Moon Island is an island located in the west of the two islands of Batam, located at 2.5 kilometers southwest of Batam Island. The island is currently a hog production area since 1988 and has been supplying live pigs to Singapore for more than 30 years through PT Indotirta. The island of the Moon, which is about 10,000 hectares wide or 16 percent smaller than the area of Singapore.
In the early decades of the 20th century, rubber plantations existed in a number of areas in the Riau Islands. Not only on Bintan and Karimun Island, there are also rubber plantations on Bulan Island, near Batam Island. The existence of rubber plantations in an area which is now known as pig farming was listed in a Dutch-language newspaper published in 1937.
Bulan Island covers an area of 38.9 square kilometers. Located In the Deli Courant newspaper published on November 9, 1937, the advertisement contained job vacancies. Rubber plantation on Bulan Island (Riouw)
requires male nurses (mantri), preferably those who are married. The salary offered is $ 40 (Straits Dollars) per month.
The existence of this job advertisement is a sign that there are rubber plantation companies on Bulan Island. They need medical personnel for health workers on the plantations.
Rubber plantations in Riau Islands have been cultivated since the early 20th century, as well as other areas in the archipelago. Information about the existence of rubber plantations in the early 20th century to 1940 can be seen in the newspaper reports published at that time.
The newspaper Algemeen Handelsblad dated February 27, 1911, reported that the Resident of Riau had granted concession permits to three companies for rubber plantations. In early 1911, a rubber factory was built on Bintan Island. In Bintan at that time, rubber was planted at a young age. Rubber is not yet produced, maintenance and expansion of the planted area are continuously carried out. Meanwhile, on Galang Island (Batam), the company has produced 2,813 pounds of rubber for export.
The Het Niuews Van den Dag newspaper dated 16 August 1910 also carried news about rubber plantations. The article is entitled: Rubber in the Riau Islands. It contains reports to the Resident of Riau regarding the condition of rubber plantations that have obtained concession permits on the islands of Sugi and Karimun. There the workers are Malays. The condition of the rubber plantations is good and it seems that there is progress. In Karimun, a rubber factory was also built to process rubber and jelutong sap. In late 1915, the factory was temporarily closed. The factory in Karimun extracts jelutong sap, which is a forest product.
The Bataviaasch Niuuwsblad Newspaper dated 7 June 1916 ran an advertisement for sale about the sale of rubber plantations on the island of Bintan. The land area is 4,000 hectares, while 1200 hectares have been planted. There are no buildings and machinery on site. Those who are interested can contact the owner of the garden.
The existence of rubber in Anambas was published in the newspaper De Indische Courant dated December 4, 1936. The story was entitled: Visiting Tarempah. In this article, Anambas is described as a remote archipelago whose main export products are three, namely copra, rubber and wood. Copra production per month is 40,000 pikul and rubber 10-25 thousand kilograms. From the sea, this rubber plantation is in the middle of other trees and is indistinguishable. Rubber gardens are more promising. Meanwhile, rice cultivation is difficult because of the rocky soil, especially in the Tarempa area. Tarempa at that time was also quite busy. Every week the K.P Steamer ships and Chinese ships dock at Tarempa. Hopefully this article can add to your insight.
