Pitas District

The Pitas District is an administrative district in the Malaysian state of Sabah, part of the Kudat Division which includes the districts of Kota Marudu, Kudat and Pitas. The capital of the district is in Pitas Town.

Etymology

Pitas is derived from the word "Nopitas" of Sungai language which means "lost". The Bengkoka River was once flooded and as a result of the heavy floods the river was cut off. The name subsequently enshrined by the people at the time which became Pitas.

History

The Pitas District was once under the Kudat District Administration where Pitas was only known as a small district until 1974. It was then recognised as a full district the following year. The district office moved several times to a different location before a tragedy struck in 1999 where the district office was totally burned out and most important documents about the district are destroyed.

Demographics

According to the last census in 2010, the population of the district is 37,808 which consists of a majority of Rungus, a sub-group of the Kadazan-Dusun people and Orang Sungai. As in other districts of Sabah, there are also a significant number of illegal immigrants from the nearby southern Philippines, mainly from the Sulu Archipelago and Mindanao which are not included in the population statistics.