FREELITTLEBRAIN: Limbang – Head Hunter's Trail to or from Mulu National Park

Limbang is by far the most famous division in Sarawak. It's the start or end point of the Head Hunter’s Trail from Mulu National Park. It slices Brunei into two and separates the diminutive sultanate from Sabah. The longstanding territorial claims by Brunei on Limbang has been on the back burner for such a long time which play a major factor for making its popularity.

It became the center of attention once again when Malaysian Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi and the Sultan of Brunei, Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah, signed a landmark deal on March 16, 2009, officially ending the longstanding territorial disputes between the two countries. The political calculation behind the territorial settlement is clearly to strengthen the developing bilateral strategic partnership.

The toll-free Malaysia-Brunei Bridge linking Limbang District, Sarawak and Temburong District, Brunei continued to attract public attention and media coverage. In December 8, 2013, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak and Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah of Brunei opened the RM25 million toll-free Malaysia-Brunei Bridge linking Limbang District, Sarawak and Temburong District, Brunei.

Spurred by the opening of the RM25 million bridge, Sarawak Public Works Department had allocated RM140 million to upgrade infrastructure in Limbang and another RM70 million for Lawas.

The bridge facilitates travel between Sarawak, Sabah and Brunei which cut down a five-hour ferry ride across Sungai Pandaruan to merely five minutes. As a catalyst for regional development, the bridge linking Brunei and Limbang will encourage economic growth, tourism and enhance economic opportunities for the neighboring countries.

Brunei was once a great power and empire in the island of Borneo-Kalimantan. Since 1890 the 26th Sultan of Brunei, Sultan Hashim Jalilul Alam Aqamaddin had contested the seizure of Limbang by the Second White Rajah of Sarawak, Charles Brooke. However, decolonization had changed the status of Limbang that resulted in becoming part of Malaysia in 1963 and Brunei gaining independence from Great Britain in 1984. Since then, Brunei never stopped claiming that Limbang is part of Brunei.