I am in the process of doing my family history research and would like to get as much information as possible. I was born and brought up in Kota Kinabalu, Sabah. My father is Sabahan whereas my mother is from Burma.

My father's family are from the Kuala Penyu area. His father was half Chinese (Hokkien) and half Tatanak (a Dusun tribe from Kuala Penyu). My father's mother was Javanese.

At this moment I am trying to learn more about the area of Kuala Penyu during the British Colonial Period. However, I was not successful in finding anything obvious in the Sabah State Archives and now I live in California. I am looking for suggestions on how I can proceed to find out more information.

In particular, I am interested in knowing when and how the West Coast of Sabah was turned into large rubber plantations. How did the North Borneo Company employ Javanese 'coolies' to work on their plantations?

(Liza Mahjhrin can be reached at lmahjhrin@yahoo.com)