The State of Sarawak is presently divided into eleven administrative divisions. Kapit Division was promulgated as the Seventh Division on 2nd April 1973. Kapit Division is located in the central part of Borneo. It is bordered by Kalimantan, Indonesia at the south and east, Miri and Bintulu Divisions at the north and Sibu Division at the west. It is also the largest division in Sarawak with an area of 38,934 sq km, almost one-third of the total land area of Sarawak (124,450 sq km).

Kapit Division is a mountainous region mostly (80%) covered by dense primary forests. Low lying plains are found in Sungai Tunoh, Sungai Melinau, Sungai Tiau, Sungai Mujong, Nanga Merit and Nanga Lajan areas.

Undulating low hills are also found in areas between Bakun Resettlement Scheme in Sungai Asap and Tabau.

The mighty Rejang River (at 551 km), the longest river in Malaysia, and its main upper tributaries, Batang Baleh, Batang Katibas, Batang Balui and Sungai Belaga flow through the division. These rivers are the main means of transportation in the division.

From Sibu, Song is 85km away and Kapit 126km. Both are found off the Rejang River. Belaga is located in the upper Rejang Basin, at the confluence of the Belaga and Balui Rivers and is about 281km from Sibu town (155km from Kapit).

Penduduk

In 2000 census, Kapit Division recorded a total population of 98,841 people which constituted only 4.9% of the total population in Sarawak (2,009,893). Population by district is Kapit: 56,709, Song: 19,236 and Belaga: 22,896 meanwhile population density is 2.5 (person per sq km). About 88.4% of the population settles in rural areas and 57.4% resides in Kapit District.

The Iban are the largest ethnic group in Kapit, at 67.4%. The rest are Orang Ulu (18.7%), Chinese (6.7%), Malay (3.4%) and Melanau (1.2%).

There are 534 longhouses in the division, most of them located along the major rivers.
About 90% of the Iban inhabits the Rejang up to, and a little beyond, Kapit as well as the lower reaches of the Baleh and its tributaries.

The Orang Ulu refers to a number of smaller ethnic groups that settle upriver mainly in Belaga District and the term ‘Orang Ulu’ literally means ‘upriver’ people.

Two main groups of Orang Ulu in the Kapit Division are the Kayan and the Kenyah. Other smaller communities are Kajang (include Punan or Punan Bah, Sekapan, Kejaman, Lahanan, Tanjong) and Ukit. The area is home as well to nomadic Penan community, many of whom are still hunter-gatherers.

Most Iban and Orang Ulu work in logging camps and are subsistence farmers practising shifting cultivation.

The Chinese live around the Kapit, Song and Belaga towns and four Malay settlements can be found in the suburbs. These two communities involve mainly in business, private and civil service sectors.