BATAM 🗺️

In the book it is stated that "Batam" is an acronym for "batu ampa," referring to the story of Si Badang and Putri Tumasik which is known in the Malay folklore. Batam City is the largest city in the Riau Islands province, Indonesia. The Batam City area consists of Batam Island, Rempang Island and Galang Island and other small islands in the Singapore Strait and Malacca Strait areas. The islands of Batam, Rempang and Galang are connected by the Barelang Bridge. According to the Batam City Population and Civil Registry Service, by mid-2023 the population of Batam will reach 1,240,792 people, with a density of 1,200 people/km². Batam City is part of the Batam–Bintan–Karimun (BBK) special free trade area.

Batam is a city with a very strategic location. Apart from being on international shipping lanes, this city is very close and directly borders Singapore and Malaysia. As a planned city, Batam is one of the cities with the fastest growth in Indonesia. When it was built in the 1970s by the Batam Authority (currently called BP Batam), this city only employed around 6,000 residents and within 40 years Batam's population grew 158 times.

Batam-Riau Islands is one of the provinces in Indonesia which generally uses Malay as a mother tongue. Each region in Riau Islands Province has its own characteristics in the use of Malay dialect.

What is the icon of Batam City? 

The Barelang Bridge has become an icon of Batam City, and has even become popular as a landmark on Batam Island. If the city of Jakarta is synonymous with Monas, then people will identify the city of Batam with the Barelang Bridge. Barelang Bridge (abbreviation of BAtam, REmpang, and GaLANG) is the name of the bridge that connects the islands, namely Pulau Batam, Pulau Tonton, Pulau Nipah, Pulau Rempang, Pulau Galang and Pulau Galang Baru.