East Kalimantan
East Kalimantan (Indonesian: Kalimantan Timur often abbreviated to Kaltim) is a province of Indonesia. It is one of four Indonesian provinces in Kalimantan - the Indonesian part of the island of Borneo. The provincial capital is Samarinda.
This province known as the location of the oldest Hindu kingdom in Indonesia. The Kingdom of Kutai with its king Mulawarman. The existence of this kingdom is proved by a stone manuscript (Indonesian : Prasasti) which is now kept ini the National Museum, Jakarta. The manuscript is written in Pallawa alphabet and Sanskrit language. The replica of this manuscript can be seen in the Governor Office, Samarinda.
This province is the second largest province in Indonesia, after Papua. It has a population of 2.44 million (2000 census). Samarinda is the most populous region of the province, with 521,471 people; other populous areas include the city of Balikpapan and the rural regency of Kutai.
Regencies
East Kalimantan is divided into 9 regencies and 4 cities. The regencies ara Pasir, Penajam Paser Utara, Kutai Kartanegara, West Kutai (Kutai Barat), East Kutai (Kutai Timur), Bulungan, Berau, Malinau, and Nunukan. The cities are Balikpapan, Samarinda, Bontang and Tarakan.
Rain forest
The main problem in this province is the illegal logging which destroyed almost all the rainforest. Less than half the original rainforest still remains, in places such as the Kayan Mentarang National Park in the northern part of the province.
Economy
East Kalimantan heavily depends on earth resources activity such as oilfield exploration, natural gas, as well as coal and gold mining. Balikpapan has an oil refinery plant that was primarily built by Dutch governance before World War II, destroyed during World War II, and rebuilt by Indonesia Governance.
Other developing economic sectors includes agriculture and tourism. East Kalimantan has several tourist destination such as Derawan Islands in Berau Regency, Kayan Mentarang National Park ini Nunukan, Crocodile Husbandry in Balikpapan, deer husbandry in Penajam, Dayak's (native Kalimantan people) Pampang Village in Samarinda and many others.
The main problem to developing economic growth is lack of transportation infrastructure. Transportation depends on traditional boats connecting coastal cities and areas along main river, Mahakam River.
External Links
- WWF Heart of Borneo conservation initiative - Information about the Heart of Borneo - 220,000 km2 of upland montane tropical rainforest, where endangered species such as the orang-utan, rhinoceros and pygmy elephant cling for survival.