Penyengat Island ( id, Pulau Penyengat, wasp island) is an island in

Tanjung Pinang 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 ...

, capital of the

Riau Islands The Riau Islands ( id, Kepulauan Riau) is a province of Indonesia. It comprises a total of 1,796 islands scattered between Sumatra, Malay Peninsula, and Borneo including the Riau Archipelago. Situated on one of the world's busiest shipping la ...

, Indonesia. It lies just off

Bintan Island Bintan Island or ''Negeri Segantang Lada'' is an island in the Riau archipelago of Indonesia. It is part of the Riau Islands province, the capital of which, Tanjung Pinang, lies in the island's south and is the island's main community. Bintan's l ...

, close to the downtown of Tanjung Pinang. The island has historical significance, dating back to the 18th Century, when it was established as a fort as part of the Sultanate of

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 ...

Riau Riau is a province of Indonesia. It is located on the central eastern coast of Sumatra along the Strait of Malacca. The province shares land borders with North Sumatra to the northwest, West Sumatra to the west, and Jambi to the south. Accord ...

by the

Bugis people The Bugis people (pronounced ), also known as Buginese, are an ethnicity—the most numerous of the three major linguistic and ethnic groups of South Sulawesi (the others being Makassar and Toraja), in the south-western province of Sulawesi, ...

. The island contains the tomb of

Raja Ali Haji Raja Ali Haji bin Raja Haji Ahmad (1808–1873) was a 19th-century Bugis-Malay historian, poet and scholar. He was elevated to the status of National Hero of Indonesia in 2004. Haji has been described as one of the most important Malay write ...

, a 19th-century Bugis historian and scholar. It is a small island that is approximately 6 km from the downtown of Tanjung Pinang, Riau Islands province. This island measures approximately 2500 meters x 750 meters, and is approximately 35 km from the island of Batam. This island can be reached by using a boat or better known by pompong boat. By using pompong boat, it takes approximately 15 minutes drive. Penyengat Island is a tourist attraction in Riau Islands. A few landmarks that may be visited are the Sultan Riau Great Mosque that is made from egg whites, the tombs of the Kings, the tomb of the national hero Raja Ali Haji, the Palace complex and blockhouse Office at Kursi Hill. Penyengat island is the perfect island to visit to explore the heritage of Malay culture. During the reign of Sultan Riau, this island was used as headquarters ground in Malay land. It can be seen from the many historical relics of the past. Aside from being the headquarters of the government, the island was also a fortress forefront in retaliating the Dutch attack. The evidence from the center of defense during the war is can be seen from the presence of a castle on the hill. The hill is known as Bukit Kursi. As a center of defense, it has some cannons that face the sea. The cannons are very strategically located, which can be used at any time when an enemy approaches.

References

Riau Archipelago Landforms of the Riau Islands Islands of Sumatra {{RiauIslands-geo-stub