Kuraman Island
Kuraman Island or Keraman Island, formerly named as Mompracem, is an island located within the Labuan Federal Territory of Malaysia on the northern mouth of Brunei Bay. It is one of the six Labuan islands, apart from Burung, Daat, Papan, Great Rusukan, and Little Rusukan. With a size of, it forms part of the Labuan Marine Park together with the latter two islands of Great Rusukan and Little Rusukan.
The island has two main beaches and is noted for its fishing, wreck diving site, long
sand spit and pleasant tropical island atmosphere. The interior is forested with a range of timbers and contains cleared paths for jungle walks. In recent years, large storms have contributed to increased erosion resulting in several areas of vegetation and numerous buildings being washed into the sea.
Etymology
The island was featured in a 1594 Dutch Voorcompagnieën cartographer map of the East Indies based on the voyage of Petrus Plancius in the South China Sea coast of northern Borneo with Kuraman labelled as Mon Pracem/''Mompracem/Mōpracam, Labuan as Pulo Tigao/Putigao/Tigaon, and Tiga as Pulo Tiga. The older name of Mompracem was also used by Italian writer Emilio Salgari to refer to the island in his fictional character of Sandokan and subsequent novel naming of The Tigers of Mompracem''. Under the British administration, the local name of Kuraman were used.History
Along with Labuan and most of the islands in northern Borneo, Kuraman was once under the thalassocracy of the Sultanate of Brunei. The island was ceded to the British through the Treaty of Labuan with the Sultanate of Brunei on 18 December 1846. A lighthouse, built by the British between 1897–1913, is situated on the highest point of the island. In the surrounding waters off Kuraman there are several known shipwrecks including the Dutch Steamer and a minesweeper, the, both sunk during the Second World War.Kuraman, like the rest of British North Borneo, was captured by the Japanese during this period and was liberated by the 2nd AIF of the Australian Army in 1945, although no fighting ever occurred on the island. By 1946, the Crown Colony of Labuan was incorporated into the Crown Colony of North Borneo. Towards the formation of the Malaysian federation in 1963, the island, together with Labuan, remained under the administration of the Sabah government. Two other major shipwrecks can be found in the area: the MV Tung Hwuang, a freighter that sank in the 1980s while transporting cement to Brunei for the Sultan's new palace, and the MV Mabini Padre, a trawler from the Philippines which caught fire and sank in 1981. In 1984, it became part of the Labuan Federal Territories following the cession of the main island by the Sabah government under the Sabah People's United Front Chief Minister Harris Salleh to the Malaysian federal government under Barisan National Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad.
In 2004 a group of expatriates from neighbouring Brunei contemplated building a bar/clubhouse for divers, despite facing with various legal complications. The same group then announced plans to develop the island and to declare independence or greater self-government, claiming a perceived dubious Malaysian sovereignty on the island resulting from a conflicting historical Bruneian claim to the island and its surrounding. This went as far as designing a flag for the island, similar to the many unofficial flags which have originated in varying areas around the globe. This was however taken lightheartedly by both the governments of Malaysia and Brunei and looked upon as a form of micronationalism.