Driving south from the bustling industrial port of Batam (just across the strait from Singapore) along the scenic island-hopping highway that crosses the six cable-stayed spans of the Barelang Bridges, travelers arrive on tranquil Galang Island in Indonesia's Riau Islands Province. Turning into a quiet valley of tropical hardwoods and swaying pines at Sijantung Village, visitors encounter an unexpected architectural sight rising on the green hillside: a bright golden-roofed Vietnamese Buddhist sanctuary crowned with twin dragons flanking the Dharma wheel and inscribed in Romanized Vietnamese script with the dual names Chua Kim Son and Quan Am Tu.
Unlike ancient royal monasteries endowed by emperors or wealthy merchant guilds, Chua Kim Son (known locally in Indonesian as Vihara Quan Am Tu) was born out of survival, grief, and deep gratitude among the Vietnamese boat people sheltered at the Galang Refugee Camp between 1979 and 1996. After enduring perilous crossings of the South China Sea in fragile wooden fishing boats and finding humanitarian refuge on this island under the protection of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and the Government of Indonesia, Buddhist refugees pooled their meager allowances and manual labor to raise a traditional homeland Buddhist temple, offering thanksgiving to compassionate Avalokitesvara Bodhisattva and praying for fellow travelers who perished beneath the waves.
ICalling Upon Avalokitesvara Across Stormy Seas and Commemorating Souls Lost on the Ocean
High across the two-tiered facade of the temple on Galang Island, two Vietnamese titles appear one above the other: CHUA KIM SON (Golden Mountain Pagoda) on the upper gable and QUAN AM TU (Temple of Avalokitesvara) above the main portico. Together they express the two spiritual anchors that sustained the refugee community through years of uncertainty. Kim Son evokes an unshakable mountain of Dharma wisdom and ancestral memory standing firm amid the shifting tides of exile, while Quan Am Tu speaks directly to the lived experience of every boat survivor: during pitch-black nights adrift on the South China Sea when engines failed, fresh water ran out, or storms battered wooden hulls, the chanted invocation of Avalokitesvara Bodhisattva (Quan The Am Bo Tat, Hearer of the Cries of the World) was the lifeline that kept hope alive.
Stepping up the flight of concrete stairs into the Main Buddha Hall reveals a warm, recognizable Vietnamese Mahayana sanctuary crafted entirely by refugee artisans. Upon the central lotus altar sits Sakyamuni Buddha in serene meditation alongside Amitabha Buddha, flanked by shrines to Avalokitesvara Bodhisattva, Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva (Dia Tang Vuong, guide of departed souls), and Dharma protectors Skanda and Sangharama. Every statue, coiled dragon pillar, lotus frieze, and Vietnamese parallel couplet inside the hall was hand-sculpted in cement and painted by skilled craftsmen among the refugees before their resettlement abroad.
Just as central to the spiritual mission of Chua Kim Son are the memorial altars dedicated to fellow refugees who died at sea or passed away on Galang Island. For thousands of families whose loved ones vanished in the ocean without a grave, the incense burners of Chua Kim Son and the white-robed outdoor statue of Avalokitesvara gazing toward the sea became a sacred cenotaph where chanting of the Amitabha Sutra and Ullambana verses could guide departed spirits to peace.
In the twenty-fifth chapter of the Lotus Sutra (the Universal Gate of Avalokitesvara Bodhisattva, chanted daily in Vietnamese Mahayana liturgy), the scripture promises that if travelers sailing across the great ocean are blown by gales into mortal danger, even a single person calling wholeheartedly upon Avalokitesvara will hear the Bodhisattva's compassionate voice calming fear and bringing deliverance. On Galang Island, that ancient scriptural passage is remembered not as distant metaphor, but as the personal testimony of tens of thousands of survivors.
Equally moving is the interfaith solidarity embodied in the surrounding hillsides of the camp. Within a few hundred meters of Buddhist Chua Kim Son stand the Catholic Church of the Immaculate Conception (Catholicism) and a Protestant Chapel (Protestantism), all built by refugees during the same years. Sharing the same barracks, rations, and longing for family, Vietnamese Buddhists, Catholics, and Protestants regularly helped one another haul timber, mix mortar, and clear hillside paths, turning the island into a testament to compassion and human dignity in adversity.
Archival records of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and the Batam Indonesia Free Zone Authority (BP Batam) document that in mid-1979, as tens of thousands of Indochinese boat people landed on scattered islands across Indonesia's Natuna, Anambas, and Riau archipelagos, the Indonesian government and UNHCR designated an eighty-hectare site at Sijantung on Galang Island as a centralized Refugee Processing Centre. Almost immediately after the first wooden barracks of Site I opened in late 1979 and 1980, Buddhist monks and laypeople among the arrivals built a modest timber-and-tin shrine on the upper hillside named Chua Kim Son / Quan Am Tu.
By 1990, as Site II expanded to house a new wave of asylum seekers and tropical humidity weathered the original wooden shrine, the Galang Buddhist Committee, supported by donations sent back by former Galang refugees already resettled in the United States, Australia, Canada, and Europe, undertook a complete reconstruction in reinforced concrete, creating the enduring double-eaved sanctuary, bell pavilion, and statuary garden seen today.
Because Indonesian road signs and tourism maps refer to the site as Vihara Quan Am Tu, international visitors who do not read Vietnamese sometimes assume the temple is a traditional Chinese Indonesian klenteng founded by local Riau merchants. In fact, every inscription on the temple facade is written in Romanized Vietnamese (Quoc ngu), including the upper title CHUA KIM SON, the lower plaque QUAN AM TU, and the poetic Vietnamese couplets flanking the doorway, marking it unmistakably as a monument created by Vietnamese refugees between 1979 and 1990.
IISeventeen Years of the Galang Humanitarian Sanctuary (1979 to 1996) and Its Preservation Today
The story of Chua Kim Son is inseparably bound to the seventeen-year humanitarian history of Galang Refugee Camp from 1979 to 1996. Following the July 1979 Geneva Conference on Indochinese Refugees, Indonesia agreed to provide a safe temporary processing island where boat rescues and coastal arrivals could receive medical care from the Indonesian Red Cross (PMI), language and vocational schooling, and resettlement interviews with embassies of receiving countries. At that time, Galang Island was covered in dense jungle and separated from Batam by deep tidal straits accessible only by boat.
Over those seventeen years, the eighty-hectare camp grew into a self-contained town Divided into Site I and Site II, complete with a hospital, youth center, schools, markets, post office, administrative offices, and houses of worship. More than 250,000 Indochinese refugees, overwhelmingly Vietnamese boat people along with Cambodian and Lao families, passed through Galang Island before beginning new lives overseas or returning home.
Throughout those years of waiting, Chua Kim Son served as the spiritual refuge of the camp. Daily morning and evening chanting steadied anxious hearts; during Lunar New Year (Tet), Vesak, and the seventh-month Ullambana festival, thousands gathered in the temple courtyard to share vegetarian food, pray for separated relatives, and honor those lost at sea. After the camp officially closed in September 1996 and the completion of the Barelang Bridges in 1998 connected Galang directly to Batam by highway, the Batam authority preserved the camp as the Kamp Vietnam Historical Site, welcoming back thousands of former refugees and their children on pilgrimages of remembrance and gratitude.
- July 1979Establishment of the Galang Island Refugee Processing Centre by Indonesia and UNHCRFollowing the 1979 Geneva Conference, the Government of Indonesia and UNHCR establish an 80-hectare humanitarian camp at Sijantung on Galang Island with medical support from the Indonesian Red Cross (PMI).
- Late 1979 to 1980Vietnamese Buddhist refugees construct the first timber Chua Kim Son shrineRefugees housed in Barrack I clear a hillside plot and build an initial wooden Buddhist sanctuary named Chua Kim Son (Quan Am Tu) to chant sutras and pray for fellow boat people.
- 1990Complete reconstruction of Chua Kim Son / Quan Am Tu in reinforced concreteRefugee craftsmen and lay Buddhists, aided by contributions from resettled alumni abroad, rebuild the sanctuary in durable concrete with curved dragon-and-phoenix eaves and outdoor statues of Avalokitesvara.
- September 1996Official closure of the Galang Refugee Camp after 17 years of serviceHaving sheltered and processed over 250,000 refugees between 1979 and 1996, UNHCR formally hands the Galang site, including its temples, churches, and cemetery, back to the Indonesian government.
- 1998Inauguration of the six Barelang Bridges linking Batam, Rempang, and GalangInitiated by Dr. B.J. Habibie, the Barelang Bridge highway links Galang Island directly to Batam by road, enabling the preservation of Kamp Vietnam as a public historical site.
- 21st centuryOngoing conservation and global diaspora pilgrimages of remembranceBP Batam, local Buddhist associations in Batam, and returning Vietnamese diaspora delegations regularly repaint Chua Kim Son, tend the 503 graves of Nghia Trang Cemetery, and hold memorial services.
Nghia Trang Cemetery (Pemakaman Nghia Trang) and the 503 hillside graves. A short walk down the shaded road from Chua Kim Son leads to the camp cemetery, still officially signposted in Indonesian using the original Vietnamese words Pemakaman Nghia Trang. Resting beneath tall pines on the quiet slope are 503 concrete graves of Vietnamese men, women, and children who succumbed to exhaustion after weeks adrift at sea or died of illness in the camp hospital between 1979 and 1996. Each headstone is inscribed in Vietnamese with the person's name, birth year, hometown in Vietnam, and date of passing.
At the entrance stands a bilingual Vietnamese-English memorial stele dedicated to all who perished in search of freedom. For returning families and visitors alike, lighting incense at Chua Kim Son and walking down to place fresh flowers at Nghia Trang Cemetery forms a single, unbroken act of remembrance.
IIISouthern Vietnamese Temple Craftsmanship, the Sea-Facing Avalokitesvara Shrine, and the Camp Memorials
Architecturally, Chua Kim Son (Quan Am Tu) is a remarkable work of vernacular memory: every curved roof eave, dragon relief, lotus pedestal, and calligraphic couplet was fashioned in 1990 by refugee builders working purely from their recollection of traditional temples in southern and central Vietnam, using simple cement, rebar, and hand-mixed paint. The result is an authentic Vietnamese Buddhist sanctuary standing amidst the equatorial island flora of the Riau Archipelago.
Set upon an elevated terrace reached by twin flights of balustraded stairs, the main hall features a two-tiered, eight-sloped roof painted bright saffron yellow, crowned along its ridge by two lively blue-and-gold dragons flanking the Dharma wheel and phoenix finials at the upturned corners. The upper clerestory displays the bold Vietnamese title CHUA KIM SON, while the lower porch lintel bears QUAN AM TU above columns inscribed with Vietnamese couplets praising the Bodhisattva's compassion across the southern seas.
Surrounding the main hall across the hillside terrace are outdoor devotional sculptures and the wider humanitarian landmarks of the former camp, forming an integrated landscape of faith and historical memory.
Rebuilt in reinforced concrete in 1990 on a raised hillside plinth, the hall features traditional Vietnamese curved eaves, twin staircase approaches, Vietnamese poetic couplets, and an inner altar enshrining Sakyamuni Buddha, Amitabha Buddha, Avalokitesvara, Ksitigarbha, and memorial tablets for departed refugees.
Standing on the sunlit terrace beside the hall is a white statue of Avalokitesvara Bodhisattva on a lotus pedestal holding the vase of compassionate nectar and looking out toward the sea, accompanied by hand-sculpted figures of Arhats, Dharma guardians, and sacred animals.
Located on a neighboring wooded hill within the camp, this distinctive steep-gabled church and Marian grotto was built by Vietnamese Catholic refugees, reflecting the close interfaith fellowship of the island community.
The tranquil pine-shaded burial ground preserves 503 concrete and pebble-washed graves of Vietnamese refugees who passed away between 1979 and 1996, fronted by a bilingual memorial monument.
Nearby open-air pavilions shelter original wooden fishing boats that carried dozens of refugees across the South China Sea, alongside the Humanity Statue, the former PMI camp hospital, and the UNHCR historical photo museum.
| Feature | Historical data and site specifications | Verified source |
|---|---|---|
| Operational period of Galang Camp | 1979 to September 1996 (17 years), sheltering approximately 250,000 Indochinese refugees | UNHCR Archives and Wikidata Q5517966 |
| Construction dates of Chua Kim Son | Initial timber shrine built 1979 to 1980; reconstructed in reinforced concrete in 1990 | Temple inscriptions and BP Batam Heritage Records |
| Extent of Kamp Vietnam Heritage Site | Approximately 80 hectares at Sijantung Village, Galang Island, linked to Batam via the 6 Barelang Bridges | Riau Islands Provincial Tourism Office (Kepulauan Riau) |
| Nghia Trang Cemetery | 503 documented graves of Vietnamese boat people (1979 to 1996) with bilingual commemorative stele | Wisata Sejarah Kamp Vietnam site registry |
| Administrative location | Former Galang Refugee Camp, Sijantung Village, Galang District, Batam City, Riau Islands Province | Batam City Government and BP Batam |
IVThe Lie of the Land
Situated near the southern gateway of the South China Sea and the Singapore Strait, the island geography of Galang and the hillside siting of Chua Kim Son illustrate a sheltered archipelago harbor backed by forested ridges and looking out toward the ancestral sea. Below is a comparative reading of its terrain and orientation through the library's traditional landform framework.
Examining the macro-archipelago setting at coordinates 0.7583 degrees north, 104.2189 degrees east (just eighty kilometers north of the Equator), Galang Island forms the southern link in the north-south chain of Batam, Rempang, and Galang islands. On maritime charts of the Riau Archipelago, Galang is shielded on the east by Bintan and the Lingga Islands and on the west by Bulan Island and Sumatra, creating a calm inner sea basin after the open expanses of the South China Sea (the Natuna Sea). In traditional coastal geomancy, an island encircled by outer barrier islands resembles a lotus cup cradled by surrounding petals, breaking fierce ocean swells to provide a quiet haven of recovery.
Within the local topography of Sijantung Village, the refugee builders sited Chua Kim Son high upon a well-drained red-earth hillside backed by dense tropical forest rising behind the sanctuary as a protective rear tortoise screen, while gentle flanking spurs cradle the terrace on left and right. The open forecourt and twin stairways form a bright inner court overlooking the green valley below.
Most poignantly, the temple facade and the outdoor statue of Avalokitesvara Bodhisattva face northeast toward the South China Sea and distant Vietnam over a thousand kilometers across the water: resting securely upon the hospitable soil of Indonesia while keeping compassionate watch over the ocean routes and the souls of those who never reached shore.
VDiaspora Return Pilgrimages, Seventh-Month Ullambana Memorial Rites, and Batam Buddhist Devotion
Although the refugee barracks closed in 1996 and no Vietnamese residents live permanently on Galang Island today, the altar lamps inside Chua Kim Son (Quan Am Tu) continue to burn brightly. Everyday care is maintained by heritage staff of BP Batam alongside local Indonesian and Chinese Buddhist communities from Batam City, who drive south across the Barelang Bridges on new-moon and full-moon days to offer fruit, oil, and incense. Throughout the year, the temple becomes the focal point of emotional return pilgrimages by former refugees and their descendants from around the globe.
| Season | Calendar system | Observance | Rites and commemorative activities at Chua Kim Son and Galang Island |
|---|---|---|---|
| First lunar month (Lunar New Year) | Lunar calendar (Tet and Imlek) | New Year Pilgrimage and Peace Prayers by Batam Buddhists and Visitors | During Lunar New Year and the Lantern Festival, Buddhist families from Batam, Singapore, Malaysia, and Vietnam travel across the Barelang Bridges to offer incense before Sakyamuni Buddha and Avalokitesvara and support the upkeep of the sanctuary. |
| Third lunar month (Qingming / Thanh Minh) and summer months | Lunar and Gregorian calendars | Diaspora Return Pilgrimages and Grave-Tending at Nghia Trang Cemetery | Delegations of former Vietnamese boat people from Australia, the United States, Canada, Europe, and Vietnam return to Galang Island with their children to repaint headstones at the 503 graves of Nghia Trang Cemetery and invite monastic sanghas to chant memorial sutras inside Chua Kim Son. |
| Full moon of the fourth lunar month | Buddhist lunar calendar | Vesak (Hari Raya Waisak) Floral Offerings | Local Batam Buddhist fellowships include Vihara Quan Am Tu in annual Vesak devotions, adorning the altar with fresh flowers and candles. |
| Seventh lunar month | Lunar calendar (Ullambana / Vu Lan Season) | Ullambana Requiem for Souls Lost at Sea and in Galang Camp | The most solemn annual observance at the temple: visiting Buddhist monks and lay pilgrims chant the Ksitigarbha and Ullambana sutras, perform spirit-feeding offerings, and light candles for the 503 graves of Nghia Trang and all nameless souls lost in the South China Sea. |
A living bridge of gratitude between the Vietnamese diaspora and Indonesia. More than four decades after the first refugee boats reached Galang Island, children who were born in the camp hospital or took their first steps on the steps of Chua Kim Son now return as doctors, teachers, engineers, and community leaders from Melbourne, California, Toronto, Paris, and Ho Chi Minh City. Standing beneath the golden dragon eaves of the temple they or their parents helped build with bare hands, their visits transform a site of past hardship into a place of healing, historical education, and deep thanksgiving to the people of Indonesia who offered shelter in an hour of need.
VILocation And How To Get There
- Address
- Former Galang Refugee Camp (Wisata Sejarah Kamp Vietnam), Sijantung, Galang Island, Batam, Riau Islands, Indonesia
- Getting there
- The temple is located inside the Former Galang Refugee Camp (Wisata Sejarah Kamp Vietnam) at Sijantung Village on Galang Island, approximately 50 to 55 kilometers south of central Batam (Nagoya and Batam Center International Ferry Terminal). From Singapore's HarbourFront or Tanah Merah ferry terminals, high-speed ferries cross to Batam Center or Sekupang in 45 to 60 minutes. Because public buses do not run all the way to Galang Island, the most convenient way to reach the temple from Batam is to hire a private car with driver or taxi southward along the scenic Trans Barelang Highway across all six Barelang Bridges (connecting Batam, Tonton, Nipah, Setoko, Rempang, and Galang islands), a drive of roughly 60 to 75 minutes.
- Coordinates
- 0.7583, 104.2189
Chua Kim Son (Vihara Quan Am Tu) stands within the Kamp Vietnam Historical Site on Galang Island and is open daily from morning until late afternoon. Visitors are asked to dress modestly in respect for both the active Buddhist sanctuary and the solemn humanitarian memorial grounds, and to remove shoes before entering the Main Buddha Hall. Those wishing to offer incense at the temple and at the 503 graves of Nghia Trang Cemetery may bring incense sticks and fresh flowers from Batam City, taking care to place lit incense only in designated burners to prevent brush fires during dry weather.
Nearby places in the library
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?Quick Questions
Who built Chua Kim Son (Quan Am Tu) on Galang Island and when?
The temple was built by Vietnamese Buddhist boat people sheltered in the Galang Refugee Camp. An initial timber shrine was raised in 1979 to 1980 when the camp opened, and in 1990 refugee artisans and donors reconstructed the sanctuary in reinforced concrete in traditional southern Vietnamese temple style.
How long did the Galang Refugee Camp operate and how many people passed through it?
Administered jointly by the Government of Indonesia and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), the 80-hectare Galang Refugee Camp operated for 17 years from 1979 until September 1996, providing temporary asylum to more than 250,000 Indochinese refugees (primarily Vietnamese boat people) prior to third-country resettlement or repatriation.
Why does the temple carry both names Chua Kim Son and Quan Am Tu?
Both titles are sculpted in Romanized Vietnamese across the front facade: CHUA KIM SON (Golden Mountain Pagoda) on the upper roof tier recalls the steadfast mountain of Dharma and ancestral homeland, while QUAN AM TU (Temple of Avalokitesvara) above the porch honors the Bodhisattva of Compassion to whom boat people prayed during storms at sea. Indonesian maps use the lower inscription, Vihara Quan Am Tu.
What other historical landmarks are preserved alongside Chua Kim Son in the Galang Camp site?
Spread across the 80-hectare forested valley are the Catholic Church of the Immaculate Conception (Gereja Katolik Maria Immaculata), a Protestant chapel, Nghia Trang Cemetery (Pemakaman Nghia Trang) containing 503 refugee graves, the Humanity Statue (Monumen Kemanusiaan), three preserved wooden refugee boats, the former Indonesian Red Cross (PMI) hospital, and the UNHCR camp museum.
How can visitors travel from Singapore or central Batam to Chua Kim Son on Galang Island?
Since the completion of the six Barelang Bridges in 1998, Galang Island is connected directly to Batam by road. Visitors can take a 45-minute ferry from Singapore to Batam Center Ferry Terminal (or fly into Batam's Hang Nadim Airport) and hire a taxi or car southward along the Trans Barelang Highway for about 50 kilometers (roughly 1 hour) straight to Kamp Vietnam.