Pontianak is a bustling city that is attracting Malaysian investors

Pontianak - Located on the equator at latitude 0` 0” N and longitude 109` 20” E, Pontianak, also known as Equatorial City, has unique attractions for visitors to the West Kalimantan province of Indonesia.

To reach the city, a land journey from Kuching takes eight hours while a flight from the Sarawak state capital takes only 30 minutes and from Jakarta it takes about one hour.

Pontianak, spread over 107.2 square km, has a population close to a million. The majority of the people are Malay Muslims (65%) while the rest are Chinese, Dayak and of other ethnic groups.

The founder of this 237-year-old city is Syarif Abdurrahman AlQadri, who was of Arab descent.

It is believed the name Pontianak, which means vampire in Malay folklore, originated from a legend of Syarif Abdurrahman encountering a ghoul while sailing along Sungai Kapuas, which at 1,143km is the longest river in Indonesia.

According to the legend, Syarif Abdurrahman had to fire his cannon to chase the vampire away. He also decreed that the spot where the cannon ball fell was the place where he would start his sultanate.

The cannon ball fell on the spot where Sungai Kapuas meets Sungai Landak, a place now known as Beting Kampung Dalam Bugis Pontianak Timur, or Pontianak.

Today`s era of modernisation has swept through Pontianak and turned it into a city choking with commercial centres, modern buildings, shopping complexes and hotels.

Sudio Subandi, a bank employee, said that Pontianak was the economic nerve centre for West Kalimantan.

“All major economic activities are conducted in Pontianak, and for a long time, the city has been the nerve centre, after Jakarta,” he said.

He said that foreign tourists from Sarawak were regular visitors, apart from those who flew in from Jakarta and other Indonesian provinces.

A key attraction is Equatorial Monument – an iconic lure that splits the city into two.

A Dutch geographer erected the monument in 1928, and 10 years later, Indonesian architect Sylaban made refurbishments to it.

Among the other tourism draws are Pusat Wisata, an aloe vera planting centre in Jalan Budi Utomo, where tourists can have a close view of the plant which originated in the Canary Islands off North Africa.

Pontianak is ideal for growing aloe vera as it gets more sunlight in a year compared to other parts of Indonesia.

A visit to the city is considered incomplete without a trip to shopping havens in Jalan Jen Sudirman, Ayani Mega Mall and traditional markets like Pasar Flamboyan in Jalan Gajahmada, Pasar Dahlia in Jalan H. Rais A. Rachman and Pasar Mawar in Jalan Wolter Monginsidi.

Pontianak boasts the presence of Universiti Tangjungpura (Untan) which has a student population of 15,000.

Untan assistant rector Prof Dr Saeri Sagi said the university has eight faculties including law, economics, education, technical, political science, agriculture, mathematics and medicine.

The cordial relations between Sarawak and West Kalimantan paves the way for investments between Malaysia and Indonesia.

Malaysian Consul in West Kali mantan, Zaini M. Basri, said many Malaysian investors came to expand operations particularly in the oil palm and coal mining sectors.

Among the plus factors was the cheap labour and vast land areas ideal for plantations.

Zaini said that 4.5 million ha of land in the province was being developed into oil palm estates.

He expressed confidence that more Malaysians would take the opportunity to invest in West Kalimantan. By AMRIZAN MADIAN (Bernama)

Source: http://thestar.com.my (November 03, 2008)
-

Arsip Blog

Recent Posts