisory opinions on International law, internation ...

and, at the end of 2002, the Court awarded the island along with the island of Ligitan to Malaysia, on the basis of the "effective occupation" displayed by the latter's predecessor (Malaysia's former colonial power, the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

) and the absence of any other superior title. The

Philippines The Philippines, officially the Republic of the Philippines, is an Archipelagic state, archipelagic country in Southeast Asia. Located in the western Pacific Ocean, it consists of List of islands of the Philippines, 7,641 islands, with a tot ...

had applied to intervene in the proceedings on the basis of their claim to Northern Borneo, but their request was turned down by the Court early in 2001.

Filipino militant attacks

On 23 April 2000, 21 people were kidnapped by the Filipino Moro pirate group

Abu Sayyaf Abu Sayyaf (; , ASG), officially known by the Islamic State as the Islamic State – East Asia Province, was a Jihadist militant and piracy, pirate group that followed the Wahhabi doctrine of Sunni Islam. It was based in and around Jolo and B ...

. The armed terrorists arrived by boat, forcing 10 tourists and 11 resort workers to board the vessels at gunpoint, after which they brought the victims to

Jolo Jolo () is a volcanic island in the southwest Philippines and the primary island of the province of Sulu, on which the capital of the same name is situated. It is located in the Sulu Archipelago, between Borneo and Mindanao, and has a populatio ...

. All of the victims were eventually released. As a result of the attacks, the island management together with Ligitan was put under the Malaysian

National Security Council A national security council (NSC) is usually an executive branch governmental body responsible for coordinating policy on national security issues and advising chief executives on matters related to national security. An NSC is often headed by a n ...

(NSC). The perpetrators were jailed in 2024. On 8 July 2019, Prime Minister

Mahathir Mohamad Mahathir bin Mohamad (; ; born 10 July 1925) is a Malaysian politician, author and doctor who was respectively the fourth and seventh Prime Minister of Malaysia, prime minister of Malaysia from 1981 to 2003 and from 2018 to 2020. He was the ...

has agreed in principle to return the management of both islands from the NSC back to the Sabah government under Sabah Tourism, Culture and Environment Ministry with the takeover will be done once the federal Cabinet approving the request.

Biodiversity and conservation

The island was declared a bird sanctuary in 1933 by the colonial government of

North Borneo North Borneo (usually known as British North Borneo, also known as the State of North Borneo) was a British Protectorate, British protectorate in the northern part of the island of Borneo, (present-day Sabah). The territory of North Borneo wa ...

and re-gazetted in 1963 by the Malaysian government. The

coral reef A coral reef is an underwater ecosystem characterized by reef-building corals. Reefs are formed of colonies of coral polyps held together by calcium carbonate. Most coral reefs are built from stony corals, whose polyps cluster in group ...

ecosystems of Sipadan and nearby Mabul Island later received recognition as scuba diving destinations during the 1980s, with the first resort opening on Sipadan in 1984. In 2004, the island was declared a marine park by Sabah Parks and 6 hotel and resort facilities on the island were closed by authorities due to their impacts on the ecosystems. The area of protection was expanded by 6,846 hectares in 2015, bringing total area within Sipadan Island Park to 16,860 hectares. The island's coral reefs have led to its international recognition as a

Scuba diving Scuba diving is a Diving mode, mode of underwater diving whereby divers use Scuba set, breathing equipment that is completely independent of a surface breathing gas supply, and therefore has a limited but variable endurance. The word ''scub ...

destination. In the film ''Borneo: The Ghost of the Sea Turtle'' (1989)

Jacques Cousteau Jacques-Yves Cousteau, (, also , ; 11 June 191025 June 1997) was a French naval officer, oceanographer, filmmaker and author. He co-invented the first successful open-circuit self-contained underwater breathing apparatus (SCUBA), called the ...

said: "I have seen other places like Sipadan, 45 years ago, but now no more. Now we have found an untouched piece of art". Visiting Sipadan Island requires a permit issued by Sabah Parks. Since 2019, there are 178 permits available each day. In 2016, four dive marshals were also appointed to monitor scuba diving activities on the island. The island was closed for 1 month in November 2023 in an effort to allow the ecosystem to recover from human disturbance. Frequently seen in the waters around Sipadan:

green Green is the color between cyan and yellow on the visible spectrum. It is evoked by light which has a dominant wavelength of roughly 495570 nm. In subtractive color systems, used in painting and color printing, it is created by a com ...

and hawksbill turtles (which mate and nest there), enormous schools of

barracuda A barracuda is a large, predatory, ray-finned, saltwater fish of the genus ''Sphyraena'', the only genus in the family Sphyraenidae, which was named by Constantine Samuel Rafinesque in 1815. It is found in tropical and subtropical oceans worldw ...

in tornado-like formations as well as large schools of big-eye trevally, and bumphead parrotfish. Pelagic species such as

manta rays Manta rays are large Batoidea, rays belonging to the genus ''Mobula'' (formerly its own genus ''Manta''). The larger species, ''Giant oceanic manta ray, M. birostris'', reaches in width, while the smaller, ''Reef manta ray, M. alfredi'', reac ...

eagle ray The eagle rays are a group of cartilaginous fishes in the family Myliobatidae, consisting mostly of large species living in the open ocean rather than on the sea bottom. Eagle rays feed on mollusks, and crustaceans, crushing their shells with th ...

s, scalloped hammerhead sharks and

whale sharks Whales are a widely distributed and diverse group of fully Aquatic animal, aquatic placental mammal, placental marine mammals. As an informal and Colloquialism, colloquial grouping, they correspond to large members of the infraorder Cetacea ...

also visit Sipadan. A turtle tomb lies underneath the column of the island, formed by an underwater

limestone Limestone is a type of carbonate rock, carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material Lime (material), lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different Polymorphism (materials science) ...

cave Caves or caverns are natural voids under the Earth's Planetary surface, surface. Caves often form by the weathering of rock and often extend deep underground. Exogene caves are smaller openings that extend a relatively short distance undergrou ...

with a labyrinth of tunnels and chambers that contain many skeletal remains of turtles that become lost and drown before finding the surface. Killer whales have also been sighted around the island.

Gallery

File:Sipadan island.jpg, The island. File:Hawksbill Sipadan.jpg,

Green sea turtle The green sea turtle (''Chelonia mydas''), also known as the green turtle, black (sea) turtle or Pacific green turtle, is a species of large sea turtle of the family Cheloniidae. It is the only species in the genus ''Chelonia''. Its range exte ...

. File:Beneath Sipadan Island.jpeg, Beneath the island

References

External links

Tourism Malaysia – Sipadan Island

Sipadan Island Park
at

World Database on Protected Areas The World Database on Protected Areas (WDPA) is the largest assembly of data on the world's terrestrial and marine protected areas, containing more than 260,000 protected areas as of August 2020, with records covering 245 countries and territori ...