Sebatik Island ( Indonesian/ Malay: ''Pulau Sebatik'') is an island off the eastern coast of

Borneo Borneo (; id, Kalimantan) is the third-largest island in the world and the largest in Asia. At the geographic centre of Maritime Southeast Asia, in relation to major Indonesian islands, it is located north of Java, west of Sulawesi, and e ...

, partly within

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of over 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo and New Gui ...

and partly within

Malaysia Malaysia ( ; ) is a country in Southeast Asia. The federal constitutional monarchy consists of thirteen states and three federal territories, separated by the South China Sea into two regions: Peninsular Malaysia and Borneo's East Mal ...

. It is one of the 92 officially listed outlying islands of Indonesia. Sebatik has an area of approximately . The minimum distance between Sebatik Island and the mainland of Borneo is about . Sebatik Island lies between Tawau Bay (''Teluk Tawau'') to the north and Sibuku Bay (''Teluk Sibuku'') to the south. The town of Tawau lies in

Sabah Sabah () is a state of Malaysia located in northern Borneo, in the region of East Malaysia. Sabah borders the Malaysian state of Sarawak to the southwest and the North Kalimantan province of Indonesia to the south. The Federal Territory ...

just to the north. The island is bisected at roughly 4° 10' north by the

Indonesia–Malaysia border The Indonesia–Malaysia border consists of a 1,881 km (1,169 m) land border that divides the territory of Indonesia and Malaysia on the island of Borneo. It also includes maritime boundaries along the length of the Straits of Malacca, in ...

- the northern part belongs to

(''Sebatik Malaysia'') while the southern part belongs to

North Kalimantan North Kalimantan ( id, Kalimantan Utara) is a province of Indonesia. It is located on the northernmost of Kalimantan, the Indonesian part of the island of Borneo. North Kalimantan borders the Malaysian states of Sabah to the north and Sarawak ...

(previously

East Kalimantan East Kalimantan ( Indonesian: ) is a province of Indonesia. Its territory comprises the eastern portion of Borneo. It had a population of about 3.03 million at the 2010 census (within the current boundary), 3.42 million at the 2015 census, and 3 ...

(''Sebatik Indonesia''). Sebatik Malaysia has a population estimated to be approximately 25,000; there were 47,571 people in Sebatik Indonesia as at the 2020 Census. The demarcated international border between Malaysia and Indonesia stops at the eastern edge of Sebatik Island, so that the ownership of Unarang Rock and the maritime area located to the east of Sebatik is unclear.Ambalat: A Spatial Perspective, by I. Made Andi Arsana of The School of Surveying and Spatial Information Systems, The University of New South Wales, 2005.
/ref> This is one of the reasons why the Ambalat region waters and crude oil deposits east of Sebatik Island have been the centre of an active maritime dispute between Indonesia and Malaysia since March 2005. The ambiguity of the border at the eastern edge also caused a dispute over two nearby islands of

Sipadan Sipadan ( ms, Pulau Sipadan) is the only oceanic island in Malaysia, rising from the seabed. It is located in the Celebes Sea off the east coast of Sabah, Malaysia. It was formed by living corals growing on top of an extinct volcanic cone t ...

and Ligitan, both south of 4° 10' N but administered by Malaysia. The territorial dispute was resolved by the

International Court of Justice The International Court of Justice (ICJ; french: Cour internationale de justice, links=no; ), sometimes known as the World Court, is one of the six principal organs of the United Nations (UN). It settles disputes between states in accordan ...

in 2002 which awarded the islands to Malaysia. While there are border guards on the island, there is no immigration office, no customs house, no barbed-wire fence and no walls demarcating the border. Instead, the only evidence of a border are the concrete piles buried every kilometre from east to west. Sebatik Island was one of the places in which heavy fighting took place between Indonesian troops and Malaysian troops during the 1963

Indonesia–Malaysia confrontation The Indonesia–Malaysia confrontation or Borneo confrontation (also known by its Indonesian / Malay name, ''Konfrontasi'') was an armed conflict from 1963 to 1966 that stemmed from Indonesia's opposition to the creation of the Federation o ...

. The North Borneo Timbers company operated a logging concession on the island until the 1980s and its mostly expatriate employees lived in a self-contained community in Wallace Bay. Sebatik Malaysia is within the administrative division of Tawau. For electoral purposes, Sebatik falls within the parliamentary constituency of

Kalabakan Kalabakan is a town and the capital of Kalabakan District, Sabah, Malaysia. It is located in the Tawau Division, and is about 55 kilometres west of the town of Tawau Tawau (, Jawi: , ), formerly known as Tawao, is the capital of the Ta ...

and the state assembly district of Sebatik. Sitangkai Indonesia (at its closest points) is approximately to Sitangkai, Tawi-Tawi, Philippines, the second-closest point between the two countries after the Miangas island in

North Sulawesi North Sulawesi ( id, Sulawesi Utara) is a province of Indonesia. It is located on the Minahasa Peninsula of Sulawesi, south of the Philippines and southeast of Sabah, Malaysia. It borders the Philippine province of Davao Occidental and Socc ...

Attractions

In the village of Sungai Haji Kuning, there exists a house known as the "Two Country House Tour" that is divided by the Malaysian-Indonesian border.This House Built On the Middle of a Border Is Half Malaysian and Half Indonesian!
World of Buzz Further along the border, within Pancang as well, a public swimming pool known as "North Sebatik Swimming Pool" bisects the international border.

References

{{North Kalimantan Islands of Sabah Divided regions International islands Islands of Kalimantan Landforms of North Kalimantan

Attractions

See also

References