THE Riau Islands lie in a vast expanse of sea bordered on the north by Singapore, on the west by mainland Sumatra, and on the east by the Island of Borneo. Riau actually is made up of two parts, mainland Riau (Riau Daratan) on the east coast of Sumatra and the small, scattered archipelago to the east (Kepulauan Riau), its own island province since 2004

Insular Riau consists of more than 3,000 islands, about 1,000 of which are occupied, and only 74