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East Kalimantan (Indonesian: Kalimantan Timur
abbrv. Kaltim) is the second largest Indonesian province, located on
the Kalimantan region on the east of Borneo island. The
resource-rich province has two major cities, Samarinda (the capital
and a center for timber product) and Balikpapan (a petroleum center
with oil refinery). Ever since Indonesia opened its mineral and
natural resources for foreign investment in 1970s, East Kalimantan
province has experienced major boost of timber, petroleum and other
exotic forest products. The state-owned petroleum company Pertamina
has been operating in the area since it took control oil refinery
from the Royal Dutch Shell company in 1965.
The population is a mixture of people from the Indonesian
archipelago with Dayaks and Kutai as indigenous ethnic groups living
in rural areas. Other prominent migrant ethnic groups include
Javanese, Chinese, Banjarese, Bugis and Malays, who mostly live in
coastal areas.
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