Riau Islands Province Provinsi Kepulauan Riau
—  Province  —
Seal
Motto: Berpancang Amanah Bersauh Marwah (Malay) (With trust as foundation, and dignity as the anchor)
Location of Riau Islands in Indonesia
Coordinates: 0°54′N 104°27′E / 0.9°N 104.45°E / 0.9; 104.45Coordinates: 0°54′N 104°27′E / 0.9°N 104.45°E / 0.9; 104.45
Country	Indonesia
Capital	Tanjung Pinang
Government
• Governor	H.M.Sani
Area
• Total	8,201.72 km2 (3,166.70 sq mi)
Population (2010)[1]
• Total	1,685,698
• Density	210/km2 (530/sq mi)
Demographics
• Ethnic groups	Malays (35,6%), Javanese (22,2%), Chinese (9,3%), Minangkabau (9,3%), Batak (8,1%), Buginese (2,2%), Banjarese (0,7%) [2]
• Religion	Islam (79.34%), Protestantism (11.17%), Buddhist (6.65%), Roman Catholicism (2.28%), Confucianism (0.2%), Hinduism (0.09%)
• Languages	Malay , Chinese , English
Time zone	WIT (UTC+07)
Website	www.kepriprov.go.id
Jawi: ڤولاو باتم)

Riau Islands Province (Dutch: Riau-Eilanden Provincie, Malay: Propinsi Kepulauan Riau, Jawi: كڤولاوان رياو) is a province of Indonesia, consisting of the Riau Archipelago, the Tudjuh Archipelago, and the Lingga Islands.

Originally part of the Riau Province, the Riau Islands were split off as a separate province in July 2004.

Geography[link]

Batam has a majority of the province's population, since becoming special economic region, it has experienced high population growth rates. The population is estimated nearly at 1,137,894 (as of December 2011). Other main islands and populated city included Bintan Island and Karimun. There are around 3,200 islands in the province. with Tanjung Pinang as its capital, located at south of Bintan Island. The islands of the Tudjuh Archipelago, located between Borneo and mainland Malaysia, were attached to the new province, although they were not geographically part of the Riau Archipelago.

Language[link]

The language of the Riau Islands is known as Riau Malay. The Riau Islands are considered the birthplace of the modern Malay language. It is the official standard for Malay, as agreed upon by Indonesia, Malaysia and Brunei.

History[link]

From Srivijayan times until the 16th century, Riau was a natural part of greater Malay kingdoms or sultanates, in the heart of what is often called the Malay World, which stretches from eastern Sumatra to Borneo. The Malay-related Orang Laut tribes inhabited the islands and formed the backbone of most Malay kingdoms from Srivijaya to the Sultanate of Johor for the control of trade routes going through the straits.

After the fall of Melaka in 1511, the Riau islands became the center of political power of the mighty Sultanate of Johor or Johor-Riau, based on Bintan island, and were for long considered the center of Malay culture.^[3]

But history changed the fate of Riau as a political, cultural or economic center when European powers struggled to control the regional trade routes and took advantage of political weaknesses within the sultanate. Singapore island, that had been for centuries part of the same greater Malay kingdoms and sultanates, and under direct control of the Sultan of Johor, came under control of the British.

The creation of a European-controlled territory in the heart of the Johor-Riau natural boundaries broke the sultanate into two parts, destroying the cultural and political unity that had existed for centuries. The Anglo-Dutch Treaty of 1824 consolidated this separation, with the British controlling all territories north of the Singapore strait and the Dutch controlling territories from Riau to Java.

After the European powers withdrew from the region, the new independent governments had to reorganize and find balance after inheriting 100 years of colonial boundaries. Before finding their current status, the territories of Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Brunei and Borneo struggled and even came into military conflict against each other, and the Riau islands once again found themselves in the middle of a regional struggle.

The strong cultural unity of the region with Riau in the heart of this region never returned, and the line drawn by the British in 1819 remained, dividing the area into three new countries in 1965: Singapore, the Malaysian federation in the north, and Indonesia in the south.

Some level of unity returned in the Riau region for the first time after 150 years, with the creation of the Sijori Growth Triangle in 1989. But while bringing back some economical wealth to Riau, the Sijori Growth Triangle somewhat further broke the cultural unity within the islands. With Batam island receiving most of the industrial investments and dramatically developing into a regional industrial center, it attracted hundreds of thousands of non-Malay Indonesian migrants, changing forever the demographic balance in the archipelago.

Today the name of Riau merely refers to this administrative region of Indonesia, a free trade zone heavily supported by Indonesian, Singaporean and international investments.

There have been various attempts at both independence and autonomy for this part of Indonesia since the founding of Indonesia in 1945.^[4]

Administrative division[link]

This province is divided into 5 regencies:

• Karimun (Tanjung Balai Karimun)
• Bintan (Bandar Seri Bentan)
• Lingga (Daik)
• Natuna (Ranai)
• Anambas Islands (Tarempa)

and 2 cities:

• Batam
• Tanjung Pinang

References[link]

External links[link]

Indonesia portal

• Riau Islands Province travel guide from Wikitravel

v t e Regencies and cities of Riau Islands Province Capital: Tanjung Pinang Regencies Karimun Bintan Lingga Natuna Anambas Islands Cities Batam Tanjung Pinang See also: List of regencies and cities of Indonesia

v t e Main Islands of Riau Islands Province (Propinsi Kepulauan Riau) Riau Archipelago: Bintan Batam Rempang Galang Bulan Combol Kundur Karimun (Riau Is) Natuna Islands: Natuna Besar South Natuna Archipelago Tambelan Archipelago Anambas Islands: Tarempa P. Matak Jemaja Andriabu Lingga Islands: Lingga Singkep Sebangka Bakung P. Selayar (Riau Is) Posik P. Serak Lalang Temiang Mesawak

Riau رياو
—  Province  —
Seal
Location of Riau in Indonesia
Coordinates: 0°32′N 101°27′E / 0.533°N 101.45°E / 0.533; 101.45Coordinates: 0°32′N 101°27′E / 0.533°N 101.45°E / 0.533; 101.45
Country	Indonesia
Capital	Pekanbaru
Government
• Governor	Rusli Zainal
Area
• Total	75,569 km2 (29,177 sq mi)
Population (2010)[1]
• Total	6,043,031
• Density	80/km2 (210/sq mi)
Demographics
• Ethnic groups	Malay (38%), Javanese (25%), Minangkabau (11%), Batak (7%), Banjarese (4%), Chinese (4%), Buginese (2%) [2]
• Religion	Muslim (88%), Buddhist (6%), Catholic (5%), Protestant (1%), Hindu (0.2%)
• Languages	Malay, Indonesian, Minangkabau, Hokkien
Time zone	WIB (UTC+7)
Website	www.riau.go.id

Riau Governmental office in Pekanbaru

Riau (Jawi: رياو ; Chinese: 廖内; pinyin: liàonèi) is a province of Indonesia, located in the center of Sumatra along the Strait of Malacca. Originally the province included the Riau Islands, a large group of small islands located east of Sumatra Island and south of Singapore, before they were split off as a separate province in July 2004. The biggest islands in the archipelago are Batam and Bintan Island. The provincial capital of Riau Province and its largest city is Pekanbaru. Other major cities include Dumai, Selat Panjang, Bagansiapiapi, Bengkalis, Bangkinang, Rengat and Siak Sri Indrapura.

Riau is currently one of the richest provinces in Indonesia and is rich with natural resources, particularly petroleum, natural gas, rubber, palm oil and fiber plantations. However extensive logging has led to a massive decline in forest cover from 78% in 1982 to only 33% in 2005.^[3]

Since the 1970s, much of Indonesia has experienced declining population growth rates. Riau has been a significant exception, with increasing rates every decade since 1970 to a 4.35 percent annual rise for the 1990s.^[4] The provincial population is 5,543,031 (as at the 2010 census).^[1]

Language[link]

Riau is home to various dialects of the Malay and Chinese language. The dominant language used by the Malay population is Riau Malay, on which the national language, Indonesian, is based. The Chinese population (predominantly Hokkien), Hakka, and Teochew speak a variety of Chinese dialects, the most common being Min Nan, originating from the southern part of Fujian province in the south-eastern part of China.

[edit] Riau Indonesian

The dialect of Indonesian spoken in this region is considered by linguists to have one of the least complex grammars among the languages of the world, apart from creoles, possessing neither noun declensions, temporal distinctions, subject/object distinctions, nor singular/plural distinction. For example, the phrase Ayam makan (lit. 'chicken eat') can mean, in context, anything from 'the chicken is eating', to 'I ate some chicken', 'the chicken that is eating' and 'when we were eating chicken'.^[5] A possible reason for this is that Riau Indonesian has been used as a lingua franca for communication between different people in this area during its history, and extensive foreign-language speaker use of this kind tends to simplify the grammar of a language used.^[6]

Riau Indonesian is the basis for the modern national language, Indonesian, which however has extensive additional influence from Javanese, Chinese, Arabic, Dutch and English, among others.^{[citation needed]}

Cities and Regencies[link]

Riau in Sumatra. Lithography to an original watercolor by J.C. Rappard. ca. 1883-1889.

• Pekanbaru City
• Dumai City
• Rokan Hilir Regency
• Rokan Hulu Regency
• Siak Regency
• Indragiri Hilir Regency
• Indragiri Hulu Regency
• Pelalawan Regency
• Kampar Regency
• Bengkalis Regency
• Kuantan Singingi Regency
• Meranti Islands Regency

Economy[link]

The economy of Riau expands faster (8.66% in 2006) than the Indonesian average (6.04% in 2006), and is largely a resource-based economy, including crude oil (600,000 bpd), palm oil and other forest products. Local government income benefits from a greater share of tax revenue (mainly from crude oil) due to the decentralization law of 2004.^[7]

Ecology[link]

Giam Siak Kecil - Bukit Batu biosphere reserves

Riau's forest area is around 8 million ha. Giam Siak Kecil – Bukit Batu, Indonesia, is a peatland area in Sumatra featuring sustainable timber production and two wildlife reserves, which are home to the Sumatra tiger, elephant, tapir, and sun bear. Research activities in the biosphere include the monitoring of flagship species and in-depth study on peatland ecology. Initial studies indicate a real potential for sustainable economic development using native flora and fauna for the economic benefit of local inhabitants.

Cagar Biosfer Giam Siak Kecil Bukit Batu (CB-GSK-BB) is one of seven Biosphere Reserves in Indonesia. Located in two areas of Riau Province, namely Bengkalis and Siak. CB-GSK-BB is a trial presented by Riau at the 21st Session of the International Coordinating Council of Man and the Biosphere (UNESCO) in Jeju, South Korea, on May 26, 2009. CB-GSK-BB is one of 22 proposed locations in 17 countries accepted as reserves for the year. A Biosphere Reserve is the only internationally recognized concept of environmental conservation and cultivation. Thus the supervision and development of CB-GSK-BB is a worldwide concern at a regional level.

CB-GSK-BB is a type of Peat Swamp Forest is second to none, unique to the Kampar Peninsula Peat Forest (with a small area of swamp). Another peculiarity is that the CB-GSK-BB was initiated by private parties in cooperation with the government through BBKSDA (The Center for the Conservation of Natural Resources). Including the Sinar Mas Group.

See also[link]

Indonesia portal

• Deforestation in Indonesia
• 2012 Pekan Olahraga Nasional

References[link]

	North Sumatra	North Sumatra	Malacca Strait
	West Sumatra		South China Sea Riau Islands
		Riau    East
	West Sumatra	Jambi	Jambi

v t e Regencies, Cities, and Islands of Riau Capital: Pekanbaru Regencies Bengkalis Indragiri Hilir Indragiri Hulu Kampar Kepulauan Meranti Kuantan Singingi Pelalawan Rokan Hulu Rokan Hilir Siak Cities Dumai Pekanbaru Islands Bengkalis Basu Halang Jemur Padang Rangsang Rupat Tebing Tinggi Island See also: List of regencies and cities of Indonesia