Medan is the capital and largest city of the Indonesian province of North Sumatra. A regional hub and financial centre of Sumatra, which is one of the four main central cities of Indonesia, alongside Jakarta, Surabaya, and Makassar. Medan has a population of over 2.2 million within its city limits, and over 3.4 million in its built-up urban area, making it the fourth largest urban area in Indonesia. The Medan metropolitan area—which includes neighbouring Binjai, Deli Serdang Regency, and a part of Karo Regency—is the largest metropolitan area outside of Java, with 4,220,439 residents at the 2010 Census. Medan is a multicultural metropolis and a busy trading city bordered by the Strait of Malacca. A gateway to the western part of Indonesia, Medan is supported by the Port of Belawan and Kualanamu International Airport, both of which are connected to the city centre via toll roads and railways.
North Sumatra is a province of Indonesia. It consists of a large northwestern belt of the island of Sumatra and its capital is Medan. North Sumatra is the fourth most-populous province after West Java, East Java and Central Java — it covers an area of 72,981 km2, and at the Census of 2015 it had a population of 13,923,262; the latest official estimate as at mid 2019 is 14,562,549.
Gunung Leuser National Park is a national park covering 7,927 km2 in northern Sumatra, Indonesia, straddling the border of North Sumatra and Aceh provinces, a fourth portion and three-fourths portion, respectively. The national park, settled in the Barisan mountain range, is named after Mount Leuser (3,119 m), and protects a wide range of ecosystems. An orangutan sanctuary at Bukit Lawang is located within the park. Together with Bukit Barisan Selatan and Kerinci Seblat National Parks, it forms a World Heritage Site, the Tropical Rainforest Heritage of Sumatra.
Indian Indonesians are a group of people who live in Indonesia and whose ancestors originally came from the Indian subcontinent. Therefore, this term can be regarded as a blanket term for not only Indonesian Indian proper, but also Indonesians with other South Asian ancestry. According to the Indian Ministry of External Affairs, there were about 120,000 people of Indian origin as well as 9,000 Indian nationals living and working in Indonesia as of January 2012. Most of them were concentrated in province of North Sumatra and urban areas such as Banda Aceh, Surabaya, Medan and Jakarta. However, it is almost impossible to get correct statistical figures on the Indian Indonesian population, because most them have merged and assimilated with the indigenous population to become indistinguishable from native Indonesians.
Belawan is a harbor in Medan, Indonesia. Located on the northeast coast of Sumatra, Belawan is Indonesia's busiest seaport outside of Java. It constitutes the most northerly of the city of Medan's 21 administrative districts (kecamatan), and covers an area of 29.44 km2; at the 2010 Census it had a population of 95,506.
Kualanamu International Airport is an international airport serving Medan, Indonesia, and other parts of North Sumatra. It is located in the Deli Serdang Regency, 23 km east of downtown Medan. Kualanamu is the third largest airport in Indonesia after Jakarta Soekarno–Hatta and Bandung Kertajati, and the fifth busiest airport in Indonesia as of 2018, as well as the first Indonesian airport to receive 4 stars by Skytrax.
Pos Indonesia is the state-owned company responsible for providing postal service in Indonesia. It was established with the current structure in 1995 and now operates 11 regional divisions.
Tjong A Fie, Majoor der Chinezen (1860–1921), or Tjong Yiauw Hian, birth name Zhang Hongnan, was a Hakka Chinese businessman, banker and kapitan who built a large plantation business in Sumatra, Indonesia. Tjong A Fie built his business that employed more than 10,000 labor workers. Because of his great success, he maintained a good relationship with the ruler of Deli, including the ninth Sultan of Deli, Sultan Ma'mun Al Rashid Perkasa Alamyah and Dutch authorities.
Dutch colonial architecture in Indonesia were built across the archipelago that once was known as Dutch East Indies. Most of the better and permanent colonial era structures are located in Java and Sumatra, which were economically considered more important during the Dutch imperial period. As a result, there are large number of colonial buildings concentrated in its cities. Plenty of old VOC era forts and warehouses are also scattered throughout the archipelago, particularly around Maluku Islands and Sulawesi. There are three Dutch colonial architectural styles:
The State of East Sumatra was established by the Netherlands after the reoccupation of North Sumatra in July, 1947, during the first of the Dutch "police actions" against the fledgling Republic of Indonesia. In 1949, as part of a peace deal that concluded the Indonesian National Revolution, it joined the United States of Indonesia, of which the Republic was also a component state. In August, 1950, it was absorbed into the Republic as part of the province of North Sumatra. The area covered by the former state include the regencies of Langkat, Deli Serdang, Serdang Bedagai, Karo, Simalungan, Batubara and Asahan, together with the cities geographically within those regencies.
Martua Sitorus, also known as Thio Seng Hap (吴笙福), is a Chinese Indonesian business magnate and entrepreneur. He was once known as the fourth richest person in Indonesia, but had decreased to fifteenth by December 2018, according to Forbes. He and his business partner, Kuok Khoon Hong founded the Singapore-based Wilmar International (丰益国际), the largest palm oil producer in the world.
The Bakrie Group is an Indonesian conglomerate founded by Achmad Bakrie in 1942. It has interests across various industries including mining, oil and gas, property development, infrastructure, plantations, media and telecommunications. The group is one of the largest business groups in Indonesia, with 10 companies listed on the Indonesia Stock Exchange.
Headquartered in Singapore, Musim Mas operates globally across the palm oil business spectrum with an operational presence in 13 countries across Asia-Pacific, Europe, North and South America. The group owns one of the largest palm oil refinery networks in the world and is among the biggest players in the vegetable oil refining business. It also manufactures consumer goods in Indonesia, producing soap brands, and cooking oil brands such as Sunco. Musim Mas has a 37,000-strong workforce, supported by a comprehensive logistical network of chemical and costal tankers, barges, tugboats and bulk installations at major ports across Indonesia and other strategic parts of the world.
Sawit Seberang - also referred to as Sawit Sebrang - is the name of a district (kecamatan) in Langkat Regency, the northernmost regency of North Sumatra.
Bakrie Sumatera Plantations is an agricultural subsidiary of Bakrie Group headquartered in Lampung, Indonesia. Bakrie Sumatera Plantations manages an estimated one hundred thousand hectares of rubber and palm oil plantations, a railroad for transporting rubber, and several land banks.
Ishak Charlie is an Indonesian entrepreneur. Has experience managing various types of companies, ranging from plastic industry, pulp & paper industry, palm oil, palm oil plantation and construction spread all over Indonesia for more than 35 years. GlobeAsia Magazine lists Ishak Charlie as one of the 150 richest people in Indonesia with PT. Arga Citra Kharisma.
Musabaqah Tilawatil Quran is an Indonesian Islamic religious festival held at national level, aimed at glorification of the Qur'an. On this festival, participants compete at reciting Al-Qur'an employing qira'at.
Ulung Sitepu was an Indonesian general and politician who served as the governor of North Sumatra from 1963 until 1965. Following the 30 September Movement, he was arrested and accused of supporting the movement. He was sentenced to death, but the sentence was later reduced to life imprisonment.
The 1963 North Sumatra gubernatorial election was an indirect election held to elect the Governor of North Sumatra for the 1963–1968 term. All members of the Regional People's Representative Council of North Sumatra were eligible to vote for this election.
