The
Republic of Indonesia ( or ) is a country in
Southeast AsiaManila
Bangkok
Ho Chi Minh City
Kuala Lumpur
Singapore
Yangon
Bandung
Hanoi
Surabaya
Taichung
Kaohsiung
Medan|-|}...
and
OceaniaOceania is a geographical, often geopolitical, region consisting of numerous lands—mostly islands in the Pacific Ocean and vicinity. The term "Oceania" was coined in 1831 by French explorer Dumont d'Urville...
. Indonesia comprises 17,508 islands. With an estimated population of around 237 million people, it is the world's fourth
most populous country, with the world's largest
population of Muslims.
Indonesia is a
republicA republic is a form of government in which the head of state is not a monarch and the people have an impact on its government. The word 'republic' is derived from the Latin phrase res publica which can be translated as "a public affair".Both modern and ancient republics vary widely in their...
, with an elected legislature and
presidentThe President of the Republic of Indonesia is the Head of State as well as the Head of the Government of the Republic of Indonesia.The first president was Sukarno and the current president is Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono.-History of the office:...
. The nation's capital city is
JakartaJakarta is the capital and largest city of Indonesia. It also has a greater population than any other city in Southeast Asia. It was formerly known as Sunda Kelapa , Jayakarta , Batavia , and Djakarta . Located on the northwest coast of Java, it has an area of and a population of 8,489,910...
. The country shares land borders with
Papua New GuineaPapua New Guinea , officially the Independent State of Papua New Guinea, is a country in Oceania, occupying the eastern half of the island of New Guinea and numerous offshore islands...
,
East TimorEast Timor, also known as Timor-Leste is a country in Southeast Asia. It comprises the eastern half of the island of Timor, the nearby islands of Atauro and Jaco, and Oecussi-Ambeno, an exclave on the northwestern side of the island, within Indonesian West Timor...
, and
MalaysiaThe border between the Southeast Asian countries of Indonesia and Malaysia consist of both a land border separating the two countries' territories on the island of Borneo as well as maritime boundaries along the length of the Straits of Malacca, in the South China Sea and in the Celebes Sea.The...
. Other neighboring countries include
SingaporeSingapore , officially the Republic of Singapore, is an island city-state located at the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, lying north of the equator, south of the Malaysian state of Johor and north of Indonesia's Riau Islands. At , Singapore is a microstate and the smallest nation in Southeast...
,
PhilippinesThe Philippines officially known as the Republic of the Philippines, is a country in Southeast Asia with Manila as its capital city. It comprises 7,107 islands in the western Pacific Ocean....
,
AustraliaThe Australia-Indonesia border is a maritime boundary running west from the two countries' tripoint boundary with Papua New Guinea in the western entrance to the Torres Straits through the Arafura Sea and Timor Sea and terminating in the Indian Ocean...
, and the
IndiaIndia, officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the south, the Arabian Sea on the west, and the Bay of Bengal...
n territory of the
Andaman and Nicobar IslandsThe Andaman and Nicobar Islands is a Union Territory of India...
.
The Indonesian archipelago has been an important trade region since at least the seventh century, when the
Srivijaya KingdomSrivijaya or Sriwijaya was an ancient Malay kingdom on the island of Sumatra, Southeast Asia which influenced much of the Maritime Southeast Asia. The earliest solid proof of its existence dates from the 7th century; a Chinese monk, I-Tsing, wrote that he visited Srivijaya in 671 for 6 months...
traded with China and India. Local rulers gradually adopted Indian cultural, religious and political models from the early centuries
CECommon Era, abbreviated as CE, is a designation for the calendar system most commonly used world-wide for numbering the year part of the date...
, and
HinduHinduism in Southeast Asia influenced the former Champa civilization in southern parts of Central Vietnam, Funan in Cambodia, the Khmer Empire in Indochina, the Srivijayan kingdom on Sumatra, the Singhasari kingdom and the Majapahit Empire based in Java, Bali, and the Philippine archipelago...
and
BuddhistBuddhism, as traditionally conceived, is a path of salvation attained through insight into the ultimate nature of reality. It encompasses a variety of traditions, beliefs and practices, largely based on teachings attributed to Siddhartha Gautama, commonly known as the Buddha...
kingdoms flourished. Indonesian history has been influenced by foreign powers drawn to its natural resources. Muslim traders brought
IslamIslam Islam Islam ( al-’islām,
[There are ten pronunciations of Islam in English, differing in whether the first or second syllable has the stress, whether the s is or , and whether the a is pronounced as in father, as in cat, or (when the stress is on the i) as in the a of sofa...]
, and
EuropeEurope is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally divided from Asia to its east by the water divide of the Ural Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian Sea, the Caucasus Mountains , and the Black Sea to the southeast...
an powers fought one another to monopolize trade in the Spice Islands of
MalukuThe Maluku Islands are an archipelago in Indonesia, and part of the larger Maritime Southeast Asia region. Tectonically they are located on the Halmahera Plate within the Molucca Sea Collision Zone. Geographically they are located east of Sulawesi , west of New Guinea, and north of Timor...
during the
Age of DiscoveryThe Age of Discovery, also known as the Age of Exploration, was a period in history starting in the 15th century and continuing into the 17th century, during which Europeans and its descendants intensively explored and mapped the world...
. Following three and a half centuries of
Dutch colonialismThe Dutch East Indies, or Netherlands East Indies, was the Dutch colony that became modern Indonesia following World War II.It was formed from the nationalised colonies of the former Dutch East India Company that came under the administration of the Netherlands in 1800...
, Indonesia secured
its independenceThe Proclamation of Indonesian Independence was read at 10.00 a.m. on Friday, August 17, 1945. The declaration marked the start of the diplomatic and armed-resistance of the Indonesian National Revolution, fighting against the forces of the Netherlands until the latter officially acknowledged...
after World War II. Indonesia's history has since been turbulent, with challenges posed by natural disasters, corruption, separatism, a democratization process, and periods of rapid economic change.
Across its many islands, Indonesia consists of distinct ethnic, linguistic, and religious groups. The Javanese are the largest and most politically dominant ethnic group. Indonesia has developed a shared identity defined by
a national languageIndonesian is the official national language of Indonesia. It is based on a version of Classical Malay of the Riau-Johor Sultanate. It was first declared the official language with the declaration of Indonesian independence in 1945, following the 1928 unifying-language declaration in the...
, ethnic diversity, religious pluralism within a majority Muslim population, and a history of colonialism including rebellion against it.
Indonesia's national motto,
"Bhinneka Tunggal IkaBhinneka Tunggal Ika is the official national motto of Indonesia. The phrase is Old Javanese and is often loosely translated as "Unity in Diversity," but literally means " in pieces, yet One." It is inscribed in the Indonesian national symbol, Garuda Pancasila , and is mentioned specifically in...
" ("Unity in Diversity"
literally, "many, yet one"), articulates the diversity that shapes the country. However, sectarian tensions and separatism have led to violent confrontations that have undermined political and economic stability. Despite its large population and densely populated regions, Indonesia has vast areas of wilderness that support the world's second highest level of
biodiversityBiodiversity is the variation of life forms within a given ecosystem, biome, or for the entire Earth. Biodiversity is often used as a measure of the health of biological systems...
. The country is richly endowed with natural resources, yet poverty is a defining feature of contemporary Indonesia.
Etymology
The name
Indonesia derives from the Latin
Indus, meaning "India", and the Greek
nesos, meaning "island". The name dates to the 18th century, far predating the formation of independent Indonesia. In 1850, George Earl, an English
ethnologistEthnology is the branch of anthropology that compares and analyzes the origins, distribution, technology, religion, language, and social structure of the ethnic, racial, and/or national divisions of humanity.-Scientific Discipline:Compared to ethnography, the study of single groups through direct...
, proposed the terms
Indunesians — and, his preference,
Malayunesians — for the inhabitants of the "Indian Archipelago or Malayan Archipelago". In the same publication, a student of Earl's,
James Richardson LoganJames Richardson Logan was the man who coined the name Indonesia. He was a prominent lawyer, an editor of the Penang Gazette and a former student of George Earl, an English ethnologist. A marble statue of him stands in the compound of the Penang High Court building. Logan Road is named after him....
, used
Indonesia as a synonym for
Indian Archipelago. However, Dutch academics writing in
East IndiesThe Dutch East Indies, or Netherlands East Indies, was the Dutch colony that became modern Indonesia following World War II.It was formed from the nationalised colonies of the former Dutch East India Company that came under the administration of the Netherlands in 1800...
publications were reluctant to use
Indonesia. Instead, they used the terms
Malay Archipelago (
Maleische Archipel); the
Netherlands East Indies (
Nederlandsch Oost Indië), popularly
Indië;
the East (
de Oost); and even
Insulinde.
From 1900, the name Indonesia became more common in academic circles outside the Netherlands, and Indonesian nationalist groups adopted it for political expression.
Adolf BastianAdolf Bastian was a 19th century polymath best remembered for his contributions to the development of ethnography and the development of anthropology as a discipline...
, of the University of Berlin, popularized the name through his book
Indonesien oder die Inseln des Malayischen Archipels, 1884–1894. The first Indonesian scholar to use the name was
Suwardi SuryaningratKi Hajar Dewantara , born Raden Mas Soewardi Soerjaningrat in Yogyakarta, was a pioneer in the field of education in Indonesia....
(Ki Hajar Dewantara), when he established a press bureau in the Netherlands with the name
Indonesisch Pers-bureau in 1913.
History
Fossilized remains of
Homo erectusHomo erectus is an extinct species of the genus Homo, which originated in Africa and spread as far as China and Java. Depending on the definition of the species, it is considered to be either a direct ancestor of modern humans, or a separate species which co-existed with the distinct Homo...
, popularly known as the "
Java ManJava Man is the name given to fossils discovered in 1891 at Trinil - Ngawi Regency on the banks of the Solo River in East Java, Indonesia, one of the first known specimens of Homo erectus...
", suggest that the Indonesian archipelago was inhabited two million to 500,000 years ago.
Austronesian peopleAustronesian peoples are a population in Oceania and Southeast Asia that speak languages of the Austronesian languages family. Austronesian peoples include: Taiwanese aborigines; the majority ethnic groups of East Timor, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Brunei, Madagascar, Micronesia, and...
, who form the majority of the modern population, migrated to South East Asia from Taiwan. They arrived in Indonesia around 2000 BCE, and confined the native
Melanesian peoplesMelanesia is a subregion of Oceania extending from the western end of the Pacific Ocean to the Arafura Sea, and eastward to Fiji. The region comprises most of the islands immediately north and northeast of Australia...
to the far eastern regions as they expanded. Ideal agricultural conditions, and the mastering of
wet-field rice cultivationA paddy field is a flooded parcel of arable land used for growing rice and other semiaquatic crops. Rice can also be grown in dry-fields, but from the twentieth century paddy field agriculture became the dominant form of growing rice...
as early as the eighth century BCE,
allowed villages, towns, and small kingdoms to flourish by the first century CE. Indonesia's strategic sea-lane position fostered inter-island and international trade. For example, trade links with both Indian kingdoms and China were established several centuries BCE. Trade has since fundamentally shaped Indonesian history.
From the seventh century CE, the powerful
SrivijayaSrivijaya or Sriwijaya was an ancient Malay kingdom on the island of Sumatra, Southeast Asia which influenced much of the Maritime Southeast Asia. The earliest solid proof of its existence dates from the 7th century; a Chinese monk, I-Tsing, wrote that he visited Srivijaya in 671 for 6 months...
naval kingdom flourished as a result of trade and the influences of Hinduism and Buddhism that were imported with it. Between the eighth and 10th centuries CE, the agricultural Buddhist
SailendraSailendra is the name of an influential Indonesian dynasty that emerged in 8th century Java.The Sailendras were active promoters of Mahayana Buddhism and covered the Kedu Plain of Central Java with Buddhist monuments, including the world famous Borobudur...
and Hindu
MataramMataram was an Indianized kingdom based in Central Java between the 8th and 10th centuries AD and was established by king Sanjaya, he was also known as the founder of Sanjaya dynasty. The Sanjaya dynasty reign the kingdom, but then in later period the kingdom was ruled by Isyana Dynasty...
dynasties thrived and declined in inland
JavaJava is an island of Indonesia and the site of its capital city, Jakarta. Once the centre of powerful Hindu-Buddhist kingdoms, Islamic sultanates, and the core of the colonial Dutch East Indies, Java now plays a dominant role in the economic and political life of Indonesia...
, leaving grand religious monuments such as Sailendra's
BorobudurBorobudur is a ninth-century Mahayana Buddhist Monument in Magelang, Central Java, Indonesia. The monument comprises six square platforms topped by three circular platforms, and is decorated with 2,672 relief panels and 504 Buddha statues...
and Mataram's
PrambananPrambanan is the largest Hindu temple compound in Central Java in Indonesia, located approximately 18 km east of Yogyakarta.The temple is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and is one of the largest Hindu temples in south-east Asia...
. The Hindu Majapahit kingdom was founded in eastern Java in the late 13th century, and under
Gajah MadaGajah Mada was, according to Javanese old manuscripts, poems and mythology, a powerful military leader and prime minister of the Majapahit Empire, credited with bringing the empire to its peak of glory...
, its influence stretched over much of Indonesia; this period is often referred to as a "Golden Age" in Indonesian history.
Although Muslim traders first traveled through South East Asia early in the Islamic era, the
earliest evidence of Islamized populationsIslam is thought to have first been adopted by peoples of the Indonesian archipelago sometime during the eleventh century, although Muslims had visited the archipelago early in the Muslim era. By the end of the 16th century, Islam, through conversion, had surpassed Hinduism and Buddhism as the...
in Indonesia dates to the 13th century in northern
SumatraSumatra is an island in western Indonesia, westernmost of the Sunda Islands. It is the largest island entirely in Indonesia , and the sixth largest island in the world .-Etymology:Sumatra was known in ancient times by the Sanskrit...
. Other Indonesian areas gradually adopted Islam, and it was the dominant religion in
JavaJava is an island of Indonesia and the site of its capital city, Jakarta. Once the centre of powerful Hindu-Buddhist kingdoms, Islamic sultanates, and the core of the colonial Dutch East Indies, Java now plays a dominant role in the economic and political life of Indonesia...
and Sumatra by the end of the 16th century. For the most part, Islam overlaid and mixed with existing cultural and religious influences, which shaped the predominant form of Islam in Indonesia, particularly in Java. The first Europeans arrived in Indonesia in 1512, when Portuguese traders, led by
Francisco SerrãoFrancisco Serrão was a Portuguese explorer and a cousin of Ferdinand Magellan. His 1512 voyage was the first known European sailing east past Malacca through Indonesia and the Indies. He became a member of the Sultan Bayan Sirrullah, the ruler of Ternate, becoming his personal advisor...
, sought to monopolize the sources of
nutmegNutmeg or Myristica fragrans is an evergreen tree indigenous to the Banda Islands in the Moluccas of Indonesia, or Spice Islands. Until the mid 19th century this was the world's only source...
,
cloveCloves are the aromatic dried flower buds of a tree in the family Myrtaceae. Cloves are native to Indonesia and India and used as a spice in cuisine all over the world...
s, and
cubeb pepperCubeb , or tailed pepper, is a plant in genus Piper, cultivated for its fruit and essential oil. It is mostly grown in Java and Sumatra, hence sometimes called Java pepper. The fruits are gathered before they are ripe, and carefully dried...
in
MalukuThe Maluku Islands are an archipelago in Indonesia, and part of the larger Maritime Southeast Asia region. Tectonically they are located on the Halmahera Plate within the Molucca Sea Collision Zone. Geographically they are located east of Sulawesi , west of New Guinea, and north of Timor...
. Dutch and British traders followed. In 1602 the Dutch established the
Dutch East India CompanyThe Dutch East India Company was a chartered company established in 1602, when the States-General of the Netherlands granted it a 21-year monopoly to carry out colonial activities in Asia. It was the first multinational corporation in the world and the first company to issue stock...
(VOC) and became the dominant European power. Following bankruptcy, the VOC was formally dissolved in 1800, and the government of the Netherlands established the
Dutch East IndiesThe Dutch East Indies, or Netherlands East Indies, was the Dutch colony that became modern Indonesia following World War II.It was formed from the nationalised colonies of the former Dutch East India Company that came under the administration of the Netherlands in 1800...
as a nationalized colony.
For most of the colonial period, Dutch control over the archipelago was tenuous outside of coastal strongholds; only in the early 20th century did Dutch dominance extend to what was to become Indonesia's current boundaries. The Japanese invasion and
subsequent occupationImperial Japan occupied Indonesia during World War II from March 1942 until after the end of War in 1945. The period was one of the most critical in Indonesian history...
during
World War IIWorld War II, or the Second World War , was a global military conflict which involved a majority of the world's nations, including all great powers, organized into two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
ended Dutch rule, and encouraged the previously suppressed Indonesian independence movement. Two days after the surrender of Japan in August 1945,
SukarnoSukarno, born Kusno Sosrodihardjo was the first President of Indonesia. He helped the country win its independence from the Netherlands and was President from 1945 to 1967, presiding with mixed success over the country's turbulent transition to independence...
, an influential nationalist leader, declared independence and was appointed president. The Netherlands tried to reestablish their rule, and an
armed and diplomatic struggleThe Indonesian National Revolution or Indonesian War of Independence was an armed conflict and diplomatic struggle between Indonesia and the Netherlands, and an internal social revolution...
ended in December 1949, when in the face of international pressure, the Dutch formally recognized Indonesian independence (with the exception of The Dutch territory of West New Guinea, which was incorporated following the 1962
New York AgreementThe New York Agreement was an agreement brokered by the United States in 1962 to transfer the colony of Netherlands New Guinea from the Netherlands to Indonesia....
, and
UNThe United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and the achieving of world peace...
-mandated
Act of Free ChoiceAct of Free Choice was the title of an Indonesian military presentation in 1969 to establish an Indonesian claim that the Melanesian population of Western New Guinea had chosen Indonesian rule and rejected independence...
).
Sukarno moved from democracy towards authoritarianism, and maintained his power base by balancing the opposing forces of
the MilitaryThe Indonesian National Armed Forces in 2009 comprises approximately 432,129 personnel including the Army , Navy including the Indonesian Marine Corps and the Air Force .The Indonesian Army was formed during the Indonesian National Revolution, when it undertook a...
and the
Communist Party of IndonesiaThe Communist Party of Indonesia was the largest non-ruling communist party in the world prior to being crushed in 1965 and banned the following year.-Forerunners:...
(PKI). An attempted coup on 30 September 1965 was countered by the army, who led
a violent anti-communist purgeThe Indonesian killings of 1965–66 were a violent anti-Communist purge following an abortive coup in the Indonesian capital of Jakarta. The most widely accepted estimates are that over half a million people were killed...
, during which the PKI was blamed for the coup and effectively destroyed. Between 500,000 and one million people were killed. The head of the military, General Suharto, out-maneuvered the politically weakened Sukarno, and was formally appointed president in March 1968. His
New Order administrationThe New Order is the term coined by former Indonesian President Suharto to characterize his regime as he came to power in 1966 . Suharto used this term to contrast his rule with that of his predecessor, Sukarno...
was supported by the US government, and encouraged
foreign direct investmentForeign direct investment in its classic form is defined as a company from one country making a physical investment into building a factory in another country. It is the establishment of an enterprise by a foreigner. Its definition can be extended to include investments made to acquire lasting...
in Indonesia, which was a major factor in the subsequent three decades of substantial economic growth. However, the authoritarian "New Order" was widely accused of corruption and suppression of political opposition.
In 1997 and 1998, Indonesia was the country hardest hit by the Asian Financial Crisis. This increased popular discontent with the New Order and led to
popular protestsSuharto retired as president of Indonesia in May 1998 following collapse of support for his three-decade long Presidency of Indonesia. The resignation followed severe economic and political crisis in the previous 6 to 12 months.-Dissent under the New Order:...
. Suharto resigned on 21 May 1998. In 1999, East Timor voted to secede from Indonesia, after
a twenty-five-year military occupationIndonesia occupied East Timor from December 1975 to October 1999.After centuries of Portuguese colonial rule in East Timor, a 1974 coup in Portugal led to decolonization among its former colonies, creating instability in East Timor and leaving its future uncertain...
that was marked by international condemnation of often brutal repression of the East Timorese. Since Suharto's resignation,
a strengthening of democratic processesSince the fall of Suharto in 1998, Indonesia has been in a period of transition. This era has been called the period of "Reformasi"...
has included a regional autonomy program, and the first
direct presidential election in 2004The first direct presidential election in Indonesia was held in two rounds on 5 July and 20 September 2004. Prior to a 2002 amendment to the Constitution of Indonesia, the President and Vice President was elected by the country's top legislative body, the People's Consultative Assembly.Under the...
. Political and economic instability, social unrest, corruption, and terrorism have slowed progress. Although relations among different religious and ethnic groups are largely harmonious, acute sectarian discontent and violence remain problems in some areas. A political settlement to an armed separatist conflict in
AcehAceh is a special territory of Indonesia, located on the northern tip of the island of Sumatra. Its full name is Nanggröe Aceh Darussalam. Past spellings of its name include Acheh, Atjeh and Achin.It is thought to have been in Aceh where Islam was first established in Southeast Asia...
was achieved in 2005.
Government and politics
Indonesia is a
republicA republic is a form of government in which the head of state is not a monarch and the people have an impact on its government. The word 'republic' is derived from the Latin phrase res publica which can be translated as "a public affair".Both modern and ancient republics vary widely in their...
with a
presidential systemA presidential system is a system of government where an executive branch exists and presides separately from the legislature, to which it is not accountable and which cannot, in normal circumstances, dismiss it....
. As a
unitary stateA unitary state is a sovereign state governed as one single unit in which the central government is supreme and any administrative divisions exercise only powers that the central government chooses to delegate...
, power is concentrated in the central government. Following the
resignation of President SuhartoSuharto retired as president of Indonesia in May 1998 following collapse of support for his three-decade long Presidency of Indonesia. The resignation followed severe economic and political crisis in the previous 6 to 12 months.-Dissent under the New Order:...
in 1998, Indonesian political and governmental structures have undergone major reforms. Four amendments to the
1945 Constitution of IndonesiaThe Constitution of Indonesia is the basis for the government of the Indonesia.The constitution was written in June, July and August 1945, when Indonesia was emerging from Japanese control at the end of World War II...
have revamped the
executive}}In the study of political science the executive branch of government has sole authority and responsibility for the daily administration of the state bureaucracy. The division of power into separate branches of government is central to the democratic idea of the separation of powers .In many...
,
judicialThe judiciary is the system of courts which interprets and applies the law in the name of the sovereign or state. The judiciary also provides a mechanism for the resolution of disputes...
, and
legislativeA legislature is a type of deliberative assembly with the power to pass, amend and repeal laws. The law created by a legislature is called legislation or statutory law...
branches. The president of Indonesia is the
head of stateHead of state is the generic term for the individual or collective office that serves as the chief public representative of a monarchy, republic, federation, commonwealth or other kind of state...
,
commander-in-chiefA commander-in-chief is the commander of a nation's military forces or significant element of those forces. In the latter case, the force element may be defined as those forces within a particular region or those forces which are associated by function. As a practical term it refers to the...
of the Indonesian National Armed Forces, and the director of domestic governance, policy-making, and foreign affairs. The president appoints a council of ministers, who are not required to be elected members of the legislature. The
2004 presidential electionThe first direct presidential election in Indonesia was held in two rounds on 5 July and 20 September 2004. Prior to a 2002 amendment to the Constitution of Indonesia, the President and Vice President was elected by the country's top legislative body, the People's Consultative Assembly.Under the...
was the first in which the people directly elected the president and vice president. The president may serve a maximum of two consecutive five-year terms.
The highest representative body at national level is the
People's Consultative AssemblyThe People's Consultative Assembly is the legislative branch in Indonesia's political system. It is composed of the members of the People's Representative Council and the Regional Representative Council. Before 2004, and the amendments to the 1945 Constitution, the MPR was the highest governing...
(MPR). Its main functions are supporting and amending the constitution, inaugurating the president, and formalizing broad outlines of state policy. It has the power to impeach the president. The MPR comprises two houses; the
People's Representative CouncilThe People's Representative Council , sometimes referred to as the House of Representatives, is one of two elected national legislative assemblies in Indonesia. Together with the Regional Representatives Council , a second chamber with limited powers, it makes up a third chamber, the People's...
(DPR), with 550 members, and the Regional Representative Council (DPD), with 128 members. The DPR passes legislation and monitors the executive branch; party-aligned members are elected for five-year terms by
proportional representationProportional representation , sometimes referred to as full representation, is a category of electoral formula aimed at securing a close match between the percentage of votes that groups of candidates obtain in elections and the percentage of seats they receive...
. Reforms since 1998 have markedly increased the DPR's role in national governance. The DPD is a new chamber for matters of regional management.
Most civil disputes appear before a State Court; appeals are heard before the High Court. The Supreme Court is the country's highest court, and hears final cassation appeals and conducts case reviews. Other courts include the Commercial Court, which handles bankruptcy and insolvency; a State Administrative Court to hear administrative law cases against the government; a Constitutional Court to hear disputes concerning legality of law, general elections, dissolution of political parties, and the scope of authority of state institutions; and a Religious Court to deal with specific religious cases.
Foreign relations and military
In contrast to Sukarno's anti-imperialistic antipathy to western powers and
tensions with MalaysiaThe Indonesia–Malaysia confrontation was an undeclared war over the future of the island of Borneo, between British-backed Malaysia and Indonesia during 1962–1966. The origins of the conflict lay in Indonesian attempts to destabilise the new Federation of Malaysia, which came into being in 1963...
,
Indonesia's foreign relationsSince independence, Indonesian foreign relations have adhered to a "free and active" foreign policy, seeking to play a role in regional affairs commensurate with its size and location but avoiding involvement in conflicts among major powers...
since the Suharto "New Order" have been based on economic and political cooperation with Western nations. Indonesia maintains close relationships with its neighbors in
AsiaAsia is the world's largest and most populous continent, located in the eastern and northern hemispheres. It covers 8.6% of the earth's total surface area and with approximately 4 billion people, it hosts 60% of the world's current human population.Asia is traditionally defined as part of the...
, and is a founding member of
ASEANThe Association of Southeast Asian Nations, commonly abbreviated ASEAN , is a geo-political and economic organization of 10 countries located in Southeast Asia, which was formed on 8 August 1967 by Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore and Thailand...
and the
East Asia SummitThe East Asia Summit is a forum held annually by leaders of 16 countries in the East Asian region. EAS meetings are held after annual ASEAN leaders’ meetings...
. The nation restored relations with the People's Republic of China in 1990 following a freeze in place since anti-communist purges early in the Suharto era. Indonesia has been a member of the
United NationsThe United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and the achieving of world peace...
since 1950, and was a founder of the
Non-Aligned MovementThe Non-Aligned Movement is an international organisation of states considering themselves not formally aligned with or against any major power bloc. The movement is largely the brainchild of India's first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru, former president of Egypt Gamal Abdul Nasser and Yugoslav...
(NAM) and the
Organisation of the Islamic ConferenceThe Organisation of the Islamic Conference is an international organisation with a permanent delegation to the United Nations. It groups 57 member states, from the Middle East, Africa, Central Asia, Caucasus, Balkans, Southeast Asia and South Asia...
(OIC). Indonesia is signatory to the
ASEAN Free Trade AreaASEAN Free Trade Area is a trade bloc agreement by the Association of Southeast Asian Nations supporting local manufacturing in all ASEAN countries....
agreement, the
Cairns GroupThe Cairns Group is an interest group of 19 agricultural exporting countries, composed of Argentina, Australia, Bolivia, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Indonesia, Malaysia, New Zealand, Pakistan, Paraguay, Peru, the Philippines, South Africa, Thailand, and Uruguay.-History...
, and the
WTOThe World Trade Organization is an international organization designed by its founders to supervise and liberalize international capital trade. The organization officially commenced on January 1, 1995 under the Marrakesh Agreement, replacing the General Agreements on Tariffs and Trade , which...
, and has historically been a member of
OPECThe Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries is a cartel of twelve countries made up of Algeria, Angola, Ecuador, Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Libya, Nigeria, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and Venezuela. OPEC has maintained its headquarters in Vienna since 1965, and hosts regular...
, although it is withdrawing as of 2008 as it is no longer a net exporter of oil. Indonesia has received
humanitarianHumanitarian aid is material or logistical assistance provided for humanitarian purposes, typically in response to humanitarian crises. The primary objective of humanitarian aid is to save lives, alleviate suffering, and maintain human dignity...
and
development aidDevelopment aid or development cooperation is aid given by governments and other agencies to support the economic, social and political development of developing countries.It is distinguished from humanitarian aid as being aimed at alleviating poverty in the...
since 1966, in particular from the United States, western Europe, Australia, and Japan.
The Indonesian Government has worked with other countries to apprehend and prosecute perpetrators of major bombings linked to militant
IslamismIslamism is a set of ideologies holding that Islam is not only a religion but also a political system; that modern Muslims must return to their roots of their religion, and unite politically....
and
Al-QaedaAl-Qaeda , alternatively spelled al-Qaida and sometimes al-Qa'ida, is an Islamist group founded sometime between August 1988 and late 1989 and early 1990...
. The deadliest killed 202 people (including 164 international tourists) in the
BaliBali is an Indonesian island located at the westernmost of the Lesser Sunda Islands, lying between Java to the west and Lombok to the east. It is one of the country's 33 provinces with the provincial capital at Denpasar towards the south of the island....
resort town of
KutaNote: There is also a Kuta on Lombok.Kuta is administratively a district and subdistrict/village in southern Bali, Indonesia. A former fishing village, it was one of the first towns on Bali to see substantial tourist development, and as a beach resort remains one of Indonesia's major tourist...
in 2002. The attacks, and subsequent travel warnings issued by other countries, severely damaged Indonesia's
tourism industryTourism in Indonesia is an important component of the Indonesian economy as well as a significant source of foreign exchange revenues. With a vast archipelago of more than 17,000 islands, the second longest shoreline in the world, over 700 languages and tropical climate, nature and culture are both...
and foreign investment prospects.
Indonesia's 300,000-member armed forces (TNI) include the Army (TNI–AD), Navy (TNI–AL, which includes marines), and Air Force (TNI–AU). The army has about 233,000 active-duty personnel. Defense spending in the national budget was 4% of GDP in 2006, and is controversially supplemented by revenue from military commercial interests and foundations. One of the reforms following the 1998 resignation of Suharto was the removal of formal TNI representation in parliament; nevertheless, its political influence remains extensive.
Separatist movements in the provinces of Aceh and Papua have led to armed conflict, and subsequent allegations of human rights abuses and brutality from all sides. Following a sporadic thirty-year guerrilla war between the
Free Aceh Movement (GAM)The Free Aceh Movement , also known as the Aceh Sumatra National Liberation Front , was a separatist group seeking independence for the Aceh region of Sumatra from Indonesia. GAM fought against Indonesian government forces in the Aceh Insurgency from 1976 to 2005, costing over 15,000 lives...
and the Indonesian military, a ceasefire agreement was reached in 2005. In Papua, there has been a significant, albeit imperfect, implementation of regional autonomy laws, and a reported decline in the levels of violence and
human rights abusesThis is a partial listing of alleged human rights violations in western New Guinea under Indonesian rule . A number of these are included in the report to the Indonesian Human Rights Network by the Allard K Lowenstein International Human Rights Clinic, Yale Law School...
, since the presidency of
Susilo Bambang YudhoyonoSusilo Bambang Yudhoyono is a retired Indonesian Army general officer, and the President of Indonesia. Yudhoyono won the 2004 Indonesian presidential election defeating incumbent President Megawati Sukarnoputri. Widely known in Indonesia by his initials "SBY", he was sworn into office on 20...
.
Administrative divisions
Administratively, Indonesia consists of
33 provincesThe province is the highest tier of local government subnational entity in Indonesia. Each province has its own local government, headed by a governor, and has its own legislative body...
, five of which have special status. Each province has its own political legislature and governor. The provinces are subdivided into regencies (
kabupaten) and cities (
kota), which are further subdivided into subdistricts (
kecamatanA subdistrict is a subdivision of a regency or city in Indonesia. A subdistrict is divided into administrative villages .-Lists of Kecamatan:*Subdistricts of Aceh*Subdistricts of Bali...
), and again into
village groupingsThe village is the lowest level of government administration in Indonesia. It could be a village or a kelurahan. A village is headed by a village chief , which is elected by popular vote. A kelurahan is headed by a lurah....
(either
desa or
kelurahan). Following the implementation of regional autonomy measures in 2001, the regencies and cities have become the key administrative units, responsible for providing most government services. The village administration level is the most influential on a citizen's daily life, and handles matters of a village or neighborhood through an elected
lurah or
kepala desa (village chief).
The provinces of
AcehAceh is a special territory of Indonesia, located on the northern tip of the island of Sumatra. Its full name is Nanggröe Aceh Darussalam. Past spellings of its name include Acheh, Atjeh and Achin.It is thought to have been in Aceh where Islam was first established in Southeast Asia...
,
JakartaJakarta is the capital and largest city of Indonesia. It also has a greater population than any other city in Southeast Asia. It was formerly known as Sunda Kelapa , Jayakarta , Batavia , and Djakarta . Located on the northwest coast of Java, it has an area of and a population of 8,489,910...
,
YogyakartaThe Special Region of Yogyakarta , is the smallest province of Indonesia . It is located on the island of Java. Yogyakarta is the only province in Indonesia that is still governed by that area's precolonial monarchy; The Sultan of Yogyakarta serves as the elected governor of the province...
,
PapuaPapua is the largest province of Indonesia, comprising a majority part of the western half of the island of New Guinea and nearby islands...
, and West Papua have greater legislative privileges and a higher degree of autonomy from the central government than the other provinces. The Acehnese government, for example, has the right to create an independent legal system; in 2003, it instituted a form of
ShariaSharia is an Arabic word meaning ‘way’ or ‘path’. In Arabic, the collocation ‘Šarīʿat Allāh’ is traditionally used not only by Muslims, but also Christians and Jews, sometimes translating expressions such as Torat Elōhīm [תורת אלוהים] or ‘ho nómos toû theoû' '’...
(Islamic law). Yogyakarta was granted the status of Special Region in recognition of its pivotal role in supporting Indonesian Republicans during the Indonesian Revolution.
PapuaPapua is the largest province of Indonesia, comprising a majority part of the western half of the island of New Guinea and nearby islands...
, formerly known as Irian Jaya, was granted special autonomy status in 2001. Jakarta is the country's special capital region.
Indonesian provinces and their capitals
(Indonesian name in parentheses if different from English)
† indicates provinces with Special Status
Geographical Unit
SumatraSumatra is an island in western Indonesia, westernmost of the Sunda Islands. It is the largest island entirely in Indonesia , and the sixth largest island in the world .-Etymology:Sumatra was known in ancient times by the Sanskrit...
- Aceh
Aceh is a special territory of Indonesia, located on the northern tip of the island of Sumatra. Its full name is Nanggröe Aceh Darussalam. Past spellings of its name include Acheh, Atjeh and Achin.It is thought to have been in Aceh where Islam was first established in Southeast Asia...
† (Nanggröe Aceh Darussalam) – Banda AcehBanda Aceh is the provincial capital and largest city of Aceh, Indonesia, located on the island of Sumatra, with an elevation of 21 meters. The population was approximately 260,000 in 2006...
- North Sumatra
North Sumatra is a province of Indonesia. Its capital is Medan. It is the most populous Indonesian province outside of Java.- Geography and population :...
(Sumatera Utara) – MedanMedan is the capital of the province of North Sumatra, Indonesia. Located in the northern part of the province along the coast, Medan is the third largest city in Indonesia. The city is bordered by Deli Serdang Regency to the east, south, and west, and the Strait of Malacca to the...
- West Sumatra
West Sumatra is a province of Indonesia. It lies on the west coast of the island Sumatra, and borders the provinces of North Sumatra to the north, Riau and Jambi to the east, and Bengkulu to the southeast. It includes the Mentawai Islands off the coast...
(Sumatera Barat) – PadangPadang is the capital and largest city of West Sumatra, Indonesia. It is located on the western coast of Sumatra at . It has an area of and a population of over 750,000 people.-History:...
- Riau – Pekanbaru
Pekanbaru is the capital of Riau, a province in Indonesia on the island of Sumatra. It has an area of 632.26 km² and population of over 793,000...
- Riau Islands (Kepulauan Riau) – Tanjung Pinang
Tanjung Pinang or Tanjungpinang is the capital and largest town of the Indonesian province of Riau Islands. The city with 150,000 residents ) and is a trading port between islands in the Riau archipelago...
- Jambi – Jambi (city)
Jambi is a city in Indonesia, capital of Jambi province, on the island of Sumatra. The city is a busy port on the Batang Hari River and an oil- and rubber-producing centre...
- South Sumatra
South Sumatra is a province of Indonesia. It is on the island of Sumatra, and borders the provinces of Lampung to the south, Bengkulu to the west, and Jambi to the north...
(Sumatera Selatan) – PalembangPalembang is the capital city of South Sumatra Province of Indonesia. It was formerly known as the capital city of the ancient Kingdom of Srivijaya. Located on the Musi River banks on the east coast of southern Sumatra island, it has an area of 400,61 square kilometres and a population of 1.441.500...
- Bangka-Belitung
Bangka-Belitung Islands is a province of Indonesia, which includes two main islands, Bangka and Belitung, and several smaller ones that lie from the east of Sumatra to the northeast of South Sumatra province. The Bangka Strait separates Sumatra and Bangka, and the Gaspar Strait separates Bangka and...
(Kepulauan Bangka-Belitung) – Pangkal PinangPangkal Pinang is the largest town on the Indonesian island of Bangka and the capital of the province of Bangka-Belitung. It is located on Bangka's eastern coast at .Landmarks in the city include the Timah Museum, a Chinese temple, and the Pasir Padi beach....
- Bengkulu
Bengkulu is a province of Indonesia. It is on the southwest coast of the island of Sumatra, and borders the provinces of West Sumatra, Jambi, South Sumatra and Lampung. The capital and largest city of the province is Bengkulu city. It was formerly the site of a British garrison, which they called...
– Bengkulu (city)
- Lampung
Lampung is a province of Indonesia, located on the southern tip of the island of Sumatra. It borders the provinces of Bengkulu and South Sumatra. Lampung is the original home of the "Lampung" tribe, who speak a distinct language from other people in Sumatra and have their own alphabet.The province...
– Bandar LampungBandar Lampung is the capital province of Lampung, Indonesia. It was formerly called Tanjungkarang-Telukbetung, the names of the two major sections of the city, before being renamed in 1983...
JavaJava is an island of Indonesia and the site of its capital city, Jakarta. Once the centre of powerful Hindu-Buddhist kingdoms, Islamic sultanates, and the core of the colonial Dutch East Indies, Java now plays a dominant role in the economic and political life of Indonesia...
- Jakarta
Jakarta is the capital and largest city of Indonesia. It also has a greater population than any other city in Southeast Asia. It was formerly known as Sunda Kelapa , Jayakarta , Batavia , and Djakarta . Located on the northwest coast of Java, it has an area of and a population of 8,489,910...
† – Jakarta
- Banten
Banten is a province of Indonesia, located at the western end of Java Island. Banten has an area of 9,160.7 km² and population of 9,782,900 Banten was established in October 2000 after being separated from West Java province. The capital of the province is Serang.- History :Banten in the fifth...
– SerangSerang is a regency of Banten province, Indonesia. The administrative center of the regency and the capital of the province is the independent municipality of Serang . The regency has an area of 1,734.095 km2 and population of 1,834,514 . Serang is about 10 km from Old...
- West Java
West Java , acronym jabar with population around 41.48 million , is the most populous province of Indonesia, located on Java Island. It is slightly larger in area than densely populated Taiwan, but nearly double the population...
(Jawa Barat) – BandungBandung Indonesian: Kota Bandung) is the capital of West Java province in Indonesia, and the country's fourth largest city, and 2nd largest metropolitan area, with 7.4 million in 2007. Located 768 m above sea level, Bandung has relatively year-around cooler temperature than most other Indonesian...
- Central Java
Central Java is a province of Indonesia. The administrative capital is Semarang. It is one of six provinces on the island of Java. The province of Central Java is 32,548.20 km2 in area; approximately a quarter of the total land area of Java...
(Jawa Tengah) – SemarangSemarang is a city on the north coast of the island of Java, Indonesia. It is the capital of the province of Central Java. It has an area of 225.17 km² and a population of approximately 1.5 million people, making it Indonesia's fifth largest city. Semarang is located at...
- Yogyakarta Special Region† – Yogyakarta (city)
Yogyakarta is a city in the Yogyakarta Special Region, Indonesia. It is renowned as a center of classical Javanese fine art and culture such as batik, ballet, drama, music, poetry, and puppet shows. It is also famous as a center for Indonesian higher education...
- East Java
East Java is a province of Indonesia. It is located on the eastern part of the island of Java and also includes neighboring Madura and islands to the east of it, as well as the Bawean islands...
(Jawa Timur) – SurabayaSurabaya is Indonesia's second-largest city, and the capital of the province of East Java. It is located on the northern shore of eastern Java at the mouth of the Mas River and along the edge of the Madura Strait....
Lesser Sunda IslandsThe Nusa Tenggara , or Lesser Sunda Islands, are a group of islands in the middle-south part of Maritime Southeast Asia. Together with the Greater Sunda Islands to the west they make up the Sunda Islands...
- Bali
Bali is an Indonesian island located at the westernmost of the Lesser Sunda Islands, lying between Java to the west and Lombok to the east. It is one of the country's 33 provinces with the provincial capital at Denpasar towards the south of the island....
– DenpasarDenpasar is the capital city of the province of Bali, Indonesia. It is also the site of Ngurah Rai Airport, the main gateway to Bali. It has a population of 491,500 . It is located at .-History:...
- West Nusa Tenggara
West Nusa Tenggara is a province in south-central Indonesia. It covers the western portion of the Lesser Sunda Islands, except for Bali.The two largest islands in the province are Lombok in the west and the larger Sumbawa island in the east. Mataram, on Lombok, is the capital and largest city of...
(Nusa Tenggara Barat) – MataramMataram Indonesian:Kota Mataram is an independent city carved out of Lombok Barat Regency on the west side of the island of Lombok, Indonesia. It is the capital and largest city of West Nusa Tenggara province, and has a population of around 342,896 .Three towns constitute the Mataram area; from...
- East Nusa Tenggara
East Nusa Tenggara is a province of Indonesia, located in the eastern portion of the Lesser Sunda Islands, including West Timor. The provincial capital is Kupang, located on West Timor....
(Nusa Tenggara Timur) – KupangKupang is the provincial capital of East Nusa Tenggara, Indonesia.The city is located in West Timor, and had a population estimated in 2005 at 269,680...
KalimantanIn English, the term Kalimantan refers to the Indonesian portion of the island of Borneo, while in Indonesian, the term "Kalimantan" refers to the whole island of Borneo. The Indonesian territory makes up 73 percent of the island by area, and 70 percent by population...
- West Kalimantan
West Kalimantan is a province of Indonesia. It is one of four Indonesian provinces in Kalimantan, the Indonesian part of the island of Borneo. Its capital city Pontianak is located right on the Equator line....
(Kalimantan Barat) – PontianakPontianak is the capital of the Indonesia province of West Kalimantan. It is a medium-size industrial city on the island of Borneo. It occupies an area of 107.82 km² in the delta of the Kapuas River, at approximately 1143 km, the longest river in Indonesia and the 133rd-longest river in...
- Central Kalimantan
Central Kalimantan is a province of Indonesia, one of four in Kalimantan - the Indonesian part of the island of Borneo. Its provincial capital is Palangkaraya....
(Kalimantan Tengah) – PalangkarayaPalangkaraya is the capital city of the Indonesian province Central Kalimantan, situated between the Kayahan and the Sabangau rivers. The population of the municipality is 160,018...
- South Kalimantan
South Kalimantan/South Borneo is a province of Indonesia. It is one of four Indonesian provinces in the Indonesian part of Borneo. The provincial capital is Banjarmasin...
(Kalimantan Selatan) – BanjarmasinBanjarmasin is the capital of South Kalimantan, Indonesia. It is located on a delta island near the junction of the Barito and Martapura rivers. As a result, Banjarmasin is sometimes called the "River City". Its population is about 627,245 .Banjarmasin is served by the Syamsudin Noor Airport,...
- East Kalimantan
East Kalimantan 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 and Balikpapan...
(Kalimantan Timur) – SamarindaSamarinda is the capital of the Indonesian province of East Kalimantan on the island of Borneo. The city lies on the banks of the Mahakam River...
SulawesiSulawesi is one of the four larger Sunda Islands of Indonesia and is situated between Borneo and the Maluku Islands.- Etymology :...
- North Sulawesi
North Sulawesi is a province of Indonesia. It is on the island of Sulawesi, and borders the province of Gorontalo to the west . The islands of Sangihe and Talaud form the northern part of the province, which border the Philippines.The capital and largest city in North Sulawesi is Manado...
(Sulawesi Utara) – ManadoManado is the capital of the North Sulawesi province of Indonesia. Manado is located at the Bay of Manado, and is surrounded by a mountainous area. The city has about 417,548 inhabitants...
- Gorontalo
Gorontalo is a province of Indonesia on the northern part of Sulawesi island. Gorontalo province was established in December 2000 after splitting from North Sulawesi province...
– Gorontalo (city)Gorontalo is a city and the capital of the Gorontalo province, Indonesia. It has an area of 64.79 km² and population of about 140,000.The city is divided into 6 subdistricts ....
- Central Sulawesi
Central Sulawesi is a province of Indonesia located in the heart of Sulawesi. It was established on April 13, 1964.Central Sulawesi has an area of and is surrounded by Gorontalo in the north, South Sulawesi and South East Sulawesi in the south, Maluku in the east, and the Makassar Strait in the...
(Sulawesi Tengah) – PaluPalu is a city on the Indonesian island of Sulawesi, located 1,650 km northeast of Jakarta, at . The city sits on the mouth of Palu River, at the head of a long, narrow bay. Because of its sheltered position between mountain ridges, the climate is unusually dry. It is the capital of the...
- West Sulawesi
West Sulawesi is a province of Indonesia, created in 2004. It is on the island of Sulawesi and includes the regencies of Polewali Mandar, Mamasa, Majene, Mamuju, and Mamuju Utara, which were formerly part of South Sulawesi. The area of the province is 16,796.19 km2...
(Sulawesi Barat) – MamujuMamuju is the capital of the Indonesian province of West Sulawesi. The city was formerly part of South Sulawesi province.Mamuju is a relatively quiet and small town. Throughout the town, there are night-watch stations, where elders and other members of the community will meet and ensure the order...
- South Sulawesi
South Sulawesi is a province of Indonesia, located on the western southern peninsula of Sulawesi island. The province is bordered by Central Sulawesi province to the north, South East Sulawesi province to the east and West Sulawesi province to the west...
(Sulawesi Selatan) – MakassarMakassar, is the provincial capital of South Sulawesi, Indonesia, and the largest city on Sulawesi Island. From 1971 to 1999, the city was formally named Ujung Pandang, after a precolonial fort in the city, and the two names are often used interchangeably...
- South East Sulawesi
South East Sulawesi is a province of Indonesia on the island of Sulawesi. The capital of the province is Kendari, on the east coast of the peninsula....
(Sulawesi Tenggara) – KendariKendari is the capital of the Indonesian province of South East Sulawesi. The city lies along Kendari Bay. Moramo Waterfall is located 65 km east of Kendari. Moramo Waterfall is easily accessible by car or by boat, crossing Moramo Bay, with wide panoramic scenery of the sea...
Maluku IslandsThe Maluku Islands are an archipelago in Indonesia, and part of the larger Maritime Southeast Asia region. Tectonically they are located on the Halmahera Plate within the Molucca Sea Collision Zone. Geographically they are located east of Sulawesi , west of New Guinea, and north of Timor...
- Maluku
Maluku is a province of Indonesia, comprising, broadly, the southern part of the Maluku Islands , which are culturally and geographically associated with Melanesia....
– Ambon
- North Maluku
North Maluku is a province of Indonesia. It covers the northern part of the Maluku Islands, which are split between it and the province of Maluku. Maluku province used to cover the entire group...
(Maluku Utara) – TernateTernate is an island and town in the Maluku Islands of eastern Indonesia, located off the west coast of the larger island of Halmahera, the center of the powerful former Sultanate of Ternate. Like its neighbouring island, Tidore, Ternate is a visually dramatic cone-shaped island. The islands are...
West Papua
- West Papua† (Papua Barat) – Manokwari
Manokwari is a city and regency in the Indonesian province of West Papua, at the western end of New Guinea. Since 2003 it has been the capital of the province. It is one of the seats of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Manokwari–Sorong....
- Papua
Papua is the largest province of Indonesia, comprising a majority part of the western half of the island of New Guinea and nearby islands...
† – JayapuraJayapura City is the capital of Papua province, Indonesia, on the island of New Guinea. It is situated on Yos Sudarso Bay . Its approximate population in 2002 was 200,000....
Geography
Indonesia consists of 17,508 islands, about 6,000 of which are inhabited. These are scattered over both sides of the
equatorThe equator is the intersection of the Earth's surface with the plane perpendicular to the Earth's axis of rotation and containing the Earth's center of mass. In simpler language, it is an imaginary line on the Earth's surface equidistant from the North Pole and South Pole that divides the Earth...
. The five largest islands are
JavaJava is an island of Indonesia and the site of its capital city, Jakarta. Once the centre of powerful Hindu-Buddhist kingdoms, Islamic sultanates, and the core of the colonial Dutch East Indies, Java now plays a dominant role in the economic and political life of Indonesia...
,
SumatraSumatra is an island in western Indonesia, westernmost of the Sunda Islands. It is the largest island entirely in Indonesia , and the sixth largest island in the world .-Etymology:Sumatra was known in ancient times by the Sanskrit...
,
KalimantanIn English, the term Kalimantan refers to the Indonesian portion of the island of Borneo, while in Indonesian, the term "Kalimantan" refers to the whole island of Borneo. The Indonesian territory makes up 73 percent of the island by area, and 70 percent by population...
(the Indonesian part of
BorneoBorneo is the third largest island in the world and is located at the centre of Maritime Southeast Asia. Administratively, this island is divided among Indonesia , Malaysia and Brunei . Indonesians refer to the island as Kalimantan...
),
New GuineaNew Guinea, located north of Australia, is the world's second largest island. It became separated from the Australian mainland when the area now known as the Torres Strait flooded after the last glacial period. The name Papua has long been associated with the island...
(shared with Papua New Guinea), and
SulawesiSulawesi is one of the four larger Sunda Islands of Indonesia and is situated between Borneo and the Maluku Islands.- Etymology :...
. Indonesia shares land borders with
MalaysiaMalaysia is a country in Southeast Asia that consists of thirteen states and three Federal Territories, with a total landmass of . The capital city is Kuala Lumpur, while Putrajaya is the seat of the federal government. The population stands at over 28 million inhabitants...
on the islands of
BorneoBorneo is the third largest island in the world and is located at the centre of Maritime Southeast Asia. Administratively, this island is divided among Indonesia , Malaysia and Brunei . Indonesians refer to the island as Kalimantan...
and Sebatik,
Papua New GuineaPapua New Guinea , officially the Independent State of Papua New Guinea, is a country in Oceania, occupying the eastern half of the island of New Guinea and numerous offshore islands...
on the island of
New GuineaNew Guinea, located north of Australia, is the world's second largest island. It became separated from the Australian mainland when the area now known as the Torres Strait flooded after the last glacial period. The name Papua has long been associated with the island...
, and
East TimorEast Timor, also known as Timor-Leste is a country in Southeast Asia. It comprises the eastern half of the island of Timor, the nearby islands of Atauro and Jaco, and Oecussi-Ambeno, an exclave on the northwestern side of the island, within Indonesian West Timor...
on the island of
TimorTimor is an island at the southern end of Maritime Southeast Asia, north of the Timor Sea. It is divided between the independent state of East Timor, and West Timor, belonging to the Indonesian province of East Nusa Tenggara....
. Indonesia also shares borders with
SingaporeSingapore , officially the Republic of Singapore, is an island city-state located at the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, lying north of the equator, south of the Malaysian state of Johor and north of Indonesia's Riau Islands. At , Singapore is a microstate and the smallest nation in Southeast...
, Malaysia, and the
PhilippinesThe Philippines officially known as the Republic of the Philippines, is a country in Southeast Asia with Manila as its capital city. It comprises 7,107 islands in the western Pacific Ocean....
to the north and Australia to the south across narrow straits of water. The capital,
JakartaJakarta is the capital and largest city of Indonesia. It also has a greater population than any other city in Southeast Asia. It was formerly known as Sunda Kelapa , Jayakarta , Batavia , and Djakarta . Located on the northwest coast of Java, it has an area of and a population of 8,489,910...
, is on Java and is the nation's largest city, followed by
SurabayaSurabaya is Indonesia's second-largest city, and the capital of the province of East Java. It is located on the northern shore of eastern Java at the mouth of the Mas River and along the edge of the Madura Strait....
,
BandungBandung Indonesian: Kota Bandung) is the capital of West Java province in Indonesia, and the country's fourth largest city, and 2nd largest metropolitan area, with 7.4 million in 2007. Located 768 m above sea level, Bandung has relatively year-around cooler temperature than most other Indonesian...
,
MedanMedan is the capital of the province of North Sumatra, Indonesia. Located in the northern part of the province along the coast, Medan is the third largest city in Indonesia. The city is bordered by Deli Serdang Regency to the east, south, and west, and the Strait of Malacca to the...
, and
SemarangSemarang is a city on the north coast of the island of Java, Indonesia. It is the capital of the province of Central Java. It has an area of 225.17 km² and a population of approximately 1.5 million people, making it Indonesia's fifth largest city. Semarang is located at...
.
At 1,919,440 square kilometers (741,050 sq mi), Indonesia is the world's 16th-largest country in terms of land area. Its average population density is 134 people per square kilometer (347 per sq mi), 79th in the world, although Java, the world's most populous island, has a population density of 940 people per square kilometer (2,435 per sq mi). At 4,884 meters (16,024 ft),
Puncak JayaPuncak Jaya , sometimes called Mount Carstensz or the Carstensz Pyramid , is a mountain in the Sudirman Range, the western central highlands of Papua province, Indonesia...
in Papua is Indonesia's highest peak, and
Lake TobaLake Toba is a lake and supervolcano, 100 kilometres long and 30 kilometres wide, and 505 metres at its deepest point. Located in the middle of the northern part of the Indonesian island of Sumatra with a surface elevation of about , the lake stretches from to . It is the largest volcanic lake...
in Sumatra its largest lake, with an area of 1,145 square kilometers (442 sq mi). The country's largest rivers are in Kalimantan, and include the Mahakam and Barito; such rivers are communication and transport links between the island's river settlements.
Indonesia's location on the edges of the
PacificThe Pacific Plate is an oceanic tectonic plate beneath the Pacific Ocean.The north-eastern side is a divergent boundary with the Explorer Plate, the Juan de Fuca Plate and the Gorda Plate forming respectively the Explorer Ridge, the Juan de Fuca Ridge and the Gorda Ridge...
,
EurasianThe Eurasian Plate is a tectonic plate which includes most of the continent of Eurasia , with the notable exceptions of the Indian subcontinent, the Arabian subcontinent, and the area east of the Chersky Range in East Siberia...
, and Australian tectonic plates makes it the site of numerous
volcanoes and frequent earthquakes. Indonesia has at least
150 active volcanoes, including
KrakatoaKrakatoa , also spelled Krakatau or Kracatoa, is a volcanic island made of a'a lava in the Sunda Strait between the islands of Java and Sumatra in Indonesia...
and
TamboraMount Tambora is an active stratovolcano, also known as a composite volcano, on Sumbawa island, Indonesia. Sumbawa is flanked both to the north and south by oceanic crust, and Tambora was formed by the active subduction zones beneath it...
, both famous for their devastating eruptions in the 19th century. The eruption of the
TobaLake Toba is a lake and supervolcano, 100 kilometres long and 30 kilometres wide, and 505 metres at its deepest point. Located in the middle of the northern part of the Indonesian island of Sumatra with a surface elevation of about , the lake stretches from to . It is the largest volcanic lake...
supervolcanoA supervolcano or super volcanic eruption is a volcanic eruption with ejecta greater than 1,000 cubic kilometers , which is substantially larger than any volcanic event in historic times. Supervolcanoes can occur when magma in the Earth rises into the crust from a hotspot but is unable to break...
, approximately 70,000 years ago, was one of the largest eruptions ever, and a
global catastropheThe Toba catastrophe theory holds that 70,000 to 75,000 years ago, a supervolcanic event at Lake Toba, on Sumatra , possibly the largest explosive volcanic eruption within the last twenty-five million years plunged the Earth, which was already in an ice-age, into an even colder spell...
. Recent disasters due to seismic activity include the 2004 tsunami that killed an estimated 167,736 in northern Sumatra, and the
Yogyakarta earthquakeThe May 2006 Java earthquake occurred at 05:54 local time on 27 May 2006 , in the Indian Ocean around 25 km south-southwest of the Indonesian city of Yogyakarta, near Galur, on the southern side of the island of Java , 10 km below the seabed, with a magnitude of 6.3, according to the...
in 2006. However,
volcanic ashVolcanic ash consists of small tephra, which are bits of pulverized rock and glass created by volcanic eruptions, less than in diameter. There are three mechanisms of volcanic ash formation: gas release under decompression causing magmatic eruptions; thermal contraction from chilling on contact...
is a major contributor to the high agricultural fertility that has historically sustained the high population densities of Java and Bali.
Lying along the equator, Indonesia has a
tropical climateA tropical climate is a kind of climate typical in the tropics. Köppen's widely-recognized scheme of climate classification defines it as a non-arid climate in which all twelve months have mean temperatures above .- Examples of tropical climates :...
, with two distinct
monsoonA pennis is traditionally defined as a seasonal reversing wind accompanied by seasonal changes in precipitation, but now is used to describe seasonal changes atmospheric circulation and precipitation The major monsoon systems of the world consist of the African and Asia-Australian monsoons...
al
wetThe wet season, or rainy season, is the time of year, covering one or more months, when most of the average annual rainfall in a region falls. The term green season is also sometimes used as a euphemism by tourist authorities. Areas with wet seasons are dispersed across portions of the tropics...
and
dryThe dry season is a term commonly used when describing the weather in the tropics. The weather in the tropics is dominated by the tropical rain belt, which oscillates from the northern to the southern tropics over the course of the year...
seasons. Average annual rainfall in the lowlands varies from 1,780–3,175 millimeters (70–125 in), and up to 6,100 millimeters (240 in) in mountainous regions. Mountainous areas—particularly in the west coast of Sumatra, West Java, Kalimantan, Sulawesi, and Papua—receive the highest rainfall. Humidity is generally high, averaging about 80%. Temperatures vary little throughout the year; the average daily
temperature rangeTemperature range is the numerical difference between the minimum and maximum values of temperature observed in a system, such as atmospheric temperature in a given location.-Atmospheric temperature range:...
of Jakarta is 26–30 °C (79–86 °F).
Biota and environment
Indonesia's size, tropical climate, and archipelagic geography, support the world's second highest level of
biodiversityBiodiversity is the variation of life forms within a given ecosystem, biome, or for the entire Earth. Biodiversity is often used as a measure of the health of biological systems...
(after
BrazilBrazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is a country in South America. It is the fifth largest country by geographical area, occupying nearly half of South America, the fifth most populous country, and the fourth most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Atlantic Ocean...
), and its flora and fauna is a mixture of Asian and
AustralasiaAustralasia is a region of Oceania: Australia, New Zealand, the island of New Guinea, and neighbouring islands in the Pacific Ocean. The term was coined by Charles de Brosses in Histoire des navigations aux terres australes . He derived it from the Latin for "south of Asia" and differentiated the...
n species. Once linked to the Asian mainland, the islands of the
Sunda ShelfGeologically, the Sunda Shelf is an extension of the continental shelf of Southeast Asia, covered during interglacials by the South China Sea, which isolates as islands Borneo, Sumatra Java and smaller islands. During glacial periods, the sea level falls, and great expanses of the Sunda Shelf are...
(Sumatra, Java, Borneo, and Bali) have a wealth of Asian fauna. Large species such as the
tigerThe Sumatran tiger is a subspecies of tiger found on the Indonesian island of Sumatra. Recent genetic testing has revealed the presence of unique genetic markers, which isolate Sumatran tigers from all mainland subspecies...
,
rhinocerosRhinoceros , often colloquially abbreviated rhino, is a name used to group five extant species of odd-toed ungulates in the family Rhinocerotidae. Two of these species are native to Africa and three to southern Asia. Three of the five species—the Javan, Sumatran and Black Rhinoceros—are...
,
orangutanThe orangutans are two endangered species of great apes. Known for their intelligence, they live in trees and are the largest living arboreal animal. They have longer arms than other great apes, and their hair is typically reddish-brown, instead of the brown or black hair typical of other great apes...
,
elephantThe Asian or Asiantic Elephant , sometimes known by the name of one of its subspecies – the Indian Elephant, is one of the three living species of elephant, and the only living species of the genus Elephas. It is the largest living land animal in Asia...
, and
leopardThe leopard , Panthera pardus, is a member of the Felidae family and the smallest of the four "big cats" in the genus Panthera; the other three being the tiger, lion and jaguar...
, were once abundant as far east as Bali, but numbers and distribution have dwindled drastically. Forests cover approximately 60% of the country. In Sumatra and Kalimantan, these are predominantly of Asian species. However, the forests of the smaller, and more densely populated Java, have largely been removed for human habitation and agriculture. Sulawesi, Nusa Tenggara, and Maluku—having been long separated from the continental landmasses—have developed their own unique flora and fauna. Papua was part of the Australian landmass, and is home to a
unique fauna and floraThe fauna of New Guinea comprises a large number of species of mammals, reptiles, birds, fish, invertebrates and amphibians.As the world’s largest and highest tropical island, New Guinea occupies less than 0.5% of world's land surface, yet supports a high percentage of global biodiversity...
closely related to that of Australia, including over 600 bird species.
Indonesia is second only to Australia in its degree of endemism, with 26% of its 1,531 species of bird and 39% of its 515 species of mammal being endemic.
Indonesia's 80,000 kilometers (50,000 mi) of coastline are surrounded by tropical seas that contribute to the country's high level of biodiversity. Indonesia has a range of sea and coastal
ecosystemAn ecosystem is a system of interdependent organisms which share the same habitat, in an area functioning together with all of the physical factors of the environment. Ecosystems can be permanent or temporary. Ecosystems usually form a number of food webs...
s, including beaches, sand dunes,
estuariesAn estuary is a semi-enclosed coastal body of water with one or more rivers or streams flowing into it, and with a free connection to the open sea. Estuaries are thus subject to both marine influences, such as tides, waves, and the influx of saline water; and riverine influences, such as flows of...
, mangroves,
coral reefCoral reefs are aragonite structures produced by living organisms, found in marine waters containing few nutrients. In most reefs, the predominant organisms are stony corals, colonial cnidarians that secrete an exoskeleton of calcium carbonate...
s, sea grass beds,
coastal mudflatsMudflats are coastal wetlands that form when mud is deposited by tides or rivers. They are found in sheltered areas such as bays, bayous, lagoons, and estuaries. Mudflats may be viewed geologically as exposed layers of bay mud, resulting from deposition of estuarine silts, clays and marine animal...
, tidal flats, algal beds, and small island ecosystems. The British naturalist, Alfred Wallace, described a dividing line between the distribution and peace of Indonesia's Asian and Australasian species. Known as the
Wallace LineThe Wallace Line is a boundary that separates the zoogeographical regions of Asia and Wallacea . West of the line are found organisms related to Asiatic species; to the east, a mixture of species of Asian and Australian origin are present...
, it runs roughly north-south along the edge of the Sunda Shelf, between Kalimantan and Sulawesi, and along the deep
Lombok StraitThe Lombok Strait Indonesian: Selat Lombok is a strait connecting the Java Sea to the Indian Ocean, located between the islands of Bali and Lombok in Indonesia. The Gili Islands are on the Lombok side....
, between
LombokLombok is an island in West Nusa Tenggara province, Indonesia. It is part of the chain of the Lesser Sunda Islands, with the Lombok Strait separating it from Bali to the west and the Alas Strait between it and Sumbawa to the east. It is roughly circular, with a "tail" to the southwest, about 70...
and Bali. West of the line the flora and fauna are more Asian; moving east from Lombok, they are increasingly Australian. In his 1869 book,
The Malay ArchipelagoThe Malay Archipelago is a book by the British naturalist Alfred Russel Wallace that chronicles his scientific exploration, during the eight year period 1854 to 1862, of the southern portion of the Malay Archipelago including Malaysia, Singapore, the islands of Indonesia, then known as the Dutch...
, Wallace described numerous species unique to the area. The region of islands between his line and New Guinea is now termed
WallaceaWallacea is a biogeographical designation for a group of Indonesian islands separated by deep water straits from the Asian and Australian continental shelves. The islands of Wallacea lie between Sundaland to the west, and Near Oceania including Australia and New Guinea to the south and east...
.
Indonesia's high population and rapid industrialization present serious
environmental issuesEnvironmental issues in Indonesia associated with human activities are forest degradation ; water pollution from industrial waste and sewage; air pollution from motor vehicles and industry in urban areas, and generally from smoke and haze caused by forest fires; and threats to biodiversity and rare...
, which are often given a lower priority due to high poverty levels and weak, under-resourced governance. Issues include large-scale
deforestationDeforestation is the clearance of naturally occurring forests by the processes of logging and/or burning of trees in a forested area. There are several reasons deforestation occurs: trees or derived charcoal can be sold as a commodity and used by humans, while cleared land is used as pasture,...
(much of it
illegalIllegal logging is the harvest, transportation, purchase or sale of timber in violation of laws. The harvesting procedure itself may be illegal, including using corrupt means to gain access to forests; extraction without permission or from a protected area; the cutting of protected species; or the...
) and related wildfires causing heavy smog over parts of western Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore; over-exploitation of marine resources; and environmental problems associated with rapid
urbanizationUrbanization is the physical growth of urban areas from rural areas as a result of population immigration to an existing urban area. Effects include change in density and administration services. While the exact definition and population size of urbanized areas varies amongdifferent countries,...
and
economic developmentEconomic development is the increase in the standard of living of a nation's population associated with sustained growth from a simple, low-income economy to a modern, high-income economy...
, including
air pollutionAir pollution is the introduction of chemicals, particulate matter, or biological materials that cause harm or discomfort to humans or other living organisms, or damages the natural environment, into the atmosphere....
,
traffic congestionTraffic congestion is a condition on networks that occurs as use increases, and is characterized by slower speeds, longer trip times, and increased queueing. The most common example is the physical use of roads by vehicles. When traffic demand is great enough that the interaction between vehicles...
, garbage management, and reliable water and
waste waterWastewater is any water that has been adversely affected in quality by anthropogenic influence. It comprises liquid waste discharged by domestic residences, commercial properties, industry, and/or agriculture and can encompass a wide range of potential contaminants and concentrations...
services.
Habitat destructionHabitat destruction is the process in which natural habitat is rendered functionally unable to support the species present. In this process, the organisms which previously used the site are displaced or destroyed, reducing biodiversity. Habitat destruction by human activity mainly for the purpose...
threatens the survival of indigenous and endemic species, including 140 species of mammals identified by the
World Conservation UnionThe International Union for Conservation of Nature is an international organization dedicated to natural resource conservation.Founded in 1948, its headquarters is located in the Lake Geneva area in Gland, Switzerland...
(IUCN) as
threatenedThreatened species are any species which are vulnerable to extinction in the near future.World Conservation Union is the foremost authority on threatened species, and treats threatened species not as a single category, but as a group of three categories: vulnerable, endangered, and critically...
, and 15 identified as critically
endangeredAn endangered species is a population of organisms which is at risk of becoming extinct because it is either few in numbers, or threatened by changing environmental or predation parameters. Also it could mean that due to deforestation there may be a lack of food and/or water...
, including the
Sumatran OrangutanThe Sumatran Orangutan is the rarer of the two species of orangutans. Living on and endemic to Sumatra island of Indonesia, it is smaller than the Bornean Orangutan. The Sumatran Orangutan grows to about tall and in males...
.
Economy
Indonesia is the largest economy in Southeast Asia and also a member of G-20 major economies. Indonesia's estimated
Gross Domestic Product (GDP)The gross domestic product or gross domestic income is a basic measure of a country's economic performance and is the market value of all final goods and services made within the borders of a country in a year...
for 2007 is US$408 billion (US$1,038 bn
PPPThe purchasing power parity theory uses the long-term equilibrium exchange rate of two currencies to equalize their purchasing power...
). In 2007, estimated nominal per capita GDP is US$1,812, and per capita GDP PPP was US$4,616 (International Dollars). The services sector is the economy's largest and accounts for 45.3% of GDP (2005). This is followed by industry (40.7%) and
agricultureAgriculture is the production of food and goods through farming and forestry. Agriculture was the key development that led to the rise of human civilization, with the husbandry of domesticated animals and plants creating food surpluses that enabled the development of more densely populated and...
(14.0%). However, agriculture employs more people than other sectors, accounting for 44.3% of the 95 million-strong workforce. This is followed by the services sector (36.9%) and industry (18.8%). Major industries include petroleum and natural gas, textiles, apparel, and mining. Major agricultural products include
palm oilPalm oil is an edible plant oil derived from the pulp of the fruit of the oil palm Elaeis guineensis.Palm oil is naturally reddish because it contains a high amount of beta-carotene . Palm oil is one of the few vegetable oils relatively high in saturated fats...
,
riceRice is the seed of a monocot plant Oryza sativa, of the grass family . As a cereal grain, it is the most important staple food for a large part of the world's human population, especially in East, South, Southeast Asia, the Middle East, Latin America, and the West Indies...
,
teaTea is the agricultural product of the leaves, leaf buds, and internodes of the Camellia sinensis plant, prepared and cured by various methods...
,
coffeeCoffee is a brewed beverage prepared from roasted seeds, commonly called coffee beans, of the coffee plant. They are seeds of "coffee cherries" that grow on trees in over 70 countries. It has been said that green coffee is the second most traded commodity in the world behind crude oil. Due to its...
, spices, and
rubberNatural rubber is an elastomer that was originally derived from a milky colloidal suspension, or latex, found in the sap of some plants. The purified form of natural rubber is the chemical polyisoprene, which can also be produced synthetically...
.
Indonesia's main export markets (2005) are
Japanis an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, People's Republic of China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
(22.3%), the
United StatesThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
(13.9%),
ChinaChina is a cultural region, an ancient civilization, and, depending on perspective, a national or multinational entity extending over a large area in East Asia....
(9.1%), and
SingaporeSingapore , officially the Republic of Singapore, is an island city-state located at the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, lying north of the equator, south of the Malaysian state of Johor and north of Indonesia's Riau Islands. At , Singapore is a microstate and the smallest nation in Southeast...
(8.9%). The major suppliers of imports to Indonesia are Japan (18.0%), China (16.1%), and Singapore (12.8%). In 2005, Indonesia ran a trade surplus with
exportIn economics, an export is any good or commodity, transported from one country to another country in a legitimate fashion, typically for use in trade. Export goods or services are provided to foreign consumers by domestic producers. Export is an important part of international trade...
revenues of US$83.64 billion and
importAn import is any good or service brought in from one country to another country in a legitimate fashion, typically for use in trade. It is a good that is brought in from another country for sale. Import goods or services are provided to domestic consumers by foreign producers...
expenditure of US$62.02 billion. The country has extensive natural resources, including crude oil,
natural gasNatural gas is a gas consisting primarily of methane. It is found associated with fossil fuels, in coal beds, as methane clathrates, and is created by methanogenic organisms in marshes, bogs, and landfills...
,
tinTin is a chemical element with the symbol Sn and atomic number 50. It is a main group metal in group 14 of the periodic table. Tin shows chemical similarity to both neighboring group 14 elements, germanium and lead, like the two possible oxidation states +2 and +4...
,
copperCopper is a chemical element with the symbol Cu and atomic number 29.It is a ductile metal with very high thermal and electrical conductivity. Pure copper is rather soft and malleable and a freshly-exposed surface has a pinkish or peachy color...
, and
goldGold is a chemical element with the symbol Au and an atomic number of 79. It has been a highly sought-after precious metal for coinage, jewelry, and other arts since the beginning of recorded history. The metal occurs as nuggets or grains in rocks, in veins and in alluvial deposits. Gold is...
. Indonesia's major imports include machinery and equipment, chemicals, fuels, and foodstuffs.
In the 1960s, the economy deteriorated drastically as a result of political instability, a young and inexperienced government, and ill-disciplined economic nationalism, which resulted in severe
povertyPoverty is the condition of lacking basic human needs such as nutrition, clean water, health care, clothing, and shelter because of the inability to afford them. This is also referred to as absolute poverty or destitution...
and
hungerHunger is a feeling experienced when one has a desire to eat. Satiety is the absence of hunger. The often unpleasant feeling of hunger originates from the hypothalamus releasing hormones that target receptors in the liver...
. Following President Sukarno's downfall in the mid-1960s, the New Order administration brought
a degree of disciplineThe Berkeley Mafia was term given to a group of U.S.-educated Indonesian economists whose efforts brought Indonesia back from dire economic conditions and the brink of famine in the mid-1960s. They were appointed in the early stages of the 'New Order' administration. Almost three decades of...
to economic policy that quickly brought inflation down, stabilized the
currencyThe rupiah is the official currency of Indonesia. Issued and controlled by the Bank of Indonesia, the ISO 4217 currency code for the Indonesian rupiah is IDR. The symbol used on all banknotes and coins are Rp. The name derives from the Indian monetary unit rupee which is called as rupiya in Indian...
, rescheduled foreign debt, and attracted foreign aid and investment. Indonesia is Southeast Asia's only member of
OPECThe Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries is a cartel of twelve countries made up of Algeria, Angola, Ecuador, Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Libya, Nigeria, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and Venezuela. OPEC has maintained its headquarters in Vienna since 1965, and hosts regular...
, and the 1970s oil price raises provided an export revenue windfall that contributed to sustained high economic growth rates. Following further reforms in the late 1980s, foreign investment flowed into Indonesia, particularly into the rapidly developing export-oriented
manufacturing sectorThe secondary sector of the economy includes those economic sectors that create a finished, usable product: manufacturing and construction....
, and from 1989 to 1997, the Indonesian economy grew by an average of over 7%.
Indonesia was the country hardest hit by the East Asian financial crisis of 1997–98. Against the US dollar, the Rupiah dropped from about Rp. 2,600 to a low point of 14,000, and the economy shrank by 13.7%. The Rupiah has since stabilised in the Rp. 8,000 to 10,000 range, and a slow but significant economic recovery has ensued. However, political instability, slow economic reform, and corruption at all levels of government and business, have slowed the recovery.
Transparency InternationalTransparency International is an international non-governmental organization addressing corruption . This includes, but is not limited to, political corruption. It is widely known for producing its annual Corruptions Perceptions Index , a comparative listing of corruption worldwide. The...
ranked Indonesia 143rd out of 180 countries in its 2007
Corruption Perceptions IndexSince 1995, Transparency International has published an annual Corruption Perceptions Index ordering the countries of the world according to "the degree to which corruption is perceived to exist among public officials and politicians"...
. GDP growth, however, exceeded 5% in both 2004 and 2005, and is forecast to increase further. This growth rate, however, is not enough to make a significant impact on unemployment, and stagnant wages growth and increases in fuel and rice prices have worsened poverty levels.
As of 2006, an estimated 17.8% of the population live below the
poverty lineThe poverty threshold, or poverty line, is the minimum level of income deemed necessary to achieve an adequate standard of living in a given country...
, 49.0% of the population live on less than US$2 per day,. Unemployment rate stands at 9.75%.
Demographics
The national population from the 2000 national census is 206 million, and the Indonesian Central Statistics Bureau and
Statistics Indonesia estimate a population of 222 million for 2006. 130 million people live on the island of
JavaJava is an island of Indonesia and the site of its capital city, Jakarta. Once the centre of powerful Hindu-Buddhist kingdoms, Islamic sultanates, and the core of the colonial Dutch East Indies, Java now plays a dominant role in the economic and political life of Indonesia...
, the world's most populous island. Despite a fairly effective
family planningFamily planning is the planning of when to have children, and the use of birth control and other techniques to implement such plans. Other techniques commonly used include sexuality education, prevention and management of sexually transmitted infections, pre-conception counseling and...
program that has been in place since the 1960s, the population is expected to grow to around 315 million by 2035, based on the current estimated annual growth rate of 1.25%.
Most Indonesians are descendant from Austronesian-speaking peoples whose languages can be traced to Proto Austronesian (PAn), which likely originated on Taiwan. The other major grouping are
MelanesiaMelanesia is a subregion of Oceania extending from the western end of the Pacific Ocean to the Arafura Sea, and eastward to Fiji. The region comprises most of the islands immediately north and northeast of Australia...
ns, who inhabit eastern Indonesia. There are around 300 distinct native ethnicities in Indonesia, and 742 different languages and dialects. The largest is the Javanese, who comprise 42% of the population, and are politically and culturally dominant. The Sundanese, ethnic Malays, and Madurese are the largest non-Javanese groups. A sense of Indonesian nationhood exists alongside strong regional identities. Society is largely harmonious, although social, religious and ethnic tensions have triggered horrendous violence.
Chinese IndonesianChinese Indonesians are ethnically Chinese people living in Indonesia, as a result of centuries of overseas Chinese migration....
s are an influential ethnic minority comprising less than 1% of the population. Much of the country's privately owned commerce and wealth is Chinese-controlled, which has contributed to considerable resentment, and even anti-Chinese violence.
The official national language,
IndonesianIndonesian is the official national language of Indonesia. It is based on a version of Classical Malay of the Riau-Johor Sultanate. It was first declared the official language with the declaration of Indonesian independence in 1945, following the 1928 unifying-language declaration in the...
, is universally taught in schools, and is spoken by nearly every Indonesian. It is the language of business, politics, national media, education, and academia. It was constructed from a
lingua francaA lingua franca is a language systematically used to communicate between persons not sharing a mother tongue, in particular when it is a third language, distinct from both persons' mother tongues.Lingua franca is a functionally defined term, independent of the linguistic history or...
that was in wide use throughout the region, and is thus closely related to
MalayMalay is a group of languages closely related to each other to the point of mutual intelligibility but that linguists consider to be separate languages. They are grouped into a group called "Local Malay", part of a larger group called "Malayan" within the Malayo-Polynesian branch of the...
which is an official language in Malaysia, Brunei, and Singapore. Indonesian was first promoted by nationalists in the 1920s, and declared the
official languageAn official language is a language that is given a special legal status in a particular country, state, or other territory. Typically a nation's official language will be the one used in that nation's courts, parliament and administration. However, official status can also be used to give a...
on the proclamation of independence in 1945. Most Indonesians speak at least one of the
several hundred local languagesThe number of languages of Indonesia is 742. Of those, 737 are living languages, 2 are second languages without mother-tongue speakers, and 3 are extinct. Most belong to the Austronesian language family, with a few Papuan languages also spoken...
(
bahasa daerah), often as their
first languageA first language is the language a human being learns from birth...
. Of these,
JavaneseJavanese language is the language of the people in the central and eastern parts of the island of Java, in Indonesia. In addition, there are also some pockets of Javanese speakers in the northern coast of western Java...
is the most widely spoken as the language of the largest ethnic group. On the other hand, Papua has 500 or more indigenous
PapuanThe term Papuan languages refers to those languages of the western Pacific which are neither Austronesian nor Australian. That is, the term is defined negatively and does not presuppose a genetic relationship...
and
Austronesian languagesThe Austronesian languages are a language family widely dispersed throughout the islands of Southeast Asia and the Pacific, with a few members spoken on continental Asia. It is on par with Bantu, Indo-European, Afro-Asiatic and Uralic as one of the best-established ancient language families...
, in a region of just 2.7 million people. Much of the older population can still speak a level of Dutch.
Although religious freedom is stipulated in the Indonesian constitution, the government officially recognizes only six religions:
IslamIslam is Indonesia's dominant religion and approximately 88%, or over 200 million, of its population identify as Muslims, making it the world's largest Muslim population....
,
ProtestantismProtestantism is a branch within Christianity, containing many denominations with some differing practices and doctrines, that principally originated in the sixteenth-century Protestant Reformation. It is considered to be one of the major divisions within Christianity, together with the Roman...
,
Roman CatholicismThe Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the world's largest Christian church. With more than a billion members, over half of all Christians and more than one-sixth of the world's population, the Catholic Church is a communion of the Western, or Latin Rite Church, and...
,
HinduismHinduism in Indonesia, also known by its formal Indonesian name Agama Hindu Dharma, refers to Hinduism as practised in Indonesia. It is practised by 93% of the population of Bali, but also in Sumatra, Java , Lombok and Kalimantan. Only about 3% of Indonesian population is officially Hindu...
,
BuddhismBuddhism, as traditionally conceived, is a path of salvation attained through insight into the ultimate nature of reality. It encompasses a variety of traditions, beliefs and practices, largely based on teachings attributed to Siddhartha Gautama, commonly known as the Buddha...
, and
ConfucianismConfucianism is a Chinese ethical and philosophical system developed from the teachings of the Chinese philosopher Confucius . It is a complex system of moral, social, political, philosophical, and quasi-religious thought that has had tremendous influence on the culture and history of East Asia...
. Although it is not an Islamic state, Indonesia is the world's most populous
Muslim-majority nation, with almost 86.1% of Indonesians declared Muslim according to the 2000
censusA "census" is the procedure of systematically acquiring and recording information about the members of a given population. It is a regularly occurring and official count of a particular population.In other words every 10 years...next one would be in 2010 The term is used mostly in connection with...
. 8.7% of the population is
ChristianChristianity is a monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth as presented by the revelations in the New Testament....
, 3% are Hindu, and 1.8% Buddhist or other. Most Indonesian Hindus are
BalineseThe Balinese population of 3.0 million live mostly on the island of Bali, making up 89% of the island's population. There are also significant populations on the island of Lombok, and in the eastern-most regions of Java The Balinese population of 3.0 million (1.5% of Indonesia's population) live...
, and most Buddhists in modern-day Indonesia are ethnic Chinese. Though now minority religions, Hinduism and Buddhism remain defining influences in
Indonesian cultureIndonesian culture has been shaped by long interaction between original indigenous customs and multiple foreign influences. Indonesia is central along ancient trading routes between the Far East and the Middle East, resulting in many cultural practices being strongly influenced by a multitude of...
. Islam was first adopted by Indonesians in northern Sumatra in the 13th century, through the influence of traders, and became the country's dominant religion by the 16th century. Roman Catholicism was brought to Indonesia by early Portuguese colonialists and missionaries, and the Protestant denominations are largely a result of Dutch Calvinist and Lutheran missionary efforts during the country's colonial period. A large proportion of Indonesians—such as the Javanese
abanganThe Abangan are the population of Javanese Muslims who practice a more syncretic version of Islam than the more orthodox santri. The term, apparently derived from the Javanese word for red, was first developed by Clifford Geertz but the meaning has since shifted. Abangan are more inclined to follow...
, Balinese Hindus, and
DayakThe Dayak or Dyak are a people indigenous to Borneo. It is a loose term for over 200 riverine and hill-dwelling ethnic subgroups, located principally in the interior of Borneo, each with its own dialect, customs, laws, territory and culture, although common distinguishing traits are readily...
Christians—practice a less
orthodoxThe word orthodox, from Greek orthodoxos "having the right opinion", from orthos + doxa , is typically used to mean adhering to the accepted or traditional and established faith, especially in religion.The term did not conventionally exist with any degree of formality The word orthodox, from Greek...
,
syncreticSyncretism is the attempt to reconcile disparate or contrary beliefs, often while melding practices of various schools of thought. This may involve attempts to merge and analogise several originally discrete traditions, especially in the theology and mythology of religion, and thus assert an...
form of their religion, which draws on local customs and beliefs.
Culture
Indonesia has around 300 ethnic groups, each with
cultural differencesCultural identity is the identity of a group or culture, or of an individual as far as one is influenced by one's belonging to a group or culture. Cultural identity is similar to and has overlaps with, but is not synonymous with, identity politics....
developed over centuries, and influenced by Indian,
ArabArab people or Arabs are an ethnic group whose members identify along linguistic, cultural or genealogical grounds...
ic, Chinese, Malay, and European sources. Traditional Javanese and Balinese dances, for example, contain aspects of Hindu culture and mythology, as do
wayang kulitWayang is an Indonesian word for theatre When the term is used to refer to kinds of puppet theater, sometimes the puppet itself is referred to as wayang...
(shadow puppet) performances. Textiles such as
batikBatik is cloth which traditionally uses a manual wax-resist dyeing technique. Due to modern advances in the textile industry, the term has been extended to include fabrics which incorporate traditional batik patterns even if they are not produced using the wax-resist dyeing techniques...
,
ikatIkat, or Ikkat, is a style of weaving that uses a resist dyeing process similar to tie-dye on either the warp or weft before the threads are woven to create a pattern or design...
and
songketSongket is a fabric that belongs to the brocade family of textiles. It is hand-woven in silk or cotton, and intricately patterned with gold or silver threads. The metallic threads stand out against the background cloth to create a shimmering effect. In the weaving process the metallic threads are...
are created across Indonesia in styles that vary by region. The most dominant influences on
Indonesian architectureIndonesian architecture reflects the diversity of cultural, historical and geographic influences that have shaped Indonesia as a whole. Invaders, colonisers, missionaries, merchants and traders brought cultural changes that had a profound effect on building styles and techniques. Traditionally, the...
have traditionally been
IndianThe architecture of India is rooted in its history, culture and religion. Indian architecture progressed with time and assimilated the many influences that came as a result of India's global discourse with other regions of the world throughout its millennia-old past...
; however, Chinese, Arab, and European architectural influences have been significant.
Sports in Indonesia are generally male-orientated and spectator sports are often associated with illegal gambling. The most popular sports are
badmintonBadminton is a racquet sport played by either two opposing players or two opposing pairs , who take positions on opposite halves of a rectangular court that is divided by a net. Players score points by striking a shuttlecock with their racquet so that it passes over the net and lands in their...
and
footballAssociation football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of eleven players using a spherical ball...
.
Indonesian teamsThe Indonesia national badminton team represents Indonesia in international badminton team competitions and is controlled by the Persatuan Bulutangkis Seluruh Indonesia, PBSI , the governing body for badminton in Indonesia...
have won the
Thomas CupThe Thomas Cup, sometimes called the World Men's Team Championships, is an international badminton competition among teams representing member nations of the Badminton World Federation , the sport's global governing body...
(the world team championship of men's badminton) thirteen of the twenty-five times that it has been held since 1949, as well as Olympic medals since the sport gained full Olympic status in 1992.
Liga IndonesiaThe Liga Indonesia is the main competition for Indonesian football clubs. Liga Indonesia is officially the Indonesian football league system, organized by PSSI .- Overview :...
is the country's premier football club league. Traditional sports include
sepak takrawSepak takraw or kick volleyball is a sport native to Southeast Asia, resembling volleyball, except that it uses a rattan ball and only allows players to use their feet, knee, chest and head to touch the ball...
, and bull racing in Madura. In areas with a history of tribal warfare, mock fighting contests are held, such as,
caci in
FloresFlores is one of the Lesser Sunda Islands, an island arc with an estimated area of 14,300 km² extending east from the Java island of Indonesia. The population is estimated to be around 1.5 million , and the largest town is Maumere....
, and
pasolaPasola is a game played by the Western Sumbanese to celebrate the rice planting season.The game is played by throwing wooden spears to the opponent while riding a horse...
in
SumbaSumba is an island in Indonesia, and is one of the Lesser Sunda Islands. It has an area of 11,153 km², and the population was officially at 611,422 in 2005. There is a dry season from May to November and a rainy season from December to April...
.
Pencak SilatPencak silat is an umbrella term for the martial arts of Indonesia. It is also spelled penchak silat or pentjak silat. The head organisation of pencak silat in Indonesia is PERSILAT.-Etymology:...
is an Indonesian martial art.
Indonesian cuisineIndonesian cuisine reflects the vast variety of people that live on the 6,000 populated islands that make up Indonesia. There is probably not a single "Indonesian" cuisine, but rather, a diversity of regional cuisines influenced by local Indonesian culture and foreign influences.Throughout its...
varies by region and is based on Chinese, European,
Middle EastThe Middle East is a region that spans southwestern Asia, southeastern Europe, and northeastern Africa. It has no clear boundaries, often used as a synonym to Near East, in opposition to Far East...
ern, and Indian precedents. Rice is the main
staple foodA staple food is a food that can be stored for use throughout the year and forms the basis of a traditional diet. Staple foods vary from place to place, but are typically inexpensive starchy foods of vegetable origin that are high in food energy and carbohydrate...
and is served with
side dishA side dish, sometimes referred to as a side order or simply a side, is a food item that accompanies the entrée or main course at a meal...
es of meat and vegetables. Spices (notably chili),
coconut milkCoconut milk is a sweet, milky white cooking base derived from the meat of a mature coconut. The colour and rich taste of the milk can be attributed to the high oil content and sugars. In Malaysia, Brunei and Indonesia coconut milk is called santan and in the Philippines it is called gata. In...
, fish and chicken are fundamental ingredients. Indonesian traditional music includes
gamelanA gamelan is a musical ensemble from Indonesia, typically from the islands of Bali or Java, featuring a variety of instruments such as metallophones, xylophones, drums and gongs; bamboo flutes, bowed and plucked strings. Vocalists may also be included....
and
keroncongKroncong is the name of a ukulele-type instrument and an Indonesian musical style that typically makes use of the kroncong, a flute, and a female singer.-Characteristics:...
.
DangdutDangdut is a genre of Indonesian popular music that is partly derived from Malay, Arabic and Hindustani music. It developed in the 1970s among working class Muslim youth, but beginning in the late 1990s reached a broader following in Indonesia and Malaysia....
is a popular contemporary genre of pop music that draws influence from Arabic, Indian, and Malay folk music. The
Indonesian film industry'sThe cinema of Indonesia has a long history but at present is a small, struggling industry.-Colonial era:The first film made in Indonesia was the 1926 silent film, Loetoeng Kasaroeng, by Dutch directors G. Kruger and L. Heuveldorp. It was made with local actors by the NV Java Film Company in Bandung...
popularity peaked in the 1980s and dominated cinemas in Indonesia, although it declined significantly in the early 1990s. Between 2000 and 2005, the number of Indonesian films released each year has steadily increased.
The oldest evidence of writing in Indonesia is a series of
SanskritSanskrit is a historical Indo-Aryan language, one of the liturgical languages of Hinduism and Buddhism, and one of the 22 official languages of India. It is also declared as a classical language by the government of India....
inscriptions dated to the 5th century CE. Important figures in modern Indonesian literature include: Dutch author
MultatuliEduard Douwes Dekker , better known by his pen name Multatuli , was a Dutch writer famous for his satirical novel, Max Havelaar in which he denounced the abuses of colonialism in the colony of the Dutch East Indies .-Biography:Dekker was born in Amsterdam...
, who criticized treatment of the Indonesians under Dutch colonial rule; Sumatrans
Muhammad YaminMuhammad Yamin was born in Talawi, Sawahlunto, in the heartland of the Minangkabau on the island of Sumatra, Indonesia. He was the son of Oesman Gelar Baginda Khatib the Penghulu of Indrapura...
and
HamkaHaji Abdul Malik Karim Amrullah, known as Hamka was a prominent Indonesian author, ulema and politician. His father, syekh Abdul Karim Amrullah, known as Haji Rasul, led and inspired the reform movement in Sumatra upon his arrival from the holy land Mecca in 1906....
, who were influential pre-independence nationalist writers and politicians; and proletarian writer
Pramoedya Ananta ToerPramoedya Ananta Toer was an Indonesian author of novels, short stories, essays, polemic and histories of his homeland and its people...
, Indonesia's most famous novelist. Many of Indonesia's peoples have strongly rooted
oral traditionOral tradition, oral culture and oral lore are messages or testimony transmitted orally from one generation to another. The messages or testimony are verbally transmitted in speech or song and may take the form, for example, of folktales, sayings, ballads, songs, or chants...
s, which help to define and preserve their cultural identities.
MediaMedia freedom in Indonesia increased considerably after the end of President Suharto's rule, during which the now-defunct Ministry of Information monitored and controlled domestic media and restricted foreign media....
freedom in Indonesia increased considerably after the end of President Suharto's rule, during which the now-defunct Ministry of Information monitored and controlled domestic media, and restricted foreign media. The
TVTelevision is a widely used telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images, either monochromatic or color, usually accompanied by sound. "Television" may also refer specifically to a television set, television programming or television transmission...
market includes ten national commercial networks, and provincial networks that compete with public
TVRITelevisi Republik Indonesia is a state-owned television station, the oldest television station in Indonesia , and the only broadcaster with national coverage...
. Private
radio stationRadio broadcasting is an audio broadcasting service, broadcast through the air as radio waves from a transmitter to an antenna and a thus to a receiving device. Stations can be linked in radio networks to broadcast common programming, either in syndication or simulcast or both...
s carry their own news bulletins and foreign broadcasters supply programs. At a reported 25 million users in 2008, Internet usage is limited to a minority of the population, approximately 10.5%.
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