Tawau District is the town area, surrounding populated area, of rural land and of adjacent sea area. Security Today, Tawau is one of the six districts involved in the eastern Sabah sea curfew that has been enforced since 19 July 2014 by the Malaysian government to repel attacks from militant groups in southern Philippines. Geography Tawau is on the south-east coast of Sabah surround by the Sulu Sea in the east, Celebes Sea to the south and shares a border with East Kalimantan (now North Kalimantan). The town is approximately 1,904 kilometres from the Malaysian capital, Kuala Lumpur and is 540 kilometres south-east of Kota Kinabalu. The main town area is divided into three sections named Sabindo, Fajar and Tawau Lama (Old Tawau). Sabindo is a plaza, Fajar is a commercial area while Tawau Lama is the original part of Tawau. Almost 70% of the area surrounding Tawau is either high hills or mountainous. Climate Tawau has a tropical rainforest climate under the Köppen climate classification. The climate is relatively hot and wet with average shade temperature about , with at noon and falling to around at night. The town sees precipitation throughout the year, with a tendency for November, December and January to be the wettest months, while February and March are the driest months. Tawau's mean rainfall varies from 1800 mm to 2500 mm. Demography Ethnicity and religion The Malaysian Census 2010 Report indicates that the whole Tawau municipality area has a total population of 397,673, although this included 57,466 in Kalabakan District, now split off from the municipality. The town population today is a mixture of different races and ethnicities. Non-Malaysian citizens form the majority of the town population with 164,729 people. Malaysian citizens in the area were reported divided into Bumiputras (Racially divided among Bajau, Banjarese, Brunei Malays, Buginese people, Cocos Malays, Iban people, Kadazan-Dusun, Javanese people, Suluk and Murut including Lun Bawang/Lun Dayeh and (Tidong) sub-ethnic group, and other smaller ethnic groups) (134,456), Chinese (40,061), Indian (833) and others (mostly non-citizens) (6,153). The Tawau District had a population of 372,615 at the 2020 Census.<rerf>Dept. of Statistics Malaysia (web).</ref> Non-Malaysian citizens are mostly from Indonesia. The Malaysian Chinese, like other places in Sabah, are mostly Hakkas who arrived during the British colonial era. Their original settlements were around Apas Road which was originally an agricultural area. The Bajau, Suluk and Malays are mostly Muslims. Kadazan-Dusuns, Lundayeh