Batam

The first recorded inhabitants at Batam Island are the Malays known as the Orang Laut, from the year 231 CE. Then the Orang Darat who are the remnants of the pre-Malay population on the island of Batam and Rempang. The island group once served as the field of struggle of Admiral Hang Nadim, against Portuguese invaders in the 16th century, and was utilised by the Indonesian government in the 1960s, who maintained a petroleum logistics base on Sambu Island, one of the minor islands in the Batam group of islands. In the 1970s, according to Presidential Decree No. …

Batam is a roughly oval island with many bays, islets, and peninsulas, located west of Bintan Island, south of Singapore, north of Rempang Island and Galang Island, and east of Bulang Island. The Singapore Strait separates Singapore and Batam, while the Riau Strait separates Batam and Bintan island. Batam Municipality covers 3,869 km2, of which 1,020.28 km2 is land, a figure which includes some land reclamation. However, Barelang Island (not actually one but three, see above) covers roughly 715 km2 of that 1,020.28 km2, and Batam island itself covers only about 410 km2 out of the total. The bulk of the municipal population resides on Batam Island. Batam has a tropical rainforest climate (Af) with heavy rainfall year-round.

Based on Presidential Decree No. 41/1973, the Batam Industrial Development Authority (BP Batam) was established to manage 415 square kilometers of industrial complex in Batam City for heavy industry. Previously only Pertamina, the Indonesian state oil company, settled there with only 6,000 inhabitants. Shipbuilding and electronics manufacturing are important industries on the island. Being located close to the ports of Singapore, the speed of goods shipping and product distribution is increased, benefiting the island's economy. With lower labor costs and special government incentives, it is the site of many factories operated by foreign companies. …

Ferries connect Batam to Singapore, Bintan, and Johor Bahru (Malaysia). Five ferry terminals are on the island: Batam Harbour Bay Ferry Terminal, Nongsapura Ferry Terminal, Sekupang, Waterfront City and Batam Center Ferry Terminal. Connections to Singapore are by way of HarbourFront Centre and Tanah Merah Ferry Terminals run by Singapore Cruise Centre (SCC). The most recent incident happened on 29 November 2015 when a ferry, 'Sea Prince', hit floating object(s) while en route to Singapore from Batam and began leaking. A total of 97 passengers were rescued on life rafts. Signs showing a picture of a raised finger over a pair of lips have been placed in August 2014 at the Batam Centre International Ferry Terminal to request silence while queuing for immigration to hear names being called and clearly hear instructions given by the immigration officer. …

At the 2020 census, Batam had a population of 1,196,396 inhabitants. The population was increasing rapidly, with a population growth rate of more than 8% per year between 2001 and 2012, but the increase has subsequently slowed. It is now growing by about 20,000 persons per year Today, Batam is inhabited by a heterogeneous mixture of people due to labor migration and desire to be close to Singapore; it is very diverse, two-thirds of the population are migrants. The predominant ethnicities are Malays, Javanese, Batak, Minangkabau, and Chinese. The indigenous people of Batam who are related to the Malays are the Orang Laut who are nomads who depend on the sea for their livelihood and the Orang Darat who live nomadically in the interior forests of Rempang whose population is threatened with extinction. …