Batam, Batamnews - Tambelan Island in the Riau Archipelago drew the public's attention. Not because of the news of its beauty, but about the information on the island being auctioned online.

The auction was opened on an Instagram account. A multiple of Rp. 25 thousand with a 'shoot' price of Rp. 1.4 trillion. This was written by detikcom, Thursday (26/8/2021).

This auction sparked comments from the Deputy Chairman of Commission II DPR RI, Luqman Hakim. He asked the police to investigate and follow up on this.

"I think it's illegal, and this has happened repeatedly. Maybe, why does it keep repeating because those who are either idly or seriously selling Indonesian islands online have never been caught and then sentenced," said Luqman.

He said it was important to give a deterrent effect to the perpetrators of selling islands online.

According to him, the auction act disturbed the nationalism of the people. It can lead to people's distrust of law enforcement.

Meanwhile, the Bintan Police Chief, AKBP Tidar Wulung, confirmed that his party was hunting for the Instagram account owner who auctioned Tambelan Island.

"The island is not for sale, we have coordinated with the local sub-district head," Tidar said, quoted by Batamnews from merdeka.com.

Tidar said that the sale of the island takes a long time and there are rules for selling land in Indonesia. "Never mind selling the island, selling goats also have conditions," he said

The Bintan Police have coordinated with the Land and Border Management Maintenance Agency regarding this incident. In addition, the local government has also been contacted.

"We are trying to collect information, to the field and the local government. We check everything, we explore, including the accounts (island sellers)," he explained.

Geographically, Tambelan Island is in the outermost position of the Riau Islands Province and closer to West Kalimantan.