The story
Labuan Diving Festival in Labuan
Labuan promotes itself as a scuba diving destination centered on its accessible World War Two shipwrecks, a legacy of intense naval action around the island during the 1945 Allied liberation of Borneo, alongside healthy coral reef sites in the surrounding waters. Independent verification of a specific recurring Labuan Diving Festival's current scale, dates and organizing structure was limited during research, though the island's underlying wreck-diving tourism identity is well documented.
In June 1945, the Australian 9th Division launched Operation Oboe Six, the Allied campaign to retake Labuan and the surrounding Borneo coastline from Japanese occupation, a battle that involved airstrikes, naval bombardment and ground combat before Japanese forces under Lieutenant General Masao Baba formally surrendered near Layang-layang beach that September.