After he became the governor of Java in 1813, he requested the British secretary in India to give him permission to enter the northern Borneo area after being invited by the Sultanate of Brunei.

[2] The Sultan of Brunei request help from Raffles as the waters around Jawaran (Tuaran) and Jampasoo (Tempasuk) have been infected with piracy.

The letter stated: The present Sultan of Borneo Proper (Brunei) is understood to be well disposed not given the encouragement of piratical enterprise, notwithstanding the shelter is accorded to pirates in almost every river in his domain, a number of petty states having arisen beyond the reach of his authority and control.

As in other districts of Sabah, there are a significant number of illegal immigrants from the nearby southern Philippines, mainly from the Sulu Archipelago and Mindanao, many of whom are not included in the population statistics.

Tourist attractions in Tuaran include the Mengkabong and Penimbawan water villages, which are villages of stilt houses built over the seashore by the Bajau people, and the Ling San Pagoda (Traditional Chinese: 龍山塔), a nine-storey Buddhist pagoda situated just outside the town centre.