Belitung is an Island in South East Asia a part of Nusantara archipelago. Belitung rules by Indonesia since 1950 and became a district of South Sumatera province. Effective November 21st, 2000 Belitung together with Bangka Island has been approved to became the 31st province of Indonesia separated from South Sumatera. The new province called Kepulauan Bangka Belitung province. Belitung is placed at 107o 35' - 108o 18' Latitude and 2o 30' - 3o 15' Longitude.
The length of diameter from East to West approximately 79 km and North to South approximately 77 km. Total land is approximately 480.060 hectare. 189 small islands surround Belitung. Some of them are quite big with a couple of villages. They are Mendanau Island, Seliu Island, Nadu Island and Batu Dinding Island. The population is 205.000 based on data in 1998, mostly Melayu ethnic and most of them are Moslem. Their some other ethnics likes Chinese, Javanese, Balinese and some people from Sumatera like Palembang, Minang and Batak. Belitung regency consists of 9-sub district (kecamatan) and 69 villages. The capital is Tanjungpandan in North West of this Island. The other large towns are Manggar, Gantung, Kelapa Kampit and Sijuk. The main resources are tin mining, kaolin, quartz sands, and granite rock. The plantation are mainly palm oil, pepper, coconut, coffee, natural rubber, and vegetable.

History

As a part of Nusantara archipelago, Belitung was a part of Sriwijaya kingdom in 7th century and a part of Majapahit kingdom in 10th century. The latest rules before occupied by European, the island is a part of Palembang sultanate. There was small sultanate in this island, which is Balok sultanate in South and Sijuk sultanate in North. But the documents about these 2 sultanates are very minimum. In 1812 British ceded Belitung but The British recognized Dutch claims to Belitung in 1824. During Dutch occupation the tin mining industry was began. Most of residence worked in tin mining industry and some of the workers emigrated from China. The mining industry is still continuing until now. In 1950 Belitung became a part of Indonesia and became one among 8 district in South Sumatera province with Palembang as capital.

Geography

Belitung (-5.5725 Latitude and 104.9305 Longitude) is placed in Western part of Indonesia and the same time zone with Jakarta. North coast of the island is South China Sea, Java Sea on the South coast, Kari Mata strait on the East close to Borneo Island and Gaspar strait on the West close to Bangka island. The land is about 4833 square km, 89 km long (East to West) and 69 km wide (North to South) with diversified terrain, hilly areas and extensive tracks of marshland. The climate is tropical, temperature around 27 - 31 C degree during the day and 23 - 25 C degree during the night. There only 2 season a year, rainy season (120mm) from October to April and hot season during April to October. The highest land is Gunung Tajam Mountain, only 500m above the sea. The others are just a hill likes Burung Mandi, Kubing, Kik Karak, Peramun, Selumar, Guda, ect. The land surface is originally tropical forest, but since the development palm oil industry in 1992 more than 40% of the surface are palm oil plantation. The are some tropical river the biggest one is Lenggang river flowing from the heart of island to eastern coast, Buding River, Cerucuk River, Manggar river, Selungsor river and some other smaller one. There are some lakes but most of them were constructed because of tin mining. The most fantastic area is the beach. Most of the beaches are sandy except the one, which close to estuary. The beach is really white sands soil, and in some beach there are many of big granite rock spreading around the beach and the sea. There are hundreds of small islands with no population surround this island which is became a fantastic view from the beach. The sea wave normally small but little bit bigger during rainy season. We can swim, fishing or diving in the most of the beach.

Government

As a district "Bupati" as a central government representative rules Belitung for the region. The district divided by 7 sub district which called "Kecamatan" and headed by "Camat". And every kecamatan consist of some town and village, which called "Kampung", and "Lurah" as government representative rules it. Bupati is elected by local parliament, which called DPRD, and people elect the member of DPRD during national general election at the same time with National parliament member election. The island is a part of military territory, which called "Kodim", and Kodim consist of Koramil in each Kecamatan. A Kodim is usually headed by a Lieutenant Colonel grade in arm force. The policeman has the similar structure with Kodim. There are some government agent which taking care internal affairs and development, education, tourism, logistic, tax, etc. All of them report to Bupati.

Visit Belitung Island

Until now Belitung has not been a tourist destination in comparison with, for example, Bali where tourism has been common for many years. There are no luxury hotels; tourist targeted shopping and entertainment facilities. Belitung has stayed natural and un spoilt. Coming here is a bit of an adventure where the tourist has to be more self- sufficient and adaptable. Our island is not a copy of Bali, Lombok or Batam; it is special and is an experience worth enjoying. Visitors have to come prepared, bring things like swimwear, diving equipment, medicines, cosmetics, sunglasses and sun cream. Foreign tourists should also note that there are no duty free facilities on the island and should, therefore, anticipate any requirements. On the whole the people of Belitung are very friendly and willing to help. Because the island is relatively isolated they are always pleased to meet visitors, especially foreigners. It is important to remember that not many people speak English at the moment but this is changing as English is taught as a second language in schools.