Qualla: Bangka Island (North Sulawesi)

Bangka Island (North Sulawesi): Introduction

Thu, 09 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit MaRo-Visions, CC BY-SA 4.0. Bangka Island is 48 square kilometers of coconut groves, mangroves, and coral reef, floating between the Celebes Sea and the Molucca Sea off the northeastern tip of Sulawesi. It has three villages, about 2,400 residents, five dive resorts, and a legal history that would make a courtroom drama envious. For over a decade, the people of Bangka fought a Hong Kong-backed mining company through Indonesian courts and won repeatedly, establishing a precedent for small-island environmental protection that resonated far beyond North Sulawesi.

Image: MaRo-Visions | CC BY-SA 4.0

Bangka Island (North Sulawesi): Reef and Forest

Thu, 09 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Lakshmi Sawitri, CC BY 2.0. The island's southwest coast is where beauty concentrates. Sandy beaches give way to coral walls frequented by Napoleon wrasse, frogfish, pygmy seahorses, and nudibranchs in colors that seem designed to sell dive vacations. Dugongs, the gentle marine mammals that inspired mermaid...

Image: Lakshmi Sawitri | CC BY 2.0

Bangka Island (North Sulawesi): Three Villages, Two Livelihoods

Thu, 09 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit tomfreakz from Bandung, Indonesia, CC BY-SA 2.0. Lihunu is the largest village with roughly 1,000 residents, followed by Kahuku and the smaller Libas. Most islanders belong to the Sangihe-Siao ethnic group, and their economy divides along a familiar island axis: fishermen and farmers. Coconuts, copra, cloves, maize, and vegetab...

Image: tomfreakz from Bandung, Indonesia | CC BY-SA 2.0

Bangka Island (North Sulawesi): The Fight for Bangka

Thu, 09 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Lakshmi Sawitri, CC BY 2.0. In 2008, the Regent of North Minahasa issued a permit to PT Mikgro Metal Perdana, a subsidiary of Hong Kong-based Aempire Resource Group, to explore for iron ore on Bangka. The concession covered 2,000 hectares, nearly half the island. Residents and dive operators saw the threat ...

Image: Lakshmi Sawitri | CC BY 2.0

Bangka Island (North Sulawesi): A Rock Band and a Corrupt Minister

Thu, 09 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Marwan Mohamad, CC BY-SA 4.0. The campaign to save Bangka drew unlikely allies. Slank, one of Indonesia's most popular rock bands, publicly supported the islanders, bringing national media attention to a dispute that might otherwise have remained a provincial story. Divers circulated underwater footage showin...

Image: Marwan Mohamad | CC BY-SA 4.0

Bangka Island (North Sulawesi): What Was Saved

Thu, 09 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Lakshmi Sawitri, CC BY 2.0. The December 2018 meeting between multiple government ministries formally rejected the company's final attempt to reactivate its permits. Bangka's reefs remain. Its mangroves, reduced to 1.98 percent of the island's surface even before the mining threat, remain fragile but intact...

Image: Lakshmi Sawitri | CC BY 2.0