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Papar is a town located in West Coast Division, in the center of Sabah, east Malaysia on the island of Borneo. Its population was estimated to be around 59,000 in 1991, almost evenly divided between ethnic Kadazan and Malay. It is 38 kilometers south of Kota Kinabalu and is one of the stops on the North Borneo Railway.

Meaning: Papar means flat or open land.

The area is characterised by low lying coastal areas which extend inland towards the Crocker Range.[1]

Traditionaly this was good rice growing land and the flat open padi fields may have given it the name. The Town is on the bank of a river not far from the sea. There are also areas of tidal wetland that are home to Mangrove[[2]] and Salt Water Palm or Nipah [[3]].

The town has seen considerable growth in recent years but some landmarks still remain. The Railway Station is much the same as ever and huge old banyan tree is still there. St Joseph's Secondary School still stands opposite the station and behind the Catholic Church of St Joseph's. The old town is being renovated either by design or as the result of fires destroying parts of the town.

Other older landmarks are gone forever. The Rubber plantations that existed on the northern bank of the river have been cut down years ago and have been replaced by the villages of Buang-Sayang and Melugus along with a very large school complex.

Still despite repair and refurbishment over the years the Papar Railway Bridge looks much as it did in the Second World War and it featured in Allied plans to retake North Borneo from the Japanese. References to it and the Papar river can be found in covert intelligence operations AGAS & SEMUT and later in attack plans STALLION and OBOE 6 [http://www.awm.gov.au/journal/j37/borneo.htm Prelude to invasion: covert operations before the re-occupation of Northwest Borneo, 1944-45 Ooi Keat Gin]