Belu Regency Kabupaten Belu Rai Belu
Regency
Coat of arms
Nickname:  Belu
Location within East Nusa Tenggara
Belu Regency Location in Timor, Lesser Sunda Islands and Indonesia Show map of Timor Belu Regency Belu Regency (Lesser Sunda Islands) Show map of Lesser Sunda Islands Belu Regency Belu Regency (Indonesia) Show map of Indonesia
Coordinates: 9°20′45″S 124°57′2″E / 9.34583°S 124.95056°E / -9.34583; 124.95056
Country	Indonesia
Region	Lesser Sunda Islands
Province	East Nusa Tenggara
Settled	20 December 1956
Capital	Atambua
Government
• Regent	Willy Lay
• Vice Regent	J. T. Ose Luan
Area
• Total	496.12 sq mi (1,284.94 km2)
Elevation	1,230 ft (375 m)
Population  (mid 2022 estimate)[1]
• Total	224,306
• Density	450/sq mi (170/km2)
Time zone	UTC+8 (ICST)
Postcodes	856xx, 857xx
Area code	(+62) 389
Religion	Christianity 95.45% — Catholic 88.39% — Protestant 7.10% Islam 4.30% Hindu 0.19% Buddhism 0.02%[2]
Website	belukab.go.id

Belu Regency is a regency in East Nusa Tenggara province of Indonesia. Situated on the north of Timor island, it adjoins the separate nation of East Timor to the east. Established on 20 December 1958,^[3] Belu Regency has its seat (capital) in the large town of Atambua.

In December 2012 a separate Regency - Malaka Regency - was created from the twelve districts that formerly comprised the southern half of Belu Regency. "Belu" means "friend" in Tetum. The residual part of Belu Regency had a population of 188,163 at the 2010 Census,^[4] which rose to 206,476 at the 2015 Intermediate Census^[5] and to 217,973 at the 2020 Census.^[6] The official estimate as at mid 2022 was 224,306.^[1]

Administrative Districts

The Belu Regency was until 2013 divided into twenty-four districts (kecamatan), but in December 2012, the twelve southern kecamatan were removed to form the new Malaka Regency, leaving the twelve northern kecamatan in Belu Regency. The residual Belu Regency is thus composed of twelve districts (kecamatan), tabulated below with their areas (in km²) and their populations at the 2010 Census^[4] and 2020 Census,^[6] together with the official estimates as at mid 2022.^[1] The table also includes the locations of the district headquarters, the number of administrative villages in each district (totaling 69 rural desa and 12 urban kelurahan - the latter being the 12 comprising Atambua town), and its postal code.

Note: (a) the five westerly rural kecamatan, mainly surrounding or south of Atambua. (b) the area projecting into East Timor.

Media

Belu Regency is served with four radio stations that cover the wider area around this regency (including Malaka Regency, Alor Regency, and Timor Tengah Utara Regency), which are RRI Pro1 Atambua (FM 91.5 MHz) RRI Pro2 Atambua (FM 99.8 MHz) RRI Pro3 (FM 99.0 MHz), and Saluran Citra Budaya Timor (alias Pro4) (FM 93.1 MHz). There's still a lot of radio that can be found in the town.

The regency is only served with two television stations (TVRI - including TVRI East Nusa Tenggara, Belu TV) and a few other East Timor stations that reach the border pass.

References