Sebatik Island, a border island in Southeast Asia located between Indonesia and Malaysia, has once again drawn public attention. Claims circulating on social media about several villages allegedly being “lost” due to changes in national boundaries have sparked widespread discussion and reactions.
The Government of North Kalimantan Province, Indonesia, has confirmed that no villages have disappeared as a result of any boundary changes. Information published on the official website of the Nunukan Regency Government explains that the boundary adjustments were the result of agreements between Indonesia and Malaysia, reached gradually through diplomatic channels and negotiations.
The Head of the North Kalimantan Border Management Agency, Dr. Ferdy Manurun Tanduklangi, S.E., M.Si., emphasized that the impact of the boundary changes was not as dramatic as widely reported.
“There are no villages that have disappeared due to the determination of national boundaries. What has been affected is only parts of village territories, not entire villages as has been widely claimed,” he stated.
Sebatik Island covers an area of approximately 452.2 square kilometers and has long been divided into two administrative sections. The northern part falls under Malaysian administration, while the southern part belongs to Indonesia.
Historical Roots of Sebatik Island’s Division
Drawing on the work of Sahala Fransiskus M and colleagues published in the Cakrawala Akademika Journal, the division of Sebatik Island can be traced back to colonial-era agreements between the Netherlands and the United Kingdom in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. At the time, what is now Indonesia was under Dutch rule, while Malaysia was under British colonial administration.
The basis for this territorial division lies in the Anglo-Dutch Treaty of 1891, signed on 20 June 1891. This treaty established the boundary between British North Borneo (present-day Sabah) and the southern territories of the Dutch East Indies.
Article IV of the treaty stipulated that the boundary line crossing Sebatik Island would follow the latitude of 4°10’ North, effectively dividing the island into two parts.
This agreement was later reinforced by the Anglo-Dutch Agreement of 1915, which set out provisions for the delimitation and demarcation of territorial boundaries. Between 1912 and 1913, the Dutch and British authorities installed 18 boundary pillars on Sebatik Island. These pillars subsequently became the physical basis for the island’s division.
After Indonesia and Malaysia gained independence, this inherited colonial boundary was adopted as the international border. To this day, Sebatik Island remains administratively divided, with the northern portion under Malaysian sovereignty and the southern portion under Indonesian administration.
A Prolonged Dispute and the Latest Agreement
One provision in the agreement stated that the boundary line should follow natural features such as rivers and mountain ridges. This clause later gave rise to differing interpretations.
Indonesia has maintained that the boundary agreed upon by the Netherlands and the United Kingdom was final in nature. Malaysia, however, has argued that the agreement was general in scope and required further clarification through detailed mapping and adjustments based on conditions on the ground.
These differing interpretations led Indonesia and Malaysia to engage in a series of negotiations beginning in the 1970s. After a lengthy process, the two countries agreed to reaffirm the boundary line on Sebatik Island by continuing to use the 4°10’ North latitude as the reference. This process was completed in 2019.
The agreement was subsequently reinforced through a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed in February 2025. Under this arrangement, Indonesia gained rights to approximately 127 hectares of land, while Malaysia obtained 4.9 hectares.
Nevertheless, portions of land owned by local residents were affected, resulting in administrative shifts in several village areas in Nunukan. The Indonesian government has stated that it is working to provide compensation and to guarantee relocation rights for affected residents.
