Samboja () is a district in Kutai Kartanegara Regency, East Kalimantan, Indonesia. As of 2023, it was inhabited by 41,607 people, and has a total area of . Its district seat is located at the village of Kampung Lama.
It borders West Samboja to the west and Muara Jawa to the north.
Etymology The etymology of this place name remains still unclear, there are two theories: from an existing male given name, or from a purported Chinese sentence sam bo cia "not eating in three days".
History The small town of Samboja was founded about a century ago in what was then rainforest when oil was discovered in the area. The first drilling began in 1897 near Balikpapan Bay.Intermediate Cities in the Resource Frontier: A case study of Samarinda and Balikpapan Ph.D dissertation by William Bruce Wood, University of Hawaii, 1985, p63 Dutch oil workers moved into the area to work for a company that was later taken over by Royal Dutch Shell and later still by the national Indonesian oil company Pertamina. The oil company began cutting wood in the 1950s and as people came flooding into the booming oil town of Balikpapan they cleared the surrounding forest. With the pronounced El Niño of 1982 and 1983 there were fires in the area, destroying the pockets of forest that remained.
From 24 April 1969, Samboja was divided into two by gubernatorial decree number 55/TH-Pem/SK/1969, of which parts north of the "Rawa III river" (2,947 km2) were given to Samarinda, while parts south of it (726 km2, i.e. the modern border between Balikpapan and Kutai Kartanegara) were given to Balikpapan. However, Samarinda returned the district to Kutai on 13 October 1987, while southern parts (such as the bordering village of Teritip) remain part of Balikpapan. Sanga-Sanga and Muara Jawa were likewise part of Samarinda at that time.
According to 2009 TED talk with Willie Smits (the founder of Samboja Lestari reserve), Samboja in 2002 was the poorest district of East Kalimantan, with 50% of the population unemployed and a high crime rate. Almost a quarter of average income went on buying drinking water. The land was covered with alang-alang grass (Imperata cylindrica), putting it at high risk for repeated forest and land fires. There were many nutrition and hygiene related health problems and life expectancy was low, with high infant and maternal mortality.
In 2019, Indonesian President Joko Widodo announced the relocation of Indonesia's capital from Jakarta to a yet to be developed city in East Kalimantan, which will span portions of Samboja. The initial plan proposed construction of the capital city start in 2021, but was postponed due to shifting government priorities mitigating the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic in Indonesia.
On 19 October 2020, the western parts of Samboja (containing 10 villages) were separated to form the new district of West Samboja, with its seat located at Tani Bhakti.
Governance
Villages Samboja is divided into the following 13 villages (the rest are urban , rural are marked by grey background): Regional code() Name Area (km2) Population (2023) RT() 64.02.13.1007 Sungai Seluang 27.54 4,018 17 64.02.13.1008 Wonotirto 11.18 1,962 7 64.02.13.1009 Tanjung Harapan 22.05 2,343 11 64.02.13.1010 Samboja Kuala 15.33 6,806 14 64.02.13.1011 Sanipah 59.32 5,751 18 64.02.13.1012 Handil Baru 33.59 3,653 13 64.02.13.1013 Muara Sembilang 22.17 2,654 14 64.02.13.2014 Karya Jaya 10.05 1,670 10 64.02.13.2016 Bukit Raya 11.81 1,870 12 64.02.13.2019 Beringin Agung 15.07 2,107 10 64.02.13.1021 Teluk Pemedas 24.32 4,130 8 64.02.13.1022 Kampung Lama 10.54 2,286 8 64.02.13.1023 Handil Baru Darat 21.95 2,357 12 Totals 284.93 41,607 286
References
Further reading