Batam

From Freepedia

Batam is one of the islands in the Riau Islands province of Indonesia, 415 km², with about 600,000 inhabitants, of whom about 85% are of Malay-Indonesian origin and 14% are Chinese. The island is located about 20 kilometres south of Singapore, a mere 1 hour ferry ride away.

Once a wild island covered with jungle and inhabited by a few Orang Laut tribes, the face of Batam changed forever in the 1960s when the Indonesian government made it a special development zone, later part of the Sijori Growth Triangle, enjoying free trade zone status.

In the last 40 years, jungle disappeared and Batam turned into a strong industrial centre, with population increasing from a few thousands in the early 1960s to 700,000 today.

Such economic development attracted hundreds of thousands of Indonesian migrants from other islands bringing ethnic tensions in a region that once was the heart of Malay culture.

Batam is also famous in tourist industry mostly as a getaway for Singaporeans with a few resorts and leisure facilities.