The Historical Reason Natuna Belongs to Indonesia, Not Malaysia

In recent times, Natuna has always been the center of national and even world attention. The strategic location of Natuna which triggers many foreign elements to want to exploit Natuna's marine wealth, China's frequent claims and provocative maneuvers against Indonesia's sovereignty in Natuna Waters are the reasons why Natuna always grabs the attention of many parties, especially the Indonesian people who are not willing to have their sovereignty disturbed by irresponsible foreign parties. Geographically, Natuna is indeed closer to Malaysia and should be part of the neighboring country. Then, why does Natuna have to be part of Indonesia instead of being part of Malaysia? What is the origin of Natuna's name? This paper will try to answer the questions above with a historical approach.

Natuna is a regency that was officially formed in 1999 through Law Number 53 of 1999. Previously, Natuna was known as Pulau Tujuh, which consisted of Serasan, Midai, West Bunguran, East Bunguran, Jemaja, Siantang, Tambelan Islands, and was part of the Riau Islands Regency of Riau Province. The six islands with the exception of Tambelan Island above are a collection of islands that later became the forerunner of the formation of Natuna Regency in the future. Natuna with all its uniqueness is a regency of 154 islands with 27 inhabited islands. So, there are many islands in Natuna that are uninhabited. Demographically, based on data from the Natuna Regency Statistics Center Agency, the population of Natuna in 2020 reached 81,495 people. In addition, Natuna has abundant natural resources in the form of potential fishery products estimated at 500,000 tons per year and the world's largest gas reserve potential of around 46 trillion cubic feet.

Source: Sumber: https://setda.natunakab.go.id/

Natuna itself is directly adjacent to several countries such as China, Vietnam, Cambodia, in the north and Malaysia and Singapore to the west and east. Of these countries, perhaps Malaysia and China are two parties that are quite interesting to examine in relation to Natuna. In terms of territorial boundaries, Malaysia is a neighboring country that is very close to Natuna. Especially East Malaysia, which demographically has many similarities with Natuna residents. In fact, to get to East Malaysia such as Sematan, for example, only takes about six hours from Serasan Island, Natuna. The author got this information from Serasan residents when the author lived on Serasan Island in 2018. Because of its proximity, many of the goods consumed by the people of Serasan Island actually come from East Malaysia. Then the question is, why don't Serasan and Natuna residents just choose to enter the Malaysian administration? The answer is not that easy, Natuna may be closer to Malaysia territorially. However, their national spirit is filled with Indonesian nationalism rather than Malaysian.

Historically, the Natuna region starting in the 19th century was part of the Sultanate of Riau. This sultanate in the early days of independence de facto declared itself to be part of the Unitary State of the Republic of Indonesia and fully supported the establishment of the Republic of Indonesia. That means, everything that became the domain of the Sultanate of Riau's power before automatically became part of the NKRI's power, including in this case Natuna. Therefore, the Indonesian government on May 18, 1956 registered Natuna with the United Nations (UN) as belonging to Indonesia. Thus, the status of Natuna became very clear and very strong legally as part of the Republic of Indonesia. Long before the Sultanate of Riau declared joining the NKRI and Natuna became part of the sultanate the story was quite complicated. It is said so because Natuna almost became part of Malaysia.

At that time, the British and the Dutch competed with each other for colonies in the archipelago. Even before that, the British first controlled Bengkulu, and Tanjungpinang. Meanwhile, the Dutch only controlled Malacca. Both launched tactics on how to control the archipelago until finally through the Anglo-Dutch agreement in 1824 the two colonizing countries agreed on several things, including: Britain gets the northern and eastern parts of the Malacca Strait which includes the Malaysian Peninsula and Singapore. The Dutch got the southern and northern parts including Sumatra Island, Lingga Islands, and Riau, including Bengkulu which was handed over by the British to the Dutch in exchange for control of the colony with Malacca which was previously controlled by the Dutch.

As additional information, at the time this agreement was made the Borneo or Kalimantan region was under the control of the Sultanate of Brunai. And when this sultanate declined, the British managed to control the North Borneo region including Sabah and Sarawak which later became part of East Malaysia. As for South Borneo, which includes areas that are currently the capital of provinces such as Pontianak, Palangkaraya, Samarinda, Balikpapan, it became part of the Netherlands so that when Indonesia became independent, each of the former colonies belonged to Indonesia as a logical consequence of the colonial practice that the colonized country inherited the former colony from the colonizer. This factor makes Natuna geographically close to East Malaysia and if there is no historical reason this area should belong to Malaysia. However, this will never happen because no matter what, Natuna is already owned by Indonesia, Natuna has become part of the nation's history that will always be guarded until the end of blood.

As for the name Natuna itself, it is also unique, why it should be called Natuna and not something else. According to one source, the name Natuna was taken from the name of a fish, namely a tuna fish called “Nan Tuna” and in the end became “Natuna”. In addition, according to other sources, the name Natuna comes from the habit of a Chinese priest named I Tsing who always called the Big Island (Natuna today) that he visited with the term Nan Toa where “Nan” means Island and “Toa” means Big. Because it was considered difficult to pronounce for the Malay tongue, the name Nan Toa then became Natuna. This is a glimpse into the history of the name Natuna.