Singkawang

About Singkawang

Singkawang (Selako Dayak: Sakawokng), or San-Khew-Jong, is a coastal city and port located in the province of West Kalimantan, on the island of Borneo in Indonesia. It is located at about 145 km north of Pontianak, the provincial capital, and is surrounded by the Pasi, Poteng, and Sakkok mountains. The name Singkawang is derived from the Salako language, which refers to a very wide area of swamps (all swamps). In addition, the ancestors of the Hakka Chinese community in Sakawokng also named this area in Hakka as "San-Khew-Jong" (Mount-Mouth-Sea), which means "A city located at the foot of a mountain near the sea and has a river that flows up to the mouth of the river (estuary)."

The city was created on 21 June 2001 by separation from Bengkayang Regency. It is bordered to the east and south by Bengkayang Regency, to the west by the South China Sea, and to the north by Sambas Regency. It covers an area of 550.19 km2 and had a population of 186,462 at the 2010 Census and 235,064 at the 2020 Census; the official estimate as at mid 2025 was 253,812 (comprising 129,606 males and 124,206 females).

Overview adapted from Wikipedia under CC BY-SA. Photography via Wikimedia Commons.