The Lingga Regency ( id, Kabupaten Lingga) is a group of islands 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 Gui ...

, located 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, bor ...

, along both sides of the

equator The equator is a circle of latitude, about in circumference, that divides Earth into the Northern and Southern hemispheres. It is an imaginary line located at 0 degrees latitude, halfway between the North and South poles. The term can also ...

, off the eastern coast of

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. Accordi ...

Province on

Sumatra Sumatra is one of the Sunda Islands of western Indonesia. It is the largest island that is fully within Indonesian territory, as well as the sixth-largest island in the world at 473,481 km2 (182,812 mi.2), not including adjacent i ...

island. They are south of the populated

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 ...

, known for the industrial island 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 c ...

and the tourist-frequented island of

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 ...

, although the Lingga Islands themselves are rarely visited due to the infrequent local transportation. The

goes through the northern tip of

Lingga Island Lingga Island is the largest and most populated of the Lingga Islands, Indonesia. It has an area of . It is located south of the Riau Islands off the east coast of Sumatra Sumatra is one of the Sunda Islands of western Indonesia. It is t ...

, the main island in the archipelago. Administratively they form a

Regency A regent (from Latin : ruling, governing) is a person appointed to govern a state '' pro tempore'' (Latin: 'for the time being') because the monarch is a minor, absent, incapacitated or unable to discharge the powers and duties of the monarchy ...

of the

Riau Islands Province 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 ...

with an area of 2,266.77 km² and a population of 86,244 people at the 2010 census and 98,633 at the 2020 census.Badan Pusat Statistik, Jakarta, 2021. The

regency seat A regency seat ( id, Ibu kota kabupaten) is an capital or seat of government of a regency in Indonesia. It is roughly equivalent of county seat in the United States or county town in the United Kingdom. Legally, regency seats are not administrati ...

lies at Daik on Lingga Island. The population are mainly Malay,

Bugis 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 ...

and Chinese (predominantly

Hakka The Hakka (), sometimes also referred to as Hakka Han, or Hakka Chinese, or Hakkas are a Han Chinese subgroup whose ancestral homes are chiefly in the Hakka-speaking provincial areas of Guangdong, Fujian, Jiangxi, Guangxi, Sichuan, Hunan, Zhej ...

, Teochew and

Hokkien The Hokkien () variety of Chinese is a Southern Min language native to and originating from the Minnan region, where it is widely spoken in the south-eastern part of Fujian in southeastern mainland China. It is one of the national languages ...

Name

Lingga derives its name from the profile of which is shaped like the Hindu

lingam A lingam ( sa, लिङ्ग , lit. "sign, symbol or mark"), sometimes referred to as linga or Shiva linga, is an abstract or aniconic representation of the Hindu god Shiva in Shaivism. It is typically the primary '' murti'' or devoti ...

, often interpreted as a phallic symbol. This mountain has three sharp teeth as peak, one of them seems to have broken off at its base, and it was immortalised by Malay poets as the symbol of durability. The poem is Pulau Pandan jauh ke tengah,
Gunung Daik bercabang tiga,
Hancur badan dikandung tanah,
Budi yang baik dikenang juga. Nearby are the remains of the fort of Benteng Bukit Cening, overlooking the sea. The cannons are still lined up, as if they were awaiting another enemy attack.

Islands

By size and population the most important islands in the archipelago are Lingga and

Singkep Singkep is an island in the Lingga Archipelago in Indonesia. Its area is . It is separated from the east coast of Sumatra by the Berhala Strait. It is surrounded by islands Posik to the west, I. Serak to the SW, I. Lalang to the South, and I. Sela ...

, then Sebangka and Bakung. * Lingga with smaller Pulau Alut. * Pulau Selayar of Riau Islands between Lingga and Singkep. * Singkep with Pulau Posek to the west, Pulau Serak to the southwest, and Pulau Lalang to the south. * Sebangka and Bakung to the northwest of Lingga, with town of Limas, and the islets Senayang, Kapas, Kentar and Mowang. * Pulau Lobam and Cempah to the west of Sebangka. * Temiang and Mesawak in the north.

Administrative districts

At the time of the 2010 census, the regency was divided into five

districts A district is a type of administrative division that, in some countries, is managed by the local government. Across the world, areas known as "districts" vary greatly in size, spanning regions or counties, several municipalities, subdivisions ...

(''kecamatan''), but four additional districts were created in 2012 (Singkep Selatan and Singkep Pesisir from parts of Singkep District, and Selayar and Lingga Timur from parts of Lingga District), another in 2018 (Kepulauan Posek - from part of Singkep Selatan District) and three more in 2019 (Bakung Serumpun, Temiang Pesisir and Katang Bidare - all out of Senayang District). The thirteen districts are tabulated below with their areas and their populations at the 2010 censusBiro Pusat Statistik, Jakarta, 2011. and the 2020 census.Badan Pusat Statistik, Jakarta, 2021. The table also includes the location of the district administrative centres, the number of villages (rural ''desa'' and urban ''kelurahan'') in each district and their post codes. Altogether the archipelago contains 509 islands. Notes: (a) Singkep Barat District comprises 47 islands. (b) The 2010 population of the new Kepulauan Posek District is included with the figure for Singkep Barat District, from which it was cut out in 2018.
(c) Singkep District comprises 32 islands. (d) The 2010 populations of the new Singkep Selatan District and Singkep Pesisir District are included with the figure for Singkep District, from which they were cut out in 2012.
(e) Lingga District comprises 71 islands. (f) The 2010 populations of the new Selayar District and Lingga Timur District are included with the figure for Lingga District, from which they were cut out in 2012.
(g) Lingga Utara District comprises 12 islands. (h) Senayang District (including the three new districts cut from it in 2019) comprises 324 islands.
(i) The 2010 populations of the new Bakung Serumpun District, Tamiang Pesisir District and Katang Bidare District are included with the figure for Senayang District, from which they were cut out in 2019.

Demographics

Religion

Islam is the dominant religion in the Lingga Islands regency, with 91.40% of the total population identifying themselves as Muslim. Other religions are Buddhism, which forms 5.89% of the total population, Christianity, which forms 2.63% of the total population, Hinduism, which forms 0.02% of the total population and Confucianism, which forms 0.03% of the total population.

Transport

Ferry services to the islands from outside the archipelago come from the provincial capital to the north,

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 Islan ...

, including from

. These days the main industry is fishing. There are a number of fine beaches with some coral around the Archipelago but there is very little tourism on account of the poor transport links with the outside world. * Singkep has two ports, Dabo near Dabosingkep and Jago near Sungaibuluh. Service to the port of

Muntok Muntok () or, more commonly, Mentok is a town in the Indonesian province of Bangka-Belitung on the island of Sumatra. The capital of West Bangka Regency (''Bangka Barat''), it is the site of the biggest tin smelter on the world. Mentok refers ...

Bangka Island Bangka is an island lying east of Sumatra, Indonesia. It is administered under the province of the Bangka Belitung Islands, being one of its namesakes alongside the smaller island of Belitung across the Gaspar Strait. The 9th largest island in ...

of Sumatera Selatan ceased operating regularly with the demise of the tin mining industry. However, a high-speed ferry continues to connect Tanjung Pinang to Singkep, from where local boats may be chartered to Lingga. * For Lingga, Daik is the major town and port. It can be reached in a day from Singapore transferring at Tanjung Pinang. Singkep 46 lingga

Lingga Roads

Lingga Roads is an anchorage in the Lingga Islands, south of Lingga Island and northeast of Singkep. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

, Lingga Roads was used as a fleet anchorage by major units of the

Imperial Japanese Navy The Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN; Kyūjitai: Shinjitai: ' 'Navy of the Greater Japanese Empire', or ''Nippon Kaigun'', 'Japanese Navy') was the navy of the Empire of Japan from 1868 to 1945, when it was dissolved following Japan's surrender ...

, in order that these ships be near a source of fuel. It was from Lingga Roads that the main Japanese southern striking force deployed for the

Battle of Leyte Gulf The Battle of Leyte Gulf ( fil, Labanan sa golpo ng Leyte, lit=Battle of Leyte gulf; ) was the largest naval battle of World War II and by some criteria the largest naval battle in history, with over 200,000 naval personnel involved. It was fo ...

References

External links

*
Singkep Community Website

{{coord, 0, 16, S, 104, 29, E, type:isle, display=title Regencies of the Riau Islands Archipelagoes of Indonesia Landforms of the Riau Islands Islands of Sumatra Islands of the South China Sea