Rupat is an island in the Strait of Malacca

Strait of Malacca

The Strait of Malacca is a narrow, stretch of water between the Malay Peninsula and the Indonesian island of Sumatra. It is named after the Malacca Sultanate that ruled over the archipelago between 1414 to 1511.-Extent:...

, Riau province, 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 lies just off the eastern coast of Sumatra, across from Dumai

Dumai

Dumai is a city in Riau province on the island of Sumatra, Indonesia. The city has an area of 1727 km² and has 174,465 inhabitants . Dumai is an important transport and trade centre, both regionally and international ....

 city, across the Strait of Rupat (Selat Rupat). Its area is 1490 km². At a population of 30,000, the island is sparsely populated, with a population density of 20 per km².Rupat is one of thousands abandoned islands. Now the population is growing year after year. It makes them expand the area for the settlement.

There is a proposal by the Malaysian government with Chinese financial backing to build a bridge from Melaka to Rupat and Dumai, called the Malacca Strait Bridge

Malacca Strait Bridge

The Malacca Strait Bridge is a new bridge under proposal that would connect Telok Gong, near Masjid Tanah, Malacca state in Peninsula Malaysia, Malaysia to Rupat Island and Dumai in Sumatra island, Indonesia. The project has been submitted for government approval, and is expected to take 10 years...

, though Jakarta seems to prefer to build the Sunda Strait Bridge

Sunda Strait Bridge

The Sunda Strait Bridge is a planned road and railway megaproject between the two Indonesian islands of Sumatra and Java...

first.