The pretty little island of Labuan located at the mouth of Brunei Bay, just 8km off the coast of Sabah once belonged to the Sultanate of Brunei. The Sultan ceded the island to the British in 1846, who were quite happy to receive it as rich deposits of coal had been found on the island.   Diving of the coast of Labuan

The British ruled over the life and times of Labuan for more than a century before the island returned to the fold in 1963, as part of the territory of Sabah, a member state of the Federation of Malaysia. At present, the Federal Government of Malaysia administers the main island and six smaller ones that make up the 92 sq km landmass of Labuan as a federal territory.

Labuan’s strongest plus point is its location - happily equidistant from Southeast Asia’s most important cities like Kuala Lumpur, Bangkok, Manila, Singapore, Hong Kong and barely an hour-long ferry ride from Brunei Darussalam. Labuan’s strategic position on the major sea routes of the Asia -Pacific region, its potential worth as Malaysia’s sole deepwater anchorage and the discovery of rich deposits of offshore oil and natural gas were reasons for its development into a major offshore financial centre and booming duty free port.