Bengkalis Regency is a regency of Indonesia in Riau Province. The regency was originally established in 1956 and then included most of the northern part of the province, but on 4 October 1999 it was divided up, with most of the territory being split off to form the new Rokan Hilir Regency, Siak Regency and the city of Dumai. On 19 December 2008 a further five districts were removed to create the new Meranti Islands Regency, leaving eight districts (or kecamatan) in the Bengkalis Regency, including the complete islands of Bengkalis and Rupat in the Malacca Strait as well as portions of the Sumatra mainland. These eight districts have increased since 2010 to eleven by the splitting of existing districts on the Sumatran mainland.
Bengkalis Regency produces natural resources, particularly petroleum, rubber, and coconut. The southern part of this regency contains a large part of the Bukit Batu Biosphere Reserve.
Etymology The origin of the name Bengkalis is taken from the words "Mengkal" which means sad or emotional and "Kalis" which means steadfast, patient and enduring. This word is taken from the expression of the Raja Kecil to his servants and followers when he arrived in Bengkalis when he wanted to overthrow the Johor Sultanate's rule over eastern Sumatra. The expression goes as follows: "Mengkal feels my heart because I am not recognized as the Sultan who rules the country, but it does not matter, we are still Kalis in accepting this situation.” This expression became a topic of conversation among the people that the king was "Mengkal" but still "Kalis". Finally, the expression became the saying "Oh, your king is Mengkalis". From this saying arose the word "mengkalis", which evolved into the modern place name "Bengkalis".
History Bengkalis was part of the old kingdoms that controlled the Strait of Malacca region and is thought to have been first inhabited by Sea People who inhabited the northern and southern coastal areas who believe that they originated from Bukit Siguntang. Because the Melaka Sultanate was founded by Parameswara, a descendant of Sang Nila Utama, the founder of the Kingdom of Singapura, located in modern Singapore, the Orang Laut's loyalty to Melaka is unwavering. Recorded Orang Laut settlements on Bengkalis Island include Tanjung Parit in the present-day Muntai Village, Bantan District, and the Senggeren Tribe settlement at the mouth of the Bengkalis River. In Tanjung Parit, the Orang Laut were led by a leader who was very loyal to the Sultanate. This group of Orang Laut were ready to be deployed at any time to defend Melaka's interests, if needed with excellent sea navigation skills such as reading wind direction, stargazing, knowledge of the seasons, and other sea skills. The Orang Laut were known as skilled and resilient sailors. Melaka's conquest of Bengkalis, led by Bendahara Tun Perak, is also believed to be the beginning of the arrival of Islam in Bengkalis. Although Bengkalis may have previously been exposed to Islam through Indian and Arab traders who came to Bengkalis, the expansion of Malacca, accompanied by the spread of Islam, had a deeper meaning and its reach to the community of Bengkalis was much broader. The word Bengkalis itself was recorded as early as 1575 on a map made by Fernão vas Dourado, which on that map was called Bamcallis. Then in a Dutch map made by Willem Lodewycksz in 1596 and first published in 1598, Bengkalis was called Bancalis. Emanuel Gordinho de Eredia, in his book Declaracam de Malaca e India Meridional com o Cathay, published in 1613, referred to Bengkalis as Bencales. This book is a record of Gordinho's travels from Malacca, India to Cathay. Meanwhile, in the Insulae Indiae Orientalis, a Dutch map from the Mercator/Hondius/Jansson series produced in 1635, Bengkalis is written as Bacalis. Meanwhile, in local sources such as the Hikayat Siak or Tuhfat al Nafis, Bengkalis is written as Mengkalis. This indicates that during the 19th century, when these Malay manuscripts were written, Bengkalis was known as Mengkalis. The same is true in the Hikayat Awang Sulung Merah Muda and Hikayat Terang Pipit.
Bengkalis was founded on 30 July 1512. In 1645, the regency was just a fishing village. The word Bengkalis was also recorded in history in 1511 in a book about Malacca entitled The Suma Oriental written by the Portuguese writer Tomé Pires. He provides a clear and specific picture of the life of the Malacca people from 1400 to 1515. The story is set while Pires was in the cosmopolitan city of Malacca from 1512 to 1515, the early years of the Portuguese conquest of Malacca. In 1678, Bengkalis became a meeting place for Malay, Javanese and Arab traders who brought their goods along with traders from Palembang, Jambi, Indragiri, Aceh, Kedah, Perak, Kelong, Johor, Penang, Petani, Thailand, Cambodia, Kochi, China and the Minangkabau people. They were Sumatrans who came to Bengkalis to collect salt, rice and fish caught in abundance by the people living around the Strait of Malacca. In 1717, Bengkalis was used as a line of attack against Johor by Raja Kecil. It was in Bengkalis that he assembled his military forces and then founded the Buantan Kingdom, later called the Siak Kingdom, in 1723. When the Siak Kingdom was founded, Bengkalis and Bukit Batu served as outposts for its defense, led by Datuk Laksamana Raja di Laut. Datuk Laksamana Raja di Laut built a powerful fleet and built warships equipped with weapons imported from Islamic countries. Later, during the Dutch East Indies rule, Bengkalis served as the capital of the East Sumatra Residency. However, the Dutch later moved the residency capital from Bengkalis to Medan. After this move, Bengkalis served as the capital of the Bengkalis Afdeling until the end of the Dutch rule in Indonesia. Meanwhile, during the Japanese occupation of the Dutch East Indies, Bengkalis was made the capital of Bengkalis Bun.
Geography Bengkalis Regency comprises the whole of Bengkalis Island and Rupat Island, which are located in the Straits of Malacca, together with a wide swathe of the eastern coastal area of Sumatra Island and stretching inland along the drainage area of the Siak River, as well as including other islands within the archipelago to its north-east. The land area covers 8,612.56 km2 and it borders on the Malacca Straits to the north, on Siak Regency to the south, on the Meranti Islands Regency to the southeast, and on Dumai City, Rokan Hilir Regency and Rokan Hulu Regency to the west. The administrative centre is the town of Bengkalis on the south coast of the island of the same name.
The Bengkalis Strait separates Bengkalis Island from Sumatra as well as from Padang Island and Tebing Tinggi Island.
Climate Bengkalis Island has a tropical rainforest climate (Af) with heavy to very heavy rainfall year-round.
Demographics Population Following the splitting in 2008 of the regency to create a new Meranti Islands Regency, the residual area of Bengkalis Regency had a population of 498,336 at the 2010 censusBiro Pusat Statistik, Jakarta, 2011. and 565,569 at the 2020 census;Badan Pusat Statistik, Jakarta, 2021. the official estimate as of mid 2025 was 693,035.Badan Pusat Statistik, Jakarta, 27 February 2026, Kabupaten Bengkalis Dalam Angka 2026 (Katalog-BPS 1102001.1408) Religion In 1930, a Muhammadiyah branch was established in Bengkalis. To open the Muhammadiyah branch in Bengkalis, the Muhammadiyah Central Board sent Abdul Malik Karim Amrullah, better known as Buya Hamka, who at that time served as Chairman of the Muhammadiyah Padang Panjang Branch. It is recorded that Muhammad Rasami, who had served as Secretary of the Muhammadiyah Bengkalis Branch Board at that time, was also appointed. In 1936 in Medan, Rasami, along with Asbiran Yakub, Chairman of the Medan Al-Busyra Foundation, asked Hamka to lead the weekly Pedoman Masyarakat.
Administrative districts
The eleven districts () currently forming the regency are listed below with their areas and their populations at the 2010 and 2020 censuses, together with the official estimates as of mid 2025.Badan Pusat Statistik, Jakarta, 27 February 2026, Kabupaten Bengkalis Dalam Angka 2026 (Katalog-BPS 1102001.1408) The table also includes the locations of the district administrative centres, the number of administrative villages in each district (a total of 136 rural and 19 urban ), and its post code.
Kode Wilayah Name ofDistrict(kecamatan) Area in km2 Pop'ncensus2010 Pop'ncensus2020 Pop'nestimatemid 2025 Admin centre No.ofvillagesPostcode 14.03.09 Mandau Badan Pusat Statistik, Jakarta, 26 September 2024, Kecamatan Mandau Dalam Angka 2024 (Katalog-BPS 1102001.1408010)517.06219,264152,258174,714Air Jamban11 (a)28783 14.03.13 Pinggir Badan Pusat Statistik, Jakarta, 26 September 2024, Kecamatan Pinggir Dalam Angka 2024 (Katalog-BPS 1102001.1408011)774.4278,40462,09881,520Pinggir10 (b)28784 14.03.16 Bathin Solapan Badan Pusat Statistik, Jakarta, 26 September 2024, Kecamatan Bathin Solapan Dalam Angka 2024 (Katalog-BPS 1102001.1408012)673.71(c)91,586124,996Sebangar13 28785 14.03.15 Talang Muandau Badan Pusat Statistik, Jakarta, 26 September 2024, Kecamatan Talang Muandau Dalam Angka 2024 (Katalog-BPS 1102001.1408013)1,378.74(d)24,00034,995Beringin9 28786 Sub-total Southern (inland) group 3,343.93297,668329,942416,225 43 14.03.03 Bukit Batu Badan Pusat Statistik, Jakarta, 26 September 2024, Kecamatan Bukit Batu Dalam Angka 2024 (Katalog-BPS 1102001.1408020)597.4430,12921,77123,878Sungai Pakning10 (e) 28761 14.03.12 Siak Kecil Badan Pusat Statistik, Jakarta, 26 September 2024, Kecamatan Siak Kecil Dalam Angka 2024 (Katalog-BPS 1102001.1408021)947.5018,70924,18629,582Lubuk Muda17 28771 14.03.14 Bandar Laksamana Badan Pusat Statistik, Jakarta, 26 September 2024, Kecamatan Bandar Laksamana Dalam Angka 2024 (Katalog-BPS 1102001.1408022)1,301.45(f)15,84220,481Tenggayun7 28762 Sub-total Northern (coastal) group 2,846.3948,83861,79973,941 34 14.03.10 Rupat Badan Pusat Statistik, Jakarta, 26 September 2024, Kecamatan Rupat Dalam Angka 2024 (Katalog-BPS 1102001.1408030)1,143.7230,55034,71942,761Batu Panjang16 (g) 28781 14.03.11 Rupat Utara (i) Badan Pusat Statistik, Jakarta, 26 September 2024, Kecamatan Rupat Utara Dalam Angka 2024 (Katalog-BPS 1102001.1408031)377.1413,02014,11717,890Tanjung Medang8 28782 14.03.01 Bengkalis (district)Badan Pusat Statistik, Jakarta, 26 September 2024, Kecamatan Bengkalis Dalam Angka 2024 (Katalog-BPS 1102001.1408040)440.1072,22183,08594,951Bengkalis Kota31 (h) 28711- 28741 14.03.02 Bantan (j) Badan Pusat Statistik, Jakarta, 26 September 2024, Kecamatan Bantan Dalam Angka 2024 (Katalog-BPS 1102001.1408050)461.2836,03941,90747,267Selat Baru23 28763 Sub-total Offshore islands group 2,422.24151,830173,828202,869 89 Total Regency 8,612.56498,336565,569693,035Bengkalis155
Notes: (a) comprising 9 kelurahan (Air Jamban, Babussalam, Balik Alam, Batang Serosa, Duri Barat, Duri Timur, Gajah Sakti, Pematang Pudu and Makeruh (Talang Mandi)) and 2 desa (Harapan Baru and Bathin Bertuah). (b) comprising 2 kelurahan (Balai Raja and Titian Antui) and 8 desa. (c) the 2010 population of the new Bathin Solapan District is included in the figure for Mandau District, from which it was cut out. (d) the 2010 population of the new Talang Muandau District is included in the figure for Pinggir District, from which it was cut out. (e) including one kelurahan (Sungai Pakning). (f) the 2010 population of the new Bandar Laksamana District is included in the figure for Bukit Batu District, from which it was cut out. (g) comprising 4 kelurahan (Batu Panjang, Pergam, Tanjung Kapal and Terkul) and 12 desa. (h) comprising 3 kelurahan (Bengkalis Kota, Damon and Rimba Sekampung) and 28 desa. (i) the northern part of Rupat Island. (j) the northern part of Bengkalis Island.