ABSTRACT
Located about 16 kilometres south-east of Singapore, Batam Island, Indonesia, has unique characteristics as a fully free-trade zone. The ferry trip from the World Trade Center in Singapore to Sekupang in Batam takes slightly more than 30 minutes. Some 30 people with whom I took the ferry in autumn 1999 seemed to cross the two countries’ borders regularly – Singaporean, Batamese, or wanderers from other corners of the world. For concrete jungle-dwelling Singaporeans, Batam serves as a provincial hinterland, whereas for the newly urbanized Batamese, Singapore serves as a cosmopolitan downtown.
