{{Short description|Island in Indonesia and Malaysia}} {{Redirect|Sebatik|the state constituency|Sebatik (state constituency)}} {{EngvarB|date=February 2017}} {{Use dmy dates|date=February 2017}} {{Infobox islands | name = Sebatik Island | native_name = Pulau Sebatik | image_name = Sabah Tawau CowieBay Sebatik.jpg | image_caption = Aerial view of the entrance to Cowie Bay. In the background Sebatik Island. In the foreground, next to the sea, Tawau Town. Taken from an aeroplane, heading west. | map_image = Sebatik Island.png | map_caption = Map showing Sebatik Island and the Indonesia–Malaysia border that cuts across it. | coordinates = {{coord|4|10|02|N|117|47|02|E|display=inline,title}} | location = Celebes Sea | archipelago = Malay Archipelago | area_km2 = 452.2 | area_footnotes = <ref name=Earthwatch>{{cite web |url=http://islands.unep.ch/IHC.htm |work=UN System-wide Earthwatch Web Site |title=Island Directory}}</ref><ref name=Colson>''Sovereignty over Pulau Ligitan and Pulau Sipadan (Indonesia/Malaysia)'', DA Colson - American Journal of International Law, 2003]</ref> | country = {{flag|Malaysia}} | country_admin_divisions_title = State | country_admin_divisions = {{flag|Sabah}} | country_admin_divisions_title_1 = Division | country_admin_divisions_1 = Tawau | country_admin_divisions_title_2 = District | country_admin_divisions_2 = Tawau | country1 = {{flag|Indonesia}} | country1_admin_divisions_title = Province | country1_admin_divisions = {{flag|North Kalimantan}} | country1_admin_divisions_title_1 = Regency | country1_admin_divisions_1 = Nunukan | country1_admin_divisions_title_2 = District | country1_admin_divisions_2 = Central Sebatik,<br />East Sebatik,<br />North Sebatik,<br />Sebatik,<br />West Sebatik
| population = 25,000 (Malaysian side)<br/>47,571 (Indonesian side)<ref name=Sebatikstudy>{{Cite web|url=http://www.etawau.com/HTML/SebatikIsland.htm|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20081002173308/http://www.etawau.com/HTML/SebatikIsland.htm|url-status=dead|title=Tawu City Website, article: ''Universiti Malaysia Sabah will set up a base station at Sebatik Island to facilitate studies on sea mammals in the surrounding waters here''.|archivedate=2 October 2008}}</ref> |languages = {{hlist|Indonesian|Malay|Nunukan Tidung|Buginese|Javanese|Buton<ref>Puryanti, Lina and Husain, Sarkawi B. (2011) "A people-state negotiation in a borderland; A case study of the Indonesia-Malaysia frontier in Sebatik Island," Wacana, Journal of the Humanities of Indonesia: Vol. 13: No. 1, Article 5. DOI: 10.17510/wjhi.v13i1.11 Available at: [https://scholarhub.ui.ac.id/wacana/vol13/iss1/5]</ref>}} | ethnic_groups = {{hlist|Bugis|Javanese|Tidung<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://eajournals.org/ijsar/vol-4-issue-3-june-2018/tidung-people-in-sebatik-island-ethnic-identity-culture-and-religious-life/|title=Tidung People in Sebatik Island: Ethnic Identity, Culture, and Religious Life}}</ref>}} |population_rank = |timezone1 = Malaysian Standard Time/Central Indonesian Time |utc_offset1 = +8}} thumb|250px|left|2008 Indonesian stamp featuring Sebatik Island
'''Sebatik Island''' (Indonesian/Malay: ''Pulau Sebatik'') is an island off the eastern coast of Borneo, split between Indonesia and Malaysia. It is one of the 92 officially listed outlying islands of Indonesia.
==Geography== Sebatik has an area of approximately {{convert|452.2|km2|sqmi}}.<ref name=Earthwatch/><ref name=Colson/> The minimum distance between Sebatik Island and Borneo is about {{convert|1|km}}.<ref>{{cite journal |title=Sovereignty over Pulau Ligitan and Pulau Sipadan (Indonesia/Malaysia) |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/270134009_Sovereignty_over_Pulau_Ligitan_and_Pulau_Sipadan_IndonesiaMalaysia |first=David A. |last=Colson |volume=97 |number=2 |page=398 |doi=10.2307/3100115 |journal=American Journal of International Law |date=April 2003 }}</ref>
Sebatik Island lies between Cowie Bay (also known as ''Teluk Tawau'') to the north and Sibuku Bay (''Teluk Sibuku'') to the south. The town of Tawau, Sabah, is just to the north. The island is bisected at roughly 4° 10' north by the Indonesia–Malaysia border – the northern part belongs to Sabah, Malaysia (''Sebatik Malaysia'') while the southern part belongs to North Kalimantan (previously East Kalimantan), Indonesia (''Sebatik Indonesia'').
The Malaysia side of Sebatik has a population of approximately 25,000; there were 47,571 people in Indonesian side of Sebatik as of the 2020 Census.<ref name=Sebatikstudy/><ref>Badan Pusat Statistik, Jakarta, 2021.</ref>
==History== The demarcated international border between Malaysia and Indonesia stops at the eastern edge of Sebatik Island, so that the ownership of Unarang Rock and the maritime area located to the east of Sebatik is unclear.<ref name="geo-boundaries.blogspot.com">{{cite web |url=https://geo-boundaries.blogspot.com/2005/04/ambalat-spatial-perspective1.html |title=Ambalat: A Spatial Perspective |first=I Made Andi |last=Arsana |work=The School of Surveying and Spatial Information Systems, The University of New South Wales |date=April 9, 2005 }}</ref> This is one of the reasons why the Ambalat region waters and crude oil deposits east of Sebatik Island have been the centre of an active maritime dispute between Indonesia and Malaysia since March 2005. The ambiguity of the border at the eastern edge also caused a dispute over two nearby islands of Sipadan and Ligitan, both south of 4° 10' N but administered by Malaysia. The territorial dispute was resolved by the International Court of Justice in 2002 which awarded the islands to Malaysia.<ref name="geo-boundaries.blogspot.com"/> While there were still outstanding border issues on Sebatik Island that remained unresolved,<ref>{{Cite web |date=2026-01-23 |title=Jupem to issue clarification on claims involving Indonesian villages |url=https://themalaysianreserve.com/2026/01/23/jupem-to-issue-clarification-on-claims-involving-indonesian-villages/ |access-date=2026-01-23 |website=The Malaysian Reserve |language=en-US}}</ref> negotiations from April 2026 formally gave Indonesia 127.3 hectares of land previously alloted to Malaysia following the completion of a bilateral land boundary demarcation.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2026-04-16 |title=Indonesia claims 127.3 hectares on Sebatik Island as theirs following border agreement |url=https://www.thevibes.com/articles/world/121919/indonesia-claims-127.3-hectares-on-sebatik-island-as-theirs-following-border-agreement |access-date=2026-05-20 |website=The Vibes |language=en}}</ref>
While there are border guards on the island, there is no immigration office, no customs house, no barbed-wire fence and no walls demarcating the border. Instead, the only evidence of a border are the concrete piles buried every kilometre from east to west.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://pixelscribbles.com/2005/08/sebatik-island/ |title=Sebatik Island |last=Meadows |first=Heather |date=August 13, 2005 }}</ref>
When the Indonesia–Malaysia confrontation happened between 1963 and 1966, the island was heavily contested between Indonesian troops, and Malaysian and her Commonwealth allies. Naval ships, such as HMS Manxman, were sent to take part in the defence of Malaysian territories and waters.<ref>{{Cite web |date=1963 |title=SINGAPORE: H.M.S.MANXMAN CHRISTMAS HOMECOMING. |url=https://www.britishpathe.com/asset/160250/ |website=British Pathe |quote=H.M.S.MANXMAN returned to Singapore Naval Base from patrols as guardship of Sebatik Island, off Sabah, where she has been engaged in operations against the Indonesians.}}</ref>
The North Borneo Timbers company operated a logging concession on the island until the 1980s and its mostly expatriate employees lived in a self-contained community in Wallace Bay. Sebatik Malaysia is within the administrative division of Tawau. For electoral purposes, Sebatik falls within the parliamentary constituency of Kalabakan and the state assembly district of Sebatik.
Sitangkai Indonesia (at its closest points) is approximately {{convert|175|km}} to Sitangkai, Tawi-Tawi, Philippines, the second-closest point between the two countries after the Miangas island in North Sulawesi.<ref>See distance calculator at www.daftlogic.com</ref>
==Economy== Small holder agriculture on the Indonesian side produces cocoa, which is sold to Malaysia.<ref>{{cite journal |title=Sustainability evaluation of a smallholder cocoa plantation on the Sebatik Island, Indonesia, using a multidimensional scaling approach |url=https://www.jwld.pl/files/2024-01-JWLD-18.pdf |journal=Journal of Water and Land Development |date=March 29, 2024 |first1=Muhamad |last1=Hidayanto |first2=Yossita |last2=Fiana |number=60 (I–III) |pages=167–176 |doi=10.24425/jwld.2024.149118 |access-date=September 12, 2025 }}</ref>
==Attractions== In the village of Sungai Haji Kuning, there is a house known as the "Two Country House Tour" that is divided by the Malaysian-Indonesian border.<ref>{{cite web|date=August 18, 2019 |first=Alief |last=Esmail |title=This House Built On the Middle of a Border Is Half Malaysian and Half Indonesian! |url=https://www.worldofbuzz.com/this-house-built-on-the-middle-of-a-border-is-half-malaysian-and-half-indonesian/ |work=World of Buzz}}</ref> Further along the border, within Pancang as well, a public swimming pool known as "North Sebatik Swimming Pool" bisects the international border.
==See also== {{portal|Indonesia|Malaysia|Islands}} * List of divided islands * List of islands of Malaysia * List of islands of Indonesia * Line house
==References== {{reflist}} {{Commonscat|Sebatik}} {{Islands of Sabah}} {{North Kalimantan}}
Category:Islands of Sabah Category:International islands Category:Islands of Kalimantan Category:Landforms of North Kalimantan Category:Populated places in Indonesia