Lepar (
Indonesian: ''Pulau Lepar'') is an island in
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 Guine ...
, located off the southeastern coast of
Bangka. Administratively part of
South Bangka in
Bangka Belitung province, it is the third-largest island in the province after its much larger namesakes
Bangka and
Belitung
Belitung ( Belitung Malay: ''Belitong'', formerly Billiton) is an island on the east coast of Sumatra, Indonesia in the Java Sea. It covers , and had a population of 309,097 at the 2020 Census. Administratively, it forms two regencies ( Beli ...
, with an area of 169 square km. Lepar sits in the
Gaspar Strait which separates the two larger islands. It stretches about 22 km east–west and 17 km north–south, with the towns of Tanjunglabu, Tanjungsangkar and Penutuk being the main population centers. It is governed as its own district of Lepar Pongok, which used to include a nearby, medium-sized island of
Pongok until 2012 when it separated as its own district of Pongok Islands.
Geography
The island is largely flat with no prominent elevations, with the southeastern side having the steepest slopes.
It is separated by
Bangka by a strait known as the Lepar Strait. The island is surrounded by about a dozen tiny islands, some of which are uninhabited.
Four small rivers flow in the island, named Pangku, Elang, Bunut and Bayan.
Administrative divisions
Lepar is divided into 4 villages (''desa''), which also technically include the smaller islands surrounding Lepar:
These villages are further subdivided into multiple orchards (''dusun''), totaling 12 throughout the district, including settlements of Lepar.
Economy and facilities
Agriculture and fisheries dominate the district's economy, employing about 2,650 and 1,150 people respectively in 2016. Agricultural commodities include
palm oil,
rubber
Rubber, also called India rubber, latex, Amazonian rubber, ''caucho'', or ''caoutchouc'', as initially produced, consists of polymers of the organic compound isoprene, with minor impurities of other organic compounds. Thailand, Malaysia, an ...
and
pepper
Pepper or peppers may refer to:
Food and spice
* Piperaceae or the pepper family, a large family of flowering plant
** Black pepper
* ''Capsicum'' or pepper, a genus of flowering plants in the nightshade family Solanaceae
** Bell pepper
** Chili ...
. A palm oil plantation company holds usage rights to just over half the island, with a concession of 8,500 hectares.
Unconventional
tin
Tin is a chemical element with the symbol Sn (from la, stannum) and atomic number 50. Tin is a silvery-coloured metal.
Tin is soft enough to be cut with little force and a bar of tin can be bent by hand with little effort. When bent, t ...
mining also employs 200.
Public schools are present, with 5 elementary schools (''SD''), 3 junior high schools (''SMP'') and a senior high school (''SMA'') alongside a private Islamic school.
References
{{Reflist
Bangka Belitung Islands
Landforms of the Bangka Belitung Islands