Bintulu Division is one of the twelve administrative divisions of

Sarawak Sarawak (; ) is a state of Malaysia. The largest among the 13 states, with an area almost equal to that of Peninsular Malaysia, Sarawak is located in northwest Borneo Island, and is bordered by the Malaysian state of Sabah to the northeast, ...

Malaysia Malaysia ( ; ) is a country in Southeast Asia. The federation, federal constitutional monarchy consists of States and federal territories of Malaysia, thirteen states and three federal territories, separated by the South China Sea into two r ...

. It has a total area of 12,166.2 square kilometres, and is the third largest division after

Kapit Division Kapit Division, formed on 2 April 1973, is one of the twelve administrative divisions in Sarawak, Malaysia. It has a total area of 38,934 square kilometres, and is the largest of the administrative divisions of Sarawak. Its population (year 20 ...

and

Miri Division Miri Division is one of the twelve administrative divisions of Sarawak, Malaysia. It has a total area of 26,777.1 square kilometres, and is the second largest division after Kapit Division. The seat of this division is the city of Miri. The pop ...

. Bintulu Division consists of two districts which is

Bintulu Bintulu is a coastal town on the island of Borneo in the central region of Sarawak, Malaysia. Bintulu is located 610 kilometres (380 mi) northeast of Kuching, 216 kilometres (134 mi) northeast of Sibu, and 200 kilometres (120 mi) ...

and Tatau, together with a sub-district under Bintulu, which is

Sebauh Sebauh is a district of Bintulu Division, Sarawak, Malaysia. It shares a boundary with Miri, Baram, Kapit Division, Belaga and Tatau. It has a total area of roughly 5,262.90 square kilometres. Sebauh town is a main administrative and economy ...

. Three major towns in Bintulu are

(which is the capital of both Bintulu District and Bintulu Division), Tatau and Sebauh.

Demography

The population of Bintulu Division (year 2000 census) was 179,600. This makes Bintulu as one of the most loosely populated division in Sarawak with only 14 people per kilometre. Despite being the most thinly populated, Bintulu Division has the fourth biggest town in Sarawak, which is Bintulu town. Most of the Bintulu division's population is concentrated in this town.

Ethnic makeup

Bintulu is traditionally a home to

Iban IBAN or Iban or Ibán may refer to: Banking * International Bank Account Number Ethnology * Iban culture The Ibans or Sea Dayaks are a branch of the Dayak people, Dayak people on the island of Borneo in Southeast Asia. It is believed that the ...

, Chinese,

Melanau Melanau or ''A-Likou'' (meaning River people in Mukah dialect) is an ethnic group indigenous to Sarawak, Malaysia. They are among the earliest settlers of Sarawak. They speak in the Melanau language, which is a part of the North Bornean branc ...

, Malay, Orang Ulu and

Kedayan The Kedayan (also known as Kadayan, Kadaian or Kadyan) are an ethnic group residing in Brunei, Federal Territory of Labuan, southwest of Sabah, and north of Sarawak on the island of Borneo. According to the Language and Literature Bureau of B ...

people. Most Ibans are scattered throughout rural areas of Bintulu, namely in Tatau and Sebauh. Whilst, Melanau people (or Melanau Bintulu/Vaie people) are concentrated at the town areas in Bintulu and rural communal areas, namely at Bintulu town, Tatau town, Kuala Tatau, Sebauh, Pandan and Labang. Many Malay people are not originally from Bintulu, however, intermarriage with locals especially Melanau people has made Malay as one of the major ethnics in Bintulu. Chinese people are more concentrated at town areas, such as at Bintulu, Sebauh and Tatau town, while some resides at Sangan and Kuala Tatau. Orang Ulu people, such as Kenyah, Kayan, Tatau, Penan and Punan are more scattered throughout Bintulu division compared to Iban people. Most of them still live deep in the rural areas like Kakus and Jelalong. Kedayan people, although small in number, can be spotted at Nyalau areas (100 km from Bintulu) just at the border with Miri Division. There is a large influx of foreign worker population due to the strength of the

petroleum industry The petroleum industry, also known as the oil industry or the oil patch, includes the global processes of exploration, extraction, refining, transportation (often by oil tankers and pipelines), and marketing of petroleum products. The large ...

. It was estimated more than 20% of Bintulu population are foreign workers and expatriates.

Administration

Members of Parliament

Economy

The economy is largely based on the petroleum and

natural gas Natural gas (also called fossil gas or simply gas) is a naturally occurring mixture of gaseous hydrocarbons consisting primarily of methane in addition to various smaller amounts of other higher alkanes. Low levels of trace gases like carbo ...

industries. Bintulu has an estimated 85% of Sarawak’s known natural gas reserves, or some . In addition to export as liquified natural gas, on-shore facilities produce

fertiliser A fertilizer (American English) or fertiliser (British English; see spelling differences) is any material of natural or synthetic origin that is applied to soil or to plant tissues to supply plant nutrients. Fertilizers may be distinct from ...

, and

formaldehyde Formaldehyde ( , ) (systematic name methanal) is a naturally occurring organic compound with the formula and structure . The pure compound is a pungent, colourless gas that polymerises spontaneously into paraformaldehyde (refer to section ...

resins. Bintulu also has about half of Sarawak's crude

oil reserves An oil is any nonpolar chemical substance that is composed primarily of hydrocarbons and is hydrophobic (does not mix with water) & lipophilic (mixes with other oils). Oils are usually flammable and surface active. Most oils are unsaturate ...

of , with production wells located some 40 kilometers offshore. Bintulu has around 27% of Sarawak’s

tropical rainforest Tropical rainforests are rainforests that occur in areas of tropical rainforest climate in which there is no dry season – all months have an average precipitation of at least 60 mm – and may also be referred to as ''lowland equa ...

, and the timber industry remains a strong component of the Division's economy. Bintulu Division has a total designated area of 1,071,031 hectares for logging purposes. The Division is the main producer of wood species from peat swamp forests such as Ramin, Alan, and Jongkong. Bintulu Division produces an average of 4.7 million m³ of logs per year. Agriculture is relatively minor although growing steadily, with

oil palm ''Elaeis'' () is a genus of palms containing two species, called oil palms. They are used in commercial agriculture in the production of palm oil. The African oil palm '' Elaeis guineensis'' (the species name ''guineensis'' referring to its c ...

rattan Rattan, also spelled ratan, is the name for roughly 600 species of Old World climbing palms belonging to subfamily Calamoideae. The greatest diversity of rattan palm species and genera are in the closed- canopy old-growth tropical fores ...

and

pepper Pepper or peppers may refer to: Food and spice * Piperaceae or the pepper family, a large family of flowering plant ** Black pepper * ''Capsicum'' or pepper, a genus of flowering plants in the nightshade family Solanaceae ** Bell pepper ** Chili ...

the main products. Deposits of

coal Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock, formed as rock strata called coal seams. Coal is mostly carbon with variable amounts of other elements, chiefly hydrogen, sulfur, oxygen, and nitrogen. Coal is formed when ...

have been discovered, but are yet unexploited.

Transportation

Although Bintulu is well connected to other parts of Sarawak with good networks of road, river transports still play the vital role in Bintulu. People of Bintulu Division can opt for rural shuttle bus service to Tatau, Sebauh, Nyalau, even as far as Sungai Asap in Kapit Division. The only shuttle bus operating for both town and rural services is Jepak Holding. As for people who wish to travel to upriver areas which are inaccessible by road such as Jelalong, Ng. Tau, Pandan, Labang, Kuala Serupai, Kuala Baggiau, Sungai Anap and Bukit Balai, they have to use available ferry and boat services. River transport charges remain high in Bintulu Division due to the long distance of the upriver areas. There are some rural areas which are accessible by timber tracks and palm estate roads such as Labang, Tubau and Kakus. Availability of transports to these areas are limited through bookings at Bintulu town, using private vans or four-wheel drive vehicles.

Infrastructure

Bintulu Division is blessed with good networks of road.

Pan-Borneo Highway Pan Borneo Highway ( ms, Lebuhraya Pan Borneo), also known as Trans-Borneo Highway or Trans-Kalimantan Highway ( id, Jalan Lintas Kalimantan), is a road network on Borneo Island connecting two Malaysian states, Sabah and Sarawak, with Brune ...

is a trunk road linking Bintulu to the rest of divisions in Sarawak. Bintulu Division is expected to expand rapidly due to Similajau being part of Sarawak Corridor of Renewal Energy regional development and ongoing gas pipeline project from Sabah to Tanjung Kidurong.

Education

Bintulu Division has a moderate number of public schools. Most secondary schools are located at Bintulu district. There is only one secondary school for Tatau District. As for primary schools, most of them are scattered throughout Bintulu. Some of them are located deep in the Bintulu Division's interior to cater for rural students. There is one secondary school run privately which is SM Kai Dee, a Chinese education-based school. Bintulu Division is home to a public university branch which is Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM) and various government education institutions such as GIATMARA, IKM and ADTEC. There is also a private education institution which is Kolej Sendaya. Institut Kemahiran MARA (IKM) Bintulu Sarawak

Institut Kemahiran MARA (IKM) Bintulu Sarawak

Bintulu is a place surrounding by the oil and gas industry. The major economy of this city is related to the energy company. The institution offering the oil and gas industry is Institut Kemahiran MARA Bintulu
IKM Bintulu
is a government institution that caters for human capital development in the oil and gas industry. The institution can customise according to the industry skill set requirement.

Healthcare

Bintulu Division has one government hospital which is Bintulu Hospital and one government policlinic at Bintulu town. There are also private-owned hospital such as Columbia-Asia Hospital at Tanjung Kidurong and Bintulu Medical Centre at Bintulu town. As for Tatau and Sebauh sub-district, both has their own health clinic. Smaller government health clinics do exist at Ng. Tau and Tubau.

Security

Bintulu Division has two police district offices, namely at Bintulu and Tatau. There are also police stations and police bits located at strategic locations, as well as rural areas. Despite being the third largest division, Bintulu Division so far has no district military bases. Only small military camps do exist just to make presence.

Government services

Other government offices have set up their branches in both Bintulu and Tatau district (some at Sebauh sub-district and other smaller communal areas) such as Royal Customs, Fire and Rescue Department, Education Department, etc.

References

External links

Bintulu Tourism

Bintulu National ParksInstitut Kemahiran MARA BintuluApply IKM Bintulu
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