Great Karimun

Great Karimun (Indonesian: Karimun Besar), also known as Mawas Island, is one of the islands in the Riau Islands province of Indonesia, administratively part of Karimun Regency. It lies about 37 km southwest of Singapore, 54 km west of Batam, 24 km northeast of Rangsang Island and 32 km north of Kundur Island.

History

In the past, Great Karimun Island was the destination of foreign traders and the Malay Kings. Sixteenth century Portuguese reports claimed that the island was inhabited, possibly by the Orang Laut.[1] In the 18th and 19th centuries, the island was part of the Johor Sultanate then the Riau-Lingga Sultanate.[1]

Around 1615 agents of the Dutch East India Company (VOC) inspected the northwestern coast of the island for the possible construction of a fortification. The proposed fort, however, was never built.[2] Two centuries later, Colonel William Farquhar surveyed the island after receiving permission from the Bugis Raja Muda of Johor, Raja Ja'afar. Although Karimun was deemed to be of great strategic value at the confluence of the Singapore and Melaka Straits, it was found to have insufficient sources fresh water, rocky land and inhospitable harbour which was unsuitable to sustain a British trading post and a settlement.[3]

Geography

The island's main town is Tanjung Balai Karimun, usually just called Karimun, situated at the southern end of the island. As at the 2020 Census, the regency of Karimun had a population of 253,457 with the majority (about 60%) of the people living on Great Karimun and its adjacent small islands; the official estimate as at mid 2024 was 263,344, projected to rise to 266,009 at mid 2025; of these, 152,809 lived on Great Karimun (including Little Karimun Island to the northeast, Assan Island to the northwest, and other surrounding small islands) in mid 2023. The great majority of the population live in the south of the island, notably in the highly urbanised districts of Karimun and Meral, but there are significant industrial developments all along the west coast, including an oil terminal and a shipyard. Notable landmarks on the island include Mount Jantan, the beaches of Pelawan, Ketam and Pongkar, and the Pongkar Waterfall.

The island (including its offshore islands) is divided into four districts (kecamatan) - Karimun, Meral, Tebing and Meral Barat (West Meral) . They are sub-divided into 19 urban (kelurahan) and three rural (desa) villages.

Economics

The island has strategic geographical importance, as it is near the Straits of Malacca, an international shipping route. As the island is strategically located at the border of Singapore and Johor (in Malaysia), Karimun being a part of the Riau Islands is also included in the SIJORI Growth Triangle partnership. SIJORI (Singapore-Johor-Riau Islands) Growth Triangle is a strategic partnership among Singapore, Johor and the Riau Islands that combines the individual and collective strength to improve the subregion's attractiveness to investors from both the region and internationally. SIJORI links the infrastructure, capital, expertise and rich culture of Singapore with the natural resources, lands and labour resources of Johor and the Riau Islands.

However, due to the stronger ties between Singapore and Malaysia, Karimun is losing its economic attraction to Singaporean investments. Another reason for the loss in attractiveness is the lack of adequate infrastructure in Karimun, especially the electricity supply and the lack of transparency in the government administration.

Natural resources

Due to large scale indiscriminate fishing activity near the island recently, fish stocks have been depleted, and thus the fishing businesses have declined considerably.

The main export of the island is its granite which is one of the best quality in the world.

Sand has also been constantly exported, mainly to Singapore for land reclamation. Indonesian has however limited sand exports over concerns with Singapore's reclamation projects, and banned them outright in the beginning of 2007.

Transportation

The island has many type of public transportation such as oplet (share taxi) which is a van to carry people from one place to another, Sei Bati Airport, which has regular flights to and from Pekanbaru, Port of Tanjung Balai which has regular ferries to and from overseas such as Singapore, Malaysia and etc, and Rakyat Sri Tanjung Gelam Karimun harbour, which serve domestic route.

The peoples in the island also used their own motorcycle and cars for transport from one place to another.

See also

References

  1. ^ a b CALDWELL, IAN; HAZLEWOOD, ANN APPLEBY (1994). "'The Holy Footprints of the Venerable Gautama': A New Translation of the Pasir Panjang Inscription". Bijdragen tot de Taal-, Land- en Volkenkunde. 150 (3): 457–480. ISSN 0006-2294.
  2. ^ Kwa Chong Guan, Derek Heng, Peter Borschberg and Tan Tai Yong, Seven Hundred Years: A History of Singapore (Singapore: Marshall Cavendish, 2019), p. 138.
  3. ^ C. Mary Turnbull, A History of Modern Singapore (Singapore: NUS Press, 2009), p. 27.
  4. ^ Badan Pusat Statistik, Jakarta, 26 September 2024, Kecamatan Karimun Dalam Angka 2024 (Katalog-BPS 1102001.2101030)
  5. ^ Badan Pusat Statistik, Jakarta, 26 September 2024, Kecamatan Meral Dalam Angka 2024 (Katalog-BPS 1102001.2101032)
  6. ^ Badan Pusat Statistik, Jakarta, 26 September 2024, Kecamatan Tebing Dalam Angka 2024 (Katalog-BPS 1102001.2101033)
  7. ^ Badan Pusat Statistik, Jakarta, 26 September 2024, Kecamatan Meral Barat Dalam Angka 2024 (Katalog-BPS 1102001.2101034)
  • Media related to Karimun at Wikimedia Commons
  • Karimun travel guide from Wikivoyage


1°3′N 103°22′E / 1.050°N 103.367°E / 1.050; 103.367

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