Overview
01Overview
Paser Regency is the southernmost regency in the East Kalimantan province of Indonesia. It was created on 26 June 1959 from the northern parts of Kotabaru Regency. It was previously known as Pasir Regency until its renaming on 22 August 2007. Its northeastern districts were split off on 10 April 2002 to form the new Penajam North Paser Regency. The residual regency covers an area of 11,603.94 km2, and it had a population of 230,316 at the 2010 Census and 275,452 at the 2020 Census; the official estimate as at mid 2025 was 315,033 (comprising 49.134% males and 50.866% females). Its administrative centre is the town of Tana Paser (or Tanah Grogot).
History
01History
Map of Former coat of arms until renaming in 2007 On 26 June 1959, Pasir was first established as a regency in East Kalimantan, after being separated from Kotabaru in South Kalimantan, for "historic and social-economic reasons". At the time of its formation, it originally consisted of four districts as mentioned: Central Pasir, North Pasir (not to be confused with Penajam North Paser), Pasir Hulu, and South Pasir. Meanwhile, it largely inherited the borders from, with the exception of parts south of modern East Kalimantan–South Kalimantan border (still part of Kotabaru till this day). Little are known the archives relating to its separation from South Kalimantan.
Twenty-eight years later, on 13 October 1987, Pasir annexed the district of Penajam, then known as Balikpapan Seberang. Four northeastern districts, namely Penajam, Sepaku (created in 1996), Waru, and Babulu (also created in 1996), were later separated on 10 April 2002 to form Penajam North Paser. On 22 August 2007, Pasir was officially renamed to Paser by the regional government.
Geography
01Climate
Tana Paser has a tropical rainforest climate (Af) with moderate rainfall in August and September and heavy to very heavy rainfall in the remaining months.