Geography

Batam Island is located at 1°07′ North latitude and 104°07′ East longitude. The land is characterized by rolling hill terrain with the highest level at 161 meters above sea level. Lush vegetation covers a lot of the island with mangroves on the seashores The name Barelang is an abbreviated of Batam, Rempang, and Galang islands. The entire area of Barelang is 715 sq.km. Barelang is part of the province of Riau, Indonesia, which is known because of the oil rich province. The capital of the province is the city of Tanjung Pinang.

The local governmental offices are in Batam Centre. The largest community on the island is Lubuk Baja (formerly known as Nagoya). Other residential area includes Baloi Garden, Sekupang, Nongsapura (Nongsa), Waterfront City (Teluk Senimba), Batu Ampar, Jodoh.

History of Batam Island

The history of Batam is tightly interwoven with close by Bintan Island and the remainder of Riau Archipelago. Based on Chinese chronicles Batam was already inhabited as early as 231 A.D. when Singapore Island was still known as ‘Pulau Ujung’ (Ujung Island). It came Malacca kingdom under control from the 13th century, and later taken over by the Sultan of Johor who ruled till the 18th century. The coastal villages that face Singapore are alleged to have been a hideout for pirates who hijacked ships in within the strait.

In 1824 the name of the island once more appears in London treaty, which led to the division of the region between the Dutch and the British. Batam and the encircling islands later turned a part of the Riau Lingga Kingdom, a situation that lasted till 1911, when the Dutch East Indies colonial administration took over.

The way to get to Batam Island

Batam could be reached by air from major cities in Indonesia and internationally. Domestic airline companies at the moment flying to Batam include Garuda Indonesia Airways, Lion Air, Batavia, Sriwijaya, and several other air charter services. High-speed transport ships additionally carry guests to Batam from Singapore and Johor, with hourly services operating throughout the day, from various ports around Batam. As a result of proximity of Singapore, most guests to Batam find that coming by high pace transport ships is the best method of transport.  There are five ferry terminals on the island: Harbourbay, Nongsapura Ferry Terminal, Sekupang, Waterfront City and Batam Centre International Ferry Terminal.

Population

The current population of Batam is about 1.2 million (2015 stats). The Mayor of Batam said that based on the current infrastructure, it can only support a maximum population of 1 million people. The minimum wage for workers right now is Rp2,685,000 (about SGD$270).

Indonesian (Bahasa Indonesia) is modeled on the version of Malay which originates from Riau on the Sumatra mainland and the Riau Islands. In fact, Riau Malay is regarded as quite similar to the Malay language and visitors from Malaysia will find the Indonesian spoken here very similar to Bahasa Malaysia, which is the version of Malay spoken back home.

Batam also have a large population of ethnic chinese Indonesians, who also can speak Hokkien (Fujian), Teochew and Mandarin. Besides, there are also large populations of migrants from various parts of Indonesia who speak many different kinds of Indonesian dialects.

Batam Currency

In Batam, the primary transaction currency shall be in Indonesia Rupiah (IDR) , Previously in many hotels/resorts, and some shops and spas in Batam do accept Singapore Dollars (SGD) as well but currently (start 2015) all transactions in Batam must use rupiah (IDR) . You can however discover a lot of money changers in Batam as well with very fast service in case you required changing for some Rupiahs.

Local weather

The Barelang area is taken into account as tropical, with common temperatures starting from 25 to 34 degrees Celsius (77 to 95 degrees Fahrenheit). Humidity within the area ranges from 73% to 96%. On the whole throughout the region, being a wet season from November to April and a dry season from May till October. Average annual rainfall is about 2,600 mm.