Taliabu Island Regency

Taliabu Island Regency (Kabupaten Pulau Taliabu) is a regency in the North Maluku province of Indonesia, consisting primarily of the island of Taliabu, the most western, geographically, of the Sula archipelago. It is located to the west of Mangole Island and Sanana Island, the two islands which remain part of the former Sula Islands Regency; until 14 December 2012, when it was administratively-separated into its own regency, Taliabu had been a part of the Sula Islands Regency. Presently, Taliabu Island Regency (including minor offshore islands, predominantly to the west and southwest of Taliabu proper) covers roughly 1,507.41 km2 (582 mi2). Taliabu had a population of 47,309 at the 2010 Census and 58,047 at the 2020 Census; the official estimate as at mid 2023 was 64,885 (comprising 33,159 males and 31,726 females).

History
The establishment of the Taliabu Island Regency was intended to encourage the improvement of services in the fields of government, development and society, as well as the ability to utilize regional potentials for the implementation of regional autonomy, thus it was necessary to enact a law upon the establishment of Taliabu Island Regency within North Maluku Province.

The legal basis of this law is Undang-Undang Dasar Negara Republik Indonesia Tahun 1945 Article 18, Article 18A, Article 18B, Article 20 and Article 21; Law Number 46 of 1999; Law Number 1 Year 2003; Law Number 32 of 2004; Law Number 33 of 2004; Law Number 27 Year 2009; Law Number 12 of 2011; Law Number 15 of 2011; and Law Number 8 of 2012.

This law regulates the establishment of the Taliabu Island Regency, consisting of 7 (seven) administrative districts (kecamatan) formerly part of the Sula Islands Regency—with one district being divided to create an eighth district—and includes 71 (seventy-one) villages (desa).

Ethnicity
The indigenous population living on Taliabu Island consists of the Mange, Kadai, Siboyo and Panto tribal groups which are classified based on respective language spoken, settled home area, livelihoods, careers, etc. Meanwhile, immigrants from beyond the island also live there, namely the Ambonese, Banggai, Butonese, Bugis-Makassar and Javanese.

Although the people of Taliabu consist of various tribes with different cultural backgrounds, the social life of the community has never experienced social inequality, let alone social conflict. This is largely thanks to the wisdom of the elders and local people of Taliabu Island themselves, maintained through a policy known as Mangkalomu (or "gather together to solve various problems"), which, in-turn, is based on another principle, Dadi Sia Kito Mangkoyong—or "unite to move forward". This philosophy of peaceful communal living has been used as a motto by the Taliabu Island Regency government with the term Hamungsia Sia Tofu—"together and united".

Religion
Based on 2019 data from the Central Statistics Agency, it was noted that the religion adopted by the majority of Taliabu Island district was Islam (75.16%). Smaller, but notable, percentages of the islanders are Christian (24.84%), Protestant (18.98%) or Catholic (5.86%). Additionally, a smaller number of people embrace Hinduism, or local belief systems endemic to Taliabu.

Administration
On 14 December 2012 the seven districts (kecamatan) on Taliabu Island (and its offshore islets) were split off from the Sula Islands Regency to create a separate Taliabu Island Regency (Kabupaten Pulau Taliabu); an eighth district (Tabona) was created at the same time. The districts are tabulated below with their areas and their populations at the 2010 Census and the 2020 Census, together with their official estimates as at mid 2023. The table also includes the locations of the district administrative centres, and the number of administrative villages (all rural desa) in each district. The post code is 97794 for the entire Regency.

Note: (a) includes small islands to the southwest of Taliabu, notable Pulau Seho and Pulau Kano. (b) includes small islands to the west of Taliabu. (c) the 2010 population of the new Tabona District is included in the figure for Taliabu Timur Selatan District, from which it was cut out in 2012.

Climate
Bobong, the seat of the regency has a tropical rainforest climate (Af) with moderate rainfall in September and October and heavy rainfall in the remaining months.