Galang (Indonesian: Pulau Galang) is an

island An island (or isle) is an isolated piece of habitat that is surrounded by a dramatically different habitat, such as water. Very small islands such as emergent land features on atolls can be called islets, skerries, cays or keys. An island ...

of 80 km² located 25 mi (40 km) southeast of

Batam Batam is the largest city in the province of Riau Islands, Indonesia. The city administrative area covers three main islands of Batam, Rempang, and Galang (collectively called Barelang), as well as several small islands. Batam Island is the cor ...

, belonging to a group of three islands called Barelang (an abbreviation of

Rempang Rempang is an island, located 2.5 km South-East of Batam, 165.83 km2.Bida Website

-Galang). Part of the

Riau Archipelago The Riau Archipelago is a ''geographic'' term (as opposed to administrative region) for the core group of islands within the Riau Islands Province in Indonesia, and located south of Singapore and east of Riau on Sumatra. Before the province of Ri ...

, Indonesia, Galang is located just south of

and

Rempang Rempang is an island, located 2.5 km South-East of Batam, 165.83 km2.Bida Website

which themselves are just south of

Singapore Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, borde ...

and

Johor Johor (; ), also spelled as Johore, is a States and federal territories of Malaysia, state of Malaysia in the south of the Malay Peninsula. Johor has land borders with the Malaysian states of Pahang to the north and Malacca and Negeri Sembilan ...

. Administratively, all three islands form part of the city of Batam; the nearest other city to Galang is

Tanjungpinang Tanjungpinang, also written as Tanjung Pinang, is the capital city of the Indonesian province of Riau Islands. It covers a land area of 144.56 km2, mainly on the southern Bintan Island, as well as other smaller islands such as Dompak Island ...

Bintan Bintan Regency (formerly Riau Islands Regency; id, Kabupaten Kepulauan Riau) is an administrative area in the Riau Islands Province of Indonesia. Bintan Regency includes all of Bintan Island (except for the city of Tanjung Pinang which is sep ...

island, about a 30-minute boat ride away. The island is connected by the

Barelang Bridge The Barelang Bridge ( Jawi:جمبتن باريلڠ ; ; id, Jembatan Barelang) is a chain of 6 bridges of various types that connect the islands of Batam, Rempang, and Galang, Riau Islands built in 1997. ''Barelang'' also refers to the islands ...

Rempang Rempang is an island, located 2.5 km South-East of Batam, 165.83 km2.Bida Website

and

. There was a

UNHCR The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) is a United Nations agency mandated to aid and protect refugees, forcibly displaced communities, and stateless people, and to assist in their voluntary repatriation, local integrati ...

administration office established in Galang to run the

Galang Refugee Camp Galang Refugee Camp accommodated Indochinese refugees from 1979 to 1996 on Galang Island in the Riau Islands of Indonesia. It is estimated that around 250,000 refugees passed through Galang during this period. Organization Galang camp had two ...

during the 1979-1996 period. Many

Vietnamese boat people Vietnamese boat people ( vi, Thuyền nhân Việt Nam), also known simply as boat people, refers to the refugees who fled Vietnam by boat and ship following the end of the Vietnam War in 1975. This migration and humanitarian crisis was at its h ...

and

asylum seeker An asylum seeker is a person who leaves their country of residence, enters another country and applies for asylum (i.e., international protection) in that other country. An asylum seeker is an immigrant who has been forcibly displaced and m ...

s were temporarily accommodated in the Galang camp during the determination of their

refugee A refugee, conventionally speaking, is a displaced person who has crossed national borders and who cannot or is unwilling to return home due to well-founded fear of persecution.

status and their subsequent resettlement in the United States, Australia, and some European countries. Many Vietnamese from their new resettled countries have come back to visit Galang. Today, Galang Island (and the former refugee area known as ''Sinam Camp'') is managed by Batam Industrial Development Authority (BIDA). In 1992 according to Indonesian Presidential Decree No. 28/1992, the expanded BIDA Working Area includes Rempang Island, Galang Island and several small nearby islands. BIDA built 6 bridges which were inaugurated on 25 January 1998. They provide a land connection between Batam Island - Tonton Island - Nipah Island - Setoko Island - Rempang Island - Galang Island - Galang Baru (New Galang) Island in order to develop all these islands.Tunawisma
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References

External links

Galang and Batam Island Info guide
Batam Riau Archipelago Landforms of the Riau Islands Islands of Sumatra Islands of the South China Sea {{RiauIslands-geo-stub

See also

References

External links