Karimun
Encyclopedia
For the car, see Suzuki Karimun
Suzuki Wagon R
The Suzuki Wagon R is a kei car first introduced in Japan in 1993, and is still in production by Suzuki. The R stands for Recreation. It is one of the first cars to use the "tall wagon or tall boy" design in which the car is designed to be unusually tall with a short bonnet and almost vertical...



Karimun is one of the islands in the Riau Islands province of Indonesia
Indonesia
Indonesia , officially the Republic of Indonesia , is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania. Indonesia is an archipelago comprising approximately 13,000 islands. It has 33 provinces with over 238 million people, and is the world's fourth most populous country. Indonesia is a republic, with an...

. It is southwest of Singapore
Singapore
Singapore , officially the Republic of Singapore, is a Southeast Asian city-state off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, north of the equator. An island country made up of 63 islands, it is separated from Malaysia by the Straits of Johor to its north and from Indonesia's Riau Islands by the...

 and west of Batam
Batam
Batam is an island and city in Riau Islands Province of Indonesia, known for its free trade zone area as part of the Sijori Growth Triangle, is located off Singapore's south coast...

. The island's main city is Tanjung Balai Karimun
Tanjung Balai Karimun
See Tanjung Balai for its many meaningsTanjung Balai, Karimun or simply Tanjung Balai or Tg. Balai is the main town in Karimun island of Riau Islands province....

. As of 1997, the island had a population of 155,000.

In the past, Karimun was the destination of foreign traders and the Malay Kings. The island has strategic geographical importance, as it is near the Straits of Malacca, an international shipping route. Stamford Raffles
Stamford Raffles
Sir Thomas Stamford Bingley Raffles, FRS was a British statesman, best known for his founding of the city of Singapore . He is often described as the "Father of Singapore"...

 is believed to have considered Karimun island instead of Singapore
Singapore
Singapore , officially the Republic of Singapore, is a Southeast Asian city-state off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, north of the equator. An island country made up of 63 islands, it is separated from Malaysia by the Straits of Johor to its north and from Indonesia's Riau Islands by the...

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

Geology

Mount. Jantan is located in Karimun.
Famous beaches : Pelawan and Pongkar.
other :Waterfall Pongkar (Air Terjun Pongkar)

FTZ - Free Trade Zone

On 29 June 2007 the Indonesian government conferred enclave Free Trade Zone status on Karimun; a move intended to address the issue of legal certainty for investors. The Law however is still being discussed by parliament and is expected to be passed in early 2008.

Under the plan Karimun will be turned into shipyard, metal, component, agricultural, and marine produce industrial development centres.

This is in line with the establishment of the Special Economics Zone in Riau Islands Province for Batam, Bintan and Karimun (BBK).

Natural resource

The main export of the island is its granite
Granite
Granite is a common and widely occurring type of intrusive, felsic, igneous rock. Granite usually has a medium- to coarse-grained texture. Occasionally some individual crystals are larger than the groundmass, in which case the texture is known as porphyritic. A granitic rock with a porphyritic...

 which is one of the best quality in the world.
Sand
Sand
Sand is a naturally occurring granular material composed of finely divided rock and mineral particles.The composition of sand is highly variable, depending on the local rock sources and conditions, but the most common constituent of sand in inland continental settings and non-tropical coastal...

 has also been constantly exported to Singapore
Singapore
Singapore , officially the Republic of Singapore, is a Southeast Asian city-state off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, north of the equator. An island country made up of 63 islands, it is separated from Malaysia by the Straits of Johor to its north and from Indonesia's Riau Islands by the...

for land reclamation. Indonesian concern at Singapore reclamation projects has however limited sand exports.

At the beginning of 2007, Indonesia banned the export of sand. Singapore being their biggest importer now faces a crisis with many upcoming building developments.

External links

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