Sent 27 August 2026

Sabah This Week #9 — 27 Aug–9 Sept 2026

🌿 Sabah This Week

Issue #9 · 27 Aug–9 Sept 2026

Welcome back. Everything worth leaving the house for in Sabah this fortnight, checked before it reaches you.

This one is bookended. The long weekend belongs to Merdeka and Sabah Day — a parade, a run that starts in all 31 districts at once, and a tamu that takes over The Walk for three days.

Then it all moves indoors: SICC hosts a conference, a luncheon talk and the Sabah International Expo across five days. If you would rather be somewhere quieter, there is jazz in the Sepilok rainforest. — Daniel

This Week & Weekend

Sabah and the country share the same ground, twelve hours apart Around 180 contingents march at the state-level National Day celebration in the morning, and the Sabah Day programme takes the same ground in the evening (The Star). Go early — last year drew 30,000 to 40,000 in the morning session alone. · Mon 31 Aug · Kota Kinabalu City Square

Two nights of jazz, in the middle of the rainforest Sepilok Jazz returns for a fifth edition with Shila Amzah headlining and performers from Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore and China, 6pm to 10pm both nights at the Rainforest Discovery Centre. Ticket proceeds go to conservation work, including sea turtle protection (Borneo Post). Worth the trip to Sandakan. · 4–5 Sept · Rainforest Discovery Centre, Sepilok, Sandakan

The hardest weekend on Sabah’s running calendar The Most Beautiful Trail runs the ridges and river valleys around the base of Mount Kinabalu, out of Kundasang (Sabah Tourism Board). Not a spectator sport, but if you know someone running it, this is the weekend they vanish. · 29–30 Aug · Kundasang

A run that starts across the whole state at once The 3108 Run goes off at 7am simultaneously across Sabah and Labuan — the organiser counts 31 start lines — so wherever you are on Sabah Day morning, there is one near you. Registration is RM65. The Kota Kinabalu assembly point had not been published when we checked. · Mon 31 Aug, 7am · Statewide

Sabah’s biggest trade fair returns for its 11th run The Sabah International Expo opens its exhibition floor to visitors for three days in Kinabatangan Hall. The wider programme starts earlier in the week with two conference days — those are separate and ticketed, and listed below. If you just want to walk the floor, come from the 4th. · 4–6 Sept · SICC, Kinabatangan Hall, Level 2

A tamu takes over The Walk for the long weekend Urban Tamu runs a three-day Merdeka edition at Riverson, putting the old community-market format into a modern setting. The easiest one on this list to drop into without a plan. · 29–31 Aug · The Walk @ Riverson

A month of Sabah Fest, and it is not only in KK this year Sabah Fest 2026 runs as a statewide programme through to the end of September, with roadshows reaching Sandakan, Tawau, Kudat and Kuala Lumpur rather than sitting in the capital (Hello Sabah). Check which leg lands near you. · 29 Aug – 29 Sept · Statewide

An east-coast music night at SICC Malam FYP Timur brings its Sabah edition to the convention centre for one 8pm show. · Fri 28 Aug, 8pm · SICC

A family morning at Sutera Harbour The Marina & Country Club runs a Merdeka family day from 9am to 2.30pm, built around activities for younger children. · Sat 29 Aug, 9am–2.30pm · Sutera Harbour Marina & Country Club

Produce, delicacies and handmade goods, indoors SICC runs a Sabah Day Tamu of local produce, traditional food and homegrown products — the air-conditioned version of the same idea, if the parade crowd is not for you. · Mon 31 Aug · SICC

Lunch, for Sabah Day SICC follows its 1 August flag-off ceremony with a Sabah Day Luncheon on the day itself. We flagged this last week and it still stands on the venue’s own announcement. · Mon 31 Aug · SICC

Halal trade across the BIMP-EAGA region The 3rd BIMP-EAGA Trade, Investment & Halal Industry Conference opens Expo week, 9am to 2pm. Registration is through the Expo site. · Wed 2 Sept, 9am–2pm · SICC, Sipadan Hall 3, Level 4

The Expo’s business lunch, with the talk attached The Sabah International Business Luncheon Talk fills the middle day of Expo week, again 9am to 2pm. · Thu 3 Sept, 9am–2pm · SICC, Sipadan Hall 2 & 3, Level 4

How heritage gets put on a stage — and who decides The Sabah Society hosts Yunci Cai on staging indigenous heritage, at its Damai Plaza premises. One evening, and the kind of talk that is hard to find here. · Thu 3 Sept · The Sabah Society, Damai Plaza Phase 4

State wushu championships, two days Persatuan Wushu Negeri Sabah runs the 2026 state championship at SJKC St James. A good one to bring children to. · 4–5 Sept · SJKC St James, Kota Kinabalu

Wedding planning, done in one afternoon Le Méridien runs its 2026/2027 wedding fair over two days, 10am to 5pm, at Latitude 05 on the lobby level. · 5–6 Sept, 10am–5pm · Le Méridien Kota Kinabalu

A global HR conference lands in KK The 53rd ARTDO International Conference runs three days at the Hilton on the theme of reimagining human capital. It is a paid conference at RM4,500 and claimable under HRDC, so this one is for employers rather than a walk-in. · 6–8 Sept · Hilton Kota Kinabalu

Roads, standards and the people who build them The Borneo Empowerment in Standards & Transformation Conference runs two days at SICC, organised by Traf Tech Academy with backing from the state works ministry. Industry event, paid entry. · 8–9 Sept · SICC

AI research, three days at SICC The 8th IEEE International Conference on Artificial Intelligence in Engineering and Technology, hosted by UMS, opens on the 9th and runs to the 11th. · 9–11 Sept · SICC

Save the date

Sabah Surgical Conference (SSC26-MUGIS) 11–12 Sept · Kota Kinabalu Marriott Hotel
Hillsong Worship Nights Asia Tour Sun 13 Sept, 8pm · SICC — their first time in Kota Kinabalu
Sabah Moto Day 9.0 12–13 Sept · Kota Kinabalu — postponed from 6 September, and we had it in Tawau last week; the venue is still unconfirmed, so check before you ride in
Concert For All 2026 by Cecilia Music Sat 12 Sept · SICC
Kota Kinabalu International Film Festival — CINEBALU screenings 12–19 Sept · City Cineplex, City Mall
Sabah Ribbon Run 2026 Sun 13 Sept · Likas Bay Public Park — kit collection 11–12 Sept
Sabah Medical Update 2026 Sat 12 Sept · Hospital Queen Elizabeth — for clinicians
Borneo Workplace Conference 2026 15–16 Sept · SICC — a Christian faith-based conference; ticketed, open to non-Muslims only

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The Sabah Roundup

The Likas bridge is not being replaced — the whole road is being rebuilt instead.
The bridge on Jalan Tun Fuad Stephens at Km 2.85 was closed as unsafe in late July and a temporary Bailey bridge went in, with a weight limit. The state now plans to upgrade the entire stretch from SICC towards Menara Kinabalu, which makes a permanent bridge replacement unnecessary (Daily Express). Worth knowing this week, because that road is where the Merdeka crowds and several of the events above are heading.

Eight checkpoints to clear on a Brunei round trip — both countries are looking at it.
Malaysia and Brunei have tasked technical committees with easing movement between Brunei and Sarawak and Sabah, where travellers currently clear eight immigration checkpoints there and back. About half the outstanding land-boundary issues have been settled (DayakDaily). Nothing changes at the counter yet.

Sabah records the country’s biggest drop in unemployment.
MYFutureJobs is credited with more than 71,000 job placements in Sabah since 2020 (Malay Mail).

Pork costs more here, and a Tongod facility finished in 2018 still has not opened.
Higher prices are being linked to limited import sources, with food prices in Sabah running above the rest of Malaysia. The state is being urged to diversify where pork is imported from, and another sale is planned for the Mooncake Festival (Daily Express).

A hot-weather alert now covers 17 areas, Sabah among them.
MetMalaysia has placed the areas under caution status for a sustained hot spell (New Straits Times). Relevant if you are running on the 31st, or standing at a parade.

Eight years without a Sukma swimming gold, ended in the 50m breaststroke.
Emmanuel Loh Yung Ming took gold at Sukma XXII Selangor — Sabah’s first swimming gold since Hollymax Bell’s 100m butterfly at Sukma Perak 2018 (Daily Express). He added two bronzes.

A Ranau school turned local plant knowledge into 13 medals.
SRK Don Bosco took three gold, two silver and eight bronze at the Borneo Indigenous Knowledge Innovation Competition on 22 August, with entries built from gembirang leaves, lemongrass and losun herbs. Twenty-six pupils and eight teacher-advisers were involved (Daily Express).

Today’s forest disputes trace back to a land law from 1872.
Wageningen University’s Prof Meine van Noordwijk told an international tropical forestry conference in KK that colonial-era laws declaring unfarmed, unoccupied land to be state property still shape how forest land is classified — and still drive conflict between forest departments and communities (Daily Express).

Before you forward the next MSG post, check who wrote it.
The public is being advised to verify MSG claims — on food safety and on halal status — against authoritative sources. MSG is permitted as a food additive under Regulation 23 of the Food Regulations 1985, and glutamate occurs naturally in seaweed, soy sauce, cheese, budu, mushrooms and breast milk (Daily Express).

Did You Know?

Sabah’s Rafflesia keithii is the biggest rafflesia species in the state, usually opening around 80cm across. The largest one ever recorded anywhere — 101cm — opened in the Kabayau Forest at Tamparuli in April 2025, about an hour from KK.

Article Highlights from SabahGuide

Fresh reads from our main site, sabahguide.com

Padang Merdeka, Kota Kinabalu. The town square the parades run through, and what happened on it before they did.

Heads up: Merdeka Day and Sabah Day both fall on Mon 31 Aug — the parade in the morning, the Sabah Day programme on the same ground that evening.

We’re building: The Sabah Toolkit

Free, practical tools for everyday Sabah life. First three on the workbench:

Sabah Holiday & Long-Weekend Planner — every Sabah public holiday for the year (Kaamatan, Governor’s Birthday, Good Friday — the ones the Peninsula doesn’t get) plus the smartest long-weekend combos.
Budi Diesel Checker — find out in seconds if you qualify for subsidised RM2.10 diesel, and what you’ll actually pay.
KK Take-Home Pay Calculator — EPF, SOCSO and PCB sorted, so you know what really lands in your account.

Which would you use first — or what tool do you wish existed? Hit reply and tell me — your vote shapes what ships first.

Quotables

“Bulat air kerana pembetung, bulat manusia kerana muafakat.” Water takes its shape from the pipe; people take theirs from agreement. — Malay proverb

Over to you

Where are you spending the long weekend — the parade, the tamu, or as far from both as you can get? Hit reply; best answers get a shout-out next week.

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