Tarakan
Tarakan is an island and co-extensively the sole city within the Indonesian province of North Kalimantan. The island city is the largest urban area in North Kalimantan population-wise and is located in northern Borneo, midway along the coast of the province. The city boundaries are co-extensive with the island. Once a major oil-producing region during the colonial period, Tarakan had great strategic importance during the Pacific War and was among the first Japanese targets early in the conflict. It is the sole city within the Indonesian province of North Kalimantan. According to Statistics Indonesia, the city had a population of 193,370 at the 2010 Census and 242,786 inhabitants at the 2020 Census; the official estimate as at mid 2024 was 255,310.
Geography
The city is located on Tarakan island, which composed of of land. 27.5% of the city is composed of podzol soil and 57.63% latosol soil. The city is located between above sea level.History
Etymology
According to legends, native Tidungs established their kingdom in Tarakan around 1076 CE. After moving their capital several times over the centuries, in 1571 CE they settled their kingdom on the eastern coast of Tarakan, apparently already under the influence of Islam. The name Tarakan comes from the Tidung language: tarak and ngakan ; thus Tarakan was originally a meeting place for sailors and traders to eat, rest and trade their catch in the Tidung area.Petroleum
explorers noted oil seepages in 1863. In 1905, an oil concession was granted to Koninklijke Nederlandsche Petroleum Maatschappij' a predecessor to Royal Dutch Shell. One year later oil production began with a yield of over 57,928 barrels of oil per year. Production continued to increase and in the 1920s Tarakan yielded over five million barrels a year, a third of the total oil production in the whole of the Dutch East Indies.The oil produced here had a paraffin base instead of the usual asphalt base. Tarakan oil fields produced a light, sour crude oil with an unusually low pour point. By 1940, the island had an oil refinery with four petroleum loading piers, and was one of the five largest petroleum processing centers in the East Indies.
World War II
Japanese oil-fields in Sakhalin and Formosa provided only about ten percent of the petroleum needed to sustain Japanese industry through the mid-20th century. Reserves of California crude oil at Japanese refineries would have been exhausted in less than two years at the rate of consumption when the United States terminated exports to Japan on 26 July 1941. Japan initiated hostilities against the United States and the United Kingdom four months later in December 1941 in preparation for seizing alternative sources of petroleum in the East Indies. Japan declared war on the Netherlands East Indies on 10 January 1942; and Japanese troops landed on Tarakan the following day. The Netherlands had declared war on Japan a month earlier. Dutch forces sabotaged the Tarakan oil-fieldand refinery prior to surrender.
Japan had captured the Miri oil-field in Sarawak in December 1941, and captured oil-fields and refineries at Balikpapan in Dutch Borneo in January 1942, Sumatra in February, and Java in March. Oil technicians accompanied the invading Japanese troops to maintain production at captured facilities. A team of one thousand additional petroleum engineers and technicians sailed from Japan aboard the Taiyo Maru, but nearly 800 drowned when USS Grenadier sunk the Taiyo Maru southwest of Kyushu on 8 May 1942. Despite this loss, Tarakan crude oil became the primary feedstock for Japanese diesel fuel in 1942, while reserve supplies of California crude oil remained the primary feedstock for Japanese gasoline and residual fuels until 1943.
Tarakan became a Japanese strategic air-base from which further attacks could be launched following the Dutch surrender. Tarakan's inhabitants suffered under Japan's occupation. The large number of Japanese troops stationed on the island led to food-shortages and many civilians suffered from malnutrition. During the occupation, the Japanese transported some 600 labourers to Tarakan from Java. The Japanese also forced an estimated 300 Javanese women to work as "comfort women".
Tarakan oil-field production reached 350,000 barrels per month by early 1944, but Japan no longer had enough oil tankers to transport this volume to Japanese refineries. Without adequate supplies of refined residual fuel-oil for the forthcoming Battle of the Philippine Sea, Japanese aircraft-carriers refueled with unrefined Tarakan crude-oil in June 1944. The undesalted crude-oil damaged boiler tubes, and the unremoved naphtha fraction volatilized to form explosive atmospheres, contributing to the loss of the aircraft carriers Taihō, Shōkaku, and Hiyō.
The last Japanese tanker left Tarakan in July 1944; Allied bombing-raids damaged the oil-field facilities later that year; and the veteran Australian 26th Brigade Group ended the Japanese occupation of the area with the second Battle of Tarakan.
Independence Era
Following the Indonesian revolution in the late 1940s, Tarakan became part of the new republic. It was administered as a district following a Presidential Decree Number 22, 1963. In 1981, Tarakan was granted a city charter, at that time one of four cities in East Kalimantan, along with Samarinda, Balikpapan and Bontang in accordance with Government Law Number 47, 1981.The city witnessed the Tarakan riot in 2010 following a clash between Buginese migrants from neighboring Sulawesi island and the Tidung people. The two groups later agreed to a peace deal, mediated by local police and the governor of then-East Kalimantan, Awang Faroek Ishak. After North Kalimantan was established as a province in 2012, Tarakan became the sole city within the new province. In 2015, the city witnessed another riot, this time related to the 2015 North Kalimantan gubernatorial election between the candidates' supporters.
Demographics
Tarakan had a population of 193,370 at the 2010 Census, but the 2020 Census this had grown to 242,786, and the official estimate as at mid 2024 was 255,310. Indigenous residents include the Tidung, a subgroup of the Dayak people. The city also has a multi-ethnic population from other parts of Indonesia, such as Bugis, Javanese, and Chinese Indonesians. Apart from that, there are also Tausug whose origins are from the Sulu Islands, as well as Malays, and Mandarese. 85% of the city's population is Muslim, around 10% are Christian, 1.3% Hindu, 0.04% Buddhist, and 0.03% Confucianist.Population growth averaged 2.23% per year in the decade 2010–2020. The city population has increased rapidly which is thought to be caused by high urbanization rate with people moving in from neighbouring regions. The sex ratio as of 2020 was 100:109—100 females for every 109 males. The city is dominated by a young and reproductive age population above the age of 15, which accounts around 64.53% of city's population. Life expectancy in the city as of 2020 was 74 years, which is considerably higher than both the provincial and national average; it has been increasing consistently.
Infrastructure
Health
The island's main healthcare infrastructure consists of four hospitals, eight puskesmas, and 103 healthcare centers. In addition, there are seven mobile puskesmas, the biggest being Tarakan Regional Hospital, owned by the city government, located in Central Tarakan district. It is also the only international-class hospital in the province and is the province's referral hospital.There is also a navy hospital, owned by the Indonesian Navy, located in West Tarakan district.
Education
There are 27 kindergartens, 65 elementary schools, 21 junior high schools and 12 senior high schools. There are also five institutions of higher education in the city, the most notable being Borneo Tarakan University, which is also the only public university in the city and the province.There are also seven vocational high schools. School participation rate is around 99% as of 2020.
Places of worship
There are 235 mosques, 93 churches, four Chinese Buddhist temples, and one Hindu temple. One of the biggest mosques, Al-Ma'arif Grand Mosque, was constructed in 1961 and is located in the Central Tarakan district. The only Hindu temple in the city, Pura Giri Jagat Nata, was inaugurated on 1994, and is used mostly by Balinese migrants. The Tarakan Islamic Center functions not only as a mosque but is also used for Islamic learning and various Islamic events. A popular local tourist spot, it was inaugurated in 2012.Communication
The city has access to 4G and other telecommunication services. As with most Indonesian cities, the only fiber optic service provider in the city is IndiHome, which is state-owned under Telkomsel. The city has fiber optic cables connected to Balikpapan and Samarinda, which also serve other regencies of North Kalimantan province.Transportation
Several ferries serve Tarakan, linking it to other cities of eastern Borneo: Nunukan in North Kalimantan, Berau and Balikpapan in East Kalimantan, and Tawau in Sabah. The port also provides links to cities on other Indonesian islands—Sulawesi and Java.Tarakan has an airport, Juwata International Airport, located from the city center. The airport handles domestic flight routes to Balikpapan, Jakarta, Surabaya, Denpasar and Makassar, as well as an international route to Tawau, Malaysia. On 2016, the airport terminal was expanded to provide for more than 2,000 passengers per day. There are of road in the city of which have been paved with asphalt. The city has a bus rapid transit system which connects the entire city. In addition, there are angkots and online motorcycle taxi services provided by firms like Gojek and Grab, and conventional taxis.
There is a plan to build a bridge connecting the island to mainland Kalimantan, which is currently delayed because of the government refocusing fund allocations from development and infrastructure to COVID-19 pandemic mitigation.