Malinau Regency
Malinau Regency is a regency of North Kalimantan Province in Indonesia. It was created on 4 October 1999 from the western districts of Bulungan Regency. The administrative centre is the town of Malinau. The regency is home to the Kayan Mentarang National Park. It covers an area of 38,973.56 km2, and had a population of 62,423 at the 2010 Census and 82,510 at the 2020 Census; the official estimate as at mid 2024 was 87,582. It is the regency with the largest area in the province, as well as the least densely populated. Other than that, Malinau is the only regency in North Kalimantan that is predominantly Protestant and the second most-developed region in North Kalimantan after Tarakan in terms of Human Development Index.
History
was originally a residential area inhabited by the Tidung ethnic group. Based on information from Tidung community leaders, the name Malinau originated when the Dutch settled an area formerly known as Selamban. At the time Selamban was inhabited by the Tidung Tribe, while across the Kabiran river the village Pelita Canaan was inhabited by the Dayak Abai tribe. When the Dutch arrived in Selamban they met a group of Abai who were harvesting sago from the sago palm, and asked the name of the river that ran between the two villages. The Abai did not understand the questions, and assumed the Dutch wanted to know what they were working on. One of the Abai said "Mal Inau" which means harvesting sago in the local Abai language; "mal" meaning making, while "inau" means tree. Thus the name Malinau was born. A map of the area made during the colonial period called the local river "the Malinau", and the area has been known as Malinau since.As people migrated into Selamban, it eventually grew much larger and became a town, renamed Malinau. When Bulungan Regency was divided on 4 October 1999, Malinau became the administrative centre of the newly formed Malinau Regency. In December 2012, Malinau Regency became part of the new province of North Kalimantan.
Geography
Malinau borders Nunukan Regency in the north, Tana Tidung, Bulungan, and Berau regencies in the east, East Kutai, Kutai Kartanegara, and West Kutai regencies in the south, and the Malaysian state of Sabah in the west. From its 38,973.56 square kilometres of area, Kayan Mentarang National Park consists of 24.88% of the total area of the regency. Other than that, another 16.97% of the regency is protected forest, and 49.69% is production forest. Altitude in Malinau varies between altitude of 0 to 2,000 metres above sea level with slope between 0% to 40%. Human settlement and ricefields are mostly found across the regency with a gradient of 3% to 15%. The regency is considered located at a relatively high altitude compared to its neighbouring regions.Soil composition in the region is mostly ultisol, inceptisol, entisol, and podzol and most of them are of old formation. The majority of soil composition in the region is considered infertile and unsuitable for large-scale farming. However, there is also a significant area dominated by alluvium soil which is mostly found at lower altitudes between 15 and 25 metres above sea level.
As with most region in Indonesia, the climate is tropical with high humidity. Annual rainfall is between 2,500 and more than 4,000 millimeters. Average temperature sits on 26 Celsius with slight variation, between 5 and 7 degrees, between day and night temperature. The coldest period is between November and January while highest average temperature is on April.
Governance
Administrative districts
As at the 2010 Census, the regency was divided into twelve districts, districts, but three additional districts were subsequently created by splitting off from existing districts. The fifteen districts are tabulated below with their areas and their populations at the 2010 Census and the 2020 Census, together with the official estimates as at mid 2024. The table includes the locations of the district administrative centres, the number of villages in each district, and its post code.| Kode Wilayah | Name of District | Area in km2 | Pop'n Census 2010 | Pop'n Census 2020 | Pop'n Estimate mid 2024 | Admin centre | No. of villages | Post code |
| 65.02.09 | Sungai Boh | 2,801.51 | 2,148 | 2,357 | 2,539 | Mahak Baru | 6 | 77574 |
| 65.02.10 | Kayan Selatan | 2,471.50 | 1,711 | 1,982 | 1,995 | Long Ampung | 5 | 77573 |
| 65.02.05 | Kayan Hulu | 735.40 | 2,535 | 2,432 | 2,502 | Long Nawang | 5 | 77572 |
| 65.02.04 | Kayan Hilir | 11,863.19 | 1,352 | 1,484 | 1,600 | Data Dian | 5 | 77571 |
| 65.02.03 | Pujungan | 6,515.59 | 1,800 | 1,750 | 2,000 | Long Pujungan | 9 | 77563 |
| 65.02.11 | Bahau Hulu | 3,103.38 | 1,460 | 1,406 | 1,445 | Long Alango | 6 | 77562 |
| 65.02.15 | Sungai Tubu | 2,243.78 | 875 | 1,005 | Long Pada | 5 | 77556 | |
| 65.02.14 | Malinau Selatan Hulu | 2,171.21 | 2,452 | 2,823 | Metut | 8 | 77553 | |
| 65.02.06 | Malinau Selatan | 1,154.79 | 7,999 | 5,479 | 5,609 | Long Loreh | 9 | 77551 |
| 65.02.13 | Malinau Selatan Hilir | 572.20 | 2,872 | 3,106 | Setarap | 8 | 77552 | |
| 65.02.01 | Mentarang | 535.15 | 5,291 | 5,909 | 5,794 | Pulau Sapi | 9 | 77555 |
| 65.02.12 | Mentarang Hulu | 2,807.20 | 756 | 971 | 1,913 | Long Berang | 7 | 77155 |
| 65.02.07 | Malinau Utara | 1,091.18 | 10,124 | 14,671 | 16,066 | Malinau Seberang | 12 | 77557 |
| 65.02.08 | Malinau Barat | 765.41 | 8,157 | 11,245 | 11,960 | Tanjung Lapang | 9 | 77554 |
| 65.02.02 | Malinau Kota | 142.07 | 12,459 | 26,625 | 27,225 | Malinau Kota | 6 | 77550 |
| Totals | 38,973.56 | 62,580 | 82,510 | 87,582 | Malinau Kota | 109 | - |
Note: the 2010 populations of these three new districts are included in the figures for the districts from which they were cut out.
Local government
Malinau Regency is a second-level administrative division equivalent to city. As a regency, it is headed by a regent who is elected democratically. Meanwhile, head of districts are appointed directly by the regent with the recommendation of the regency secretary. Executive power lies with the regent and vice regent, while legislative function is exercised by the regency's parliament.Politics
Malinau Regency is part of the 3rd North Kalimantan electoral district, which has 4 out of 35 representatives in the provincial parliament. On local level, the regency is divided into two electoral districts that in total have 20 representatives. Last election was in 2019 and the next one would be in 2024.Economy
Economy of the regency is dominated by mining industry, which consist of 48.29% of its gross regional product. Second largest sector is construction with figure of 17.19%, followed by agriculture with 11.40%, and trade with 4.39%. However, mining especially coal has been declining in terms of value, shown by decrease of 4.61% on 2020 and mining in general with figure of decrease 3.55% on the same year. On the same year, the economic growth in the regency reached decrease of 0.62%. The fastest growing sector in 2020 was electricity and gas with 13.61%, followed by healthcare and social sector with 10.66% increase.In 2020, the regency produces total of 985 tons of various vegetables and 3,209 tons of various fruits. The most populous livestock in the regency is chicken with more than 700,000 followed by pig with population of 12,015, ducks with population of 3,509, and cattle with population of 1,940.
The regency is visited by 14,555 domestic tourists and 39 foreign tourists in 2020. 58% of tourist destination is nature due to presence of national park. There are 17 registered hotels in the regency and 17 registered restaurants. Number of restaurants including unregistered one could be higher. Service sector has been growing helped with regency government aiming at reducing dependency on mining and resource extraction and promoting tourism & restaurant sector. However, on late 2020 five hotels closed operation because of COVID-19 pandemic.
Poverty rate in 2020 was 6.63%.