Pulau Sebatik

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Pulau Sebatik
Waters Celebes Sea
Geographical location 4 ° 10 '  N , 117 ° 47'  E Coordinates: 4 ° 10 '  N , 117 ° 47'  E
Location of Pulau Sebatik
length 37.5 km
width 13.8 km
surface 452 km²
Highest elevation Antoinette Peak
468  m
Residents 15,000 to 27,000
33 inhabitants / km²
Aerial view of the entrance to Cowie Bay, with Pulau Sebatik in the background
Aerial view of the entrance to Cowie Bay, with Pulau Sebatik in the background

Pulau Sebatik is an island off the east coast of Borneo in the Celebes Sea . Part of the 452 km² island belongs to Indonesia , the other part to Malaysia , Pulau Sebatik is thus a divided island . In older sources it is sometimes also called Sebittik . The exact course of the sea border between Indonesia and Malaysia, which begins at the eastern tip of Sebatik, has not yet been finally clarified and has led to disputes between the two states on several occasions, as large deposits of oil and natural gas are suspected in the border area .

geography

Pulau Sebatik is the largest island in Sebuku Bay . It is separated from the neighboring island of Nunukan by a narrow strait . The highest point is 468 m.

Pulau Sebatik is divided along the geographical latitude of 4 ° 11 'N. The northern part (153 km²) belongs to the Malaysian state of Sabah , the south (299 km²) to the Indonesian province of Kalimantan Utara .

Flora and fauna

The island is largely covered by mangrove swamps and lush tropical rainforest , which is home to numerous gibbons and macaques . The waters around Sebatik are known for their shark occurrence .

Population and economy

Figures on the population are contradicting and fluctuate between 15,000 and 27,000 on the Malaysian side and about 80,000 on the Indonesian side. A majority of the inhabitants live on the Indonesian side of the island from fishing in the villages of Sungai Nyamuk and Sungai Pancang. The timber industry and trade across the border to Malaysia (especially to the nearby coastal town of Tawau ) are increasingly providing employment. In 2005, Malaysia began exploring for oil in a sea area claimed by Indonesia off the east coast of Sebatik.

history

Although the Netherlands had set up a trading post on Borneo shortly after the establishment of the East India Company , there were initially no significant activities by the Dutch on the east coast. That changed in 1846 when the Netherlands signed a treaty with the Sultan of Bolongan that gave the Dutch control over the area. At the instigation of the Dutch, the sultan married his son to the daughter of the Sultan of Tarakan in 1867, with which the Dutch sphere of influence finally reached the region around Tawau . The north of the Dutch area, however, now intersected with an area that the Sultan of Sulu claimed for himself. A conflict with the British was therefore inevitable when in 1878 the Sultan of Sulu laid the southern limit of his land surrender to the Baron von Overbeck on the Sibuku River. To settle the border disputes, the North Borneo Chartered Company negotiated with the Dutch from the 1880s on a definition of the border between their area given by the Sultan of Sulu and the area claimed by the Dutch on the basis of the treaty with the Sultan of Bolongan. On January 20, 1891 they finally agreed on a line along 4 ° 10 'north latitude - which corresponded to a central division of the island of Sebatik.

After the independence of Indonesia (1945) and the establishment of Malaysia (1963), diplomatic and military disputes between the two states over the exact border line in the area have occurred several times up to the present day.

In the course of the so-called Konfrontasi , Indonesian troops crossed the border to Pulau Sebatik on June 28, 1965 and fought with Malaysian units. The International Court of Justice ruled in favor of Malaysia on December 17, 2002 about the affiliation of the islands of Pulau Ligitan and Pulau Sipadan , located south of the 4 ° 11 'N line, only a few square kilometers in size, off the east coast of Sebatik . Nonetheless, military threats came from Indonesia in May 2005 when a joint venture between Shell and the Malaysian company Petronas began exploring for oil in the area.

After the attacks in Bali in October 2002, the Indonesian terrorist group Jemaah Islamiyah moved its centers to remote areas of Indonesia, including Sebatik. In addition to a mosque and a Koran school , its supporters are said to have set up a base and several arsenals in areas of Sebatik that are difficult to access.

See also

Web links

Remarks

  1. ↑ The official Malaysian name is Pulau Sebatik . Internationally, the island is listed as Sebatik Island .
  2. ↑ The Malaysian part of the bay, north of Pulau Sabatik, is called Cowie Bay .
  3. ↑ The final contractual stipulation of this border was of course not confirmed until 1912 by the joint border commission and initialed on February 17, 1913 by Dutch and British negotiators.