Kee Kim Swee

Who is Kee Kim Swee?

Kee Kim Swee was one of the prominent and important Chinese nationality who settled in Tawau, Sabah. He was appointed as the first customs examiner and revenue collector by the British North Borneo Company in Tawau, 1894. A year later, Tawau development was entrusted to his hands by the British administration. He became the first Pengulu or Orang Kaya in Tawau, Sabah. Tawau became a modern town under Kee Kim Swee's lead, as he engineered Tawau into a business and commercial area in the early 1900s.

After he died, his son OKK Kee Abu Bakar became his successor as the Penghulu.