Muara Badak () is a district of
Kutai Kartanegara Regency
Kutai Kartanegara Regency (abbreviated as ''Kukar'') is a regency of East Kalimantan Province, Indonesia. It has a land area of 27,891.13 km2 and a water area of 4,097 km2, geographically located between 1°18′40″S and 116°31′3 ...
,
East Kalimantan
East Kalimantan (Indonesian language, Indonesian: ) is a Provinces of Indonesia, province of Indonesia. Its territory comprises the eastern portion of Borneo/Kalimantan. It had a population of about 3.03 million at the 2010 census (within the cu ...
, Indonesia. As of 2023, it was inhabited by 50,435 people, and currently has the total area of 781.52 km
2.
Its district seat is located at the village of Muara Badak Ulu.
Muara Badak borders
Samarinda
Samarinda is the capital city of the Provinces of Indonesia, Indonesian province of East Kalimantan on the island of Borneo. The city lies on the banks of the Mahakam River with a land area of . Samarinda was one of Indonesia's top ten City qu ...
(specifically the district of
North Samarinda) to the southwest. Natural gas reserve was discovered by Huffco in 1972, and as a result, the district gave its name to state-owned corporation
Badak LNG, who is active at
Bontang.
History
Although the name Muara Badak literally translates to "
Rhinoceros
A rhinoceros ( ; ; ; : rhinoceros or rhinoceroses), commonly abbreviated to rhino, is a member of any of the five extant taxon, extant species (or numerous extinct species) of odd-toed ungulates (perissodactyls) in the family (biology), famil ...
Estuary", some theories disputed this etymology, due to the fact that there is no clear evidence about the existence of rhinoceros there. Some connected instead to the tree (now extinct), or the phrase attributed to the sultan of Kutai when first visiting this region in 1806 or 1825, "".
On 1 December 1989, at the same time when
Bontang was formed as an administrative city, three villages, namely Central Santan (), Santan Ilir, and Santan Ulu were transferred from the former district of Bontang to Muara Badak. Seven years later on 11 June 1996, the northern parts of Muara Badak (consisting of 3 previously-mentioned villages, Sabuntal, and Kersik) were separated to form the new district of
Marang Kayu
Marang Kayu () is a district of Kutai Kartanegara Regency, East Kalimantan, Indonesia. As of 2023, it was inhabited by 29,244 people, and currently has the total area of 866.20 km2. Its district seat is located at the village of Sebuntal.
M ...
.
In recent years, local organizations such as Muara Badak Youth Movement (GPMB), have demanded to secede from Kutai Kartanegara, due to
resource curse issues.
Governance
Villages
Muara Badak is divided into the following 14 villages ():
The village of Badak Makmur was only created from parts of Muara Badak Ulu on 29 November 2023. Because of this, the regional code is yet to be released for this village.
Demographics
Religion
As of 2023, by far the largest religious group in Muara Badak were Muslims (47,934 people), followed by small minorities including Protestants (2,287 people), Catholics (432 people), Hindus (27 people) and Buddhists (6 people).
References
{{reflist
Districts of Kutai Kartanegara Regency