View source for Sebatik Island

{{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|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            = [[Malaysia]]
| country_admin_divisions_title = [[States and federal territories of Malaysia|State]]
| country_admin_divisions = [[Sabah]]
| country_admin_divisions_title_1 = [[Divisions of Malaysia|Division]]
| country_admin_divisions_1 = [[Tawau Division]]
| country1           = [[Indonesia]]
| country1_admin_divisions_title = [[Provinces of Indonesia|Province]]
| country1_admin_divisions = [[North Kalimantan]]
| country1_admin_divisions_title_1 = [[List of regencies and cities of Indonesia|Regency]]
| country1_admin_divisions_1 = [[Nunukan Regency]]
| population         = 25,000 (Malaysian side)<br/>47,571 (Indonesian side)<ref name=Sebatikstudy>[http://www.etawau.com/HTML/SebatikIsland.htm 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''.] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081002173308/http://www.etawau.com/HTML/SebatikIsland.htm |date=2 October 2008 }}</ref>
}}
[[File:Stamps of Indonesia, 107-08.jpg|thumb|250px|left|2008 Indonesian stamp featuring Sebatik Island]]

'''Sebatik Island''' ([[Indonesian language|Indonesian]]/[[Malay language|Malay]]: ''Pulau Sebatik'') is an island off the eastern coast of [[Borneo]], [[Divided island|split]] between [[Indonesia]] and [[Malaysia]]. It is one of the 92 officially listed [[List of outlying islands of Indonesia|outlying islands of Indonesia]].

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>Sovereignty over Pulau Ligitan and Pulau Sipadan (Indonesia/Malaysia), DA Colson - American Journal of International Law, 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'').

Sebatik Malaysia has a population of approximately 25,000; there were 47,571 people in Sebatik Indonesia as of the 2020 Census.<ref name=Sebatikstudy/><ref>Badan Pusat Statistik, Jakarta, 2021.</ref>

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">[http://geo-boundaries.blogspot.com/2005/04/ambalat-spatial-perspective1.html Ambalat: A Spatial Perspective, by I. Made Andi Arsana of The School of Surveying and Spatial Information Systems, The University of New South Wales, 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 [[Ligitan and Sipadan dispute|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 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>[http://pixelscribbles.com/journal/2005/08/sebatik-island.html Blog 2005]</ref>

Sebatik Island was one of the places in which heavy fighting took place between Indonesian troops and Malaysian troops during the 1963 [[Indonesia–Malaysia confrontation]].

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 Division|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>

==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>[https://www.worldofbuzz.com/this-house-built-on-the-middle-of-a-border-is-half-malaysian-and-half-indonesian/ This House Built On the Middle of a Border Is Half Malaysian and Half Indonesian!], 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]]