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Indonesia
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Indonesia is located in South East Asia and is the largest archipelago nation in the world. It is bound by Malaysia and the South China Sea to the northwest, Papua New Guinea to the east, the Pacific Ocean to the northeast and the Indian Ocean to the southwest. The country consists of five main islands, Java, Sumatra, Sulawesi, Kalimantan (60% of Borneo) and Irian Jaya as well as 13,667 other small islands and islets.
The five main islands account for 90% of the total land area and each island has its own coastal and mountain regions. The islands of Sumatra, Java and Kalimantan are densely forested while most of the rivers are short and principally used for irrigation.
Major Cities (pop. est.); Jakarta 8,259,300, Surabaya 2,421,000, Bandung 2,026,900, Medan 1,686,000, Semarang 1,005,300 (1990). Land Use; forested 62%, pastures 6%, agricultural-cultivated 17%, other 15% (1993). MORE
The main variable of Indonesia's climate is not temperature or air pressure, but rainfall. The almost uniformly warm waters that make up 81 % of Indonesia's area ensure that temperatures on land remain fairly constant. Split by the equator, the archipelago is almost entirely tropical in climate, with the coastal plains averaging 28 °C, the inland and mountain areas averaging 26 °C, and the higher mountain regions, 23°C. The area's relative humidity ranges between 70 and 90 %. Winds are moderate and generally predictable, with monsoons usually blowing in from the south and east in June through September and from the northwest in December through March. Typhoons and largescale storms pose little hazard to mariners in Indonesia waters; the major danger comes from swift currents in channels, such as the Lombok and Sape straits.
The extreme variations in rainfall are linked with the monsoons. Generally speaking, there is a dry season (June to September), influenced by the Australian continental air masses, and a rainy season (December to March) that is the result of mainland Asia and Pacific Ocean air masses. Local wind patterns, however, can greatly modify these general wind patterns, especially in the islands of central Maluku--Seram, Ambon, and Buru. This oscillating seasonal pattern of wind and rain is related to Indonesia's geographical location as an archipelago between two large continents. In July and August, high pressure over the Australian desert moves winds from that continent toward the northwest. As the winds reach the equator, the earth's rotation causes them to veer off their original course in a northeasterly direction toward the Southeast Asian mainland. During January and February, a corresponding high pressure system over the Asian mainland causes the pattern to reverse. The resultant monsoon is augmented by humid breezes from the Indian Ocean, producing significant amounts of rain throughout many parts of the archipelago.
Prevailing wind patterns interact with local topographic conditions to produce significant variations in rainfall throughout the archipelago. In general, western and northern parts of Indonesia experience the most precipitation, since the north- and westward-moving monsoon clouds are heavy with moisture by the time they reach these more distant regions. Western Sumatra, Java, Bali, the interiors of Kalimantan, Sulawesi, and Irian Jaya are the most predictably damp regions of Indonesia, with rainfall measuring more than 2,000 millimeters per year. In part, this moisture originates on strategically located high mountain peaks that trap damp air. The city of Bogor, near Jakarta, lays claim to having to world's highest number of rainstorms per year--322. On the other hand, the islands closest to Australia--including Nusa Tenggara and the eastern tip of Java--tend to be dry, with some areas experiencing less than 1,000 millimeters per year. To complicate the situation, some of the islands of the southern Malukus experience highly unpredictable rainfall patterns, depending on local wind currents.
Although air temperature changes little from season to season or from one region to the next, cooler temperatures prevail at higher elevations. In general, temperatures drop approximately 1° per 90 meters increase in elevation from sea level with some highaltitude interior mountain regions experiencing night frosts. The highest mountain ranges in Irian Jaya are permanently capped with snow.
Located on the equator, the archipelago experiences relatively little change in the length of daylight hours from one season to the next; the difference between the longest day and the shortest day of the year is only forty-eight minutes. The archipelago stretches across three time zones: Western Indonesian Time--seven hours in advance of Greenwich Mean Time (GMT)--includes Sumatra, Java, and eastern Kalimantan; Central Indonesian Time--eight hours head of GMT--includes western Kalimantan, Nusa Tenggara, and Sulawesi; and Eastern Indonesian Time--nine hours ahead of GMT-- includes the Malukus and Irian Jaya. The boundary between the western and central time zones--established in 1988--is a line running north between Java and Bali through the center of Kalimantan. The border between central and eastern time zones runs north from the eastern tip of Timor to the eastern tip of Sulawesi.
Indonesia Weather Now
Environmental Issues
For centuries, the geographical resources of the Indonesian archipelago have been exploited in ways that fall into consistent social and historical patterns. One cultural pattern consists of the formerly Indianized, rice-growing peasants in the valleys and plains of Sumatra, Java, and Bali; another cultural complex is composed of the largely Islamic coastal commercial sector; a third, more marginal sector consists of the upland forest farming communities which exist by means of subsistence swidden agriculture. To some degree, these patterns can be linked to the geographical resources themselves, with abundant shoreline, generally calm seas, and steady winds favoring the use of sailing vessels, and fertile valleys and plains--at least in the Greater Sunda Islands--permitting irrigated rice farming. The heavily forested, mountainous interior hinders overland communication by road or river, but fosters slash-and-burn agriculture.
Each of these patterns of ecological and economic adaptation experienced tremendous pressures during the 1970s and 1980s, with rising population density, soil erosion, river-bed siltation, and water pollution from agricultural pesticides and off-shore oil drilling. In the coastal commercial sector, for instance, the livelihood of fishing people and those engaged in allied activities--roughly 5.6 million people--began to be imperiled in the late 1970s by declining fish stocks brought about by the contamination of coastal waters. Fishermen in northern Java experienced marked declines in certain kinds of fish catches and by the mid-1980s saw the virtual disappearance of the terburuk fish in some areas. Effluent from fertilizer plants in Gresik in northern Java polluted ponds and killed milkfish fry and young shrimp. The pollution of the Strait of Malacca between Malaysia and Sumatra from oil leakage from the Japanese supertanker Showa Maru in January 1975 was a major environmental disaster for the fragile Sumatran coastline. The danger of supertanker accidents also increased in the heavily trafficked strait.
The coastal commercial sector suffered from environmental pressures on the mainland, as well. Soil erosion from upland deforestation exacerbated the problem of siltation downstream and into the sea. Silt deposits covered and killed once-lively coral reefs, creating mangrove thickets and making harbor access increasingly difficult, if not impossible, without massive and expensive dredging operations.
Although overfishing by Japanese and American "floating factory" fishing boats was officially restricted in Indonesia in 1982, the scarcity of fish in many formerly productive waters remained a matter of some concern in the early 1990s. As Indonesian fishermen improved their technological capacity to catch fish, they also threatened the total supply.
A different, but related, set of environmental pressures arose in the 1970s and 1980s among the rice-growing peasants living in the plains and valleys. Rising population densities and the consequent demand for arable land gave rise to serious soil erosion, deforestation because of the need for firewood, and depletion of soil nutrients. Runoff from pesticides polluted water supplies in some areas and poisoned fish ponds. Although national and local governments appeared to be aware of the problem, the need to balance environmental protection with pressing demands of a hungry population and an electorate eager for economic growth did not diminish.
Major problems faced the mountainous interior regions of Kalimantan, Sulawesi, and Sumatra. These problems included deforestation, soil erosion, massive forest fires, and even desertification resulting from intensive commercial logging--all these threatened to create environmental disaster. In 1983 some 30,000 km² of prime tropical forest worth at least US$10 billion were destroyed in a fire in Kalimantan Timur Province. The disastrous scale of this fire was made possible by the piles of dead wood left behind by the timber industry. Even discounting the calamitous effects of the fire, in the mid-1980s Indonesia's deforestation rate was the highest in Southeast Asia, at 7,000 km² per year and possibly as much as 10,000 km² per year. Although additional deforestation came about as a result of the government-sponsored Transmigration Program (transmagrasi) in uninhabited woodlands, in some cases the effects of this process were mitigated by replacing the original forest cover with plantation trees, such as coffee, rubber, or palm. In many areas of Kalimantan, however, large sections of forest were cleared, with little or no systematic effort at reforestation. Although reforestation laws existed, they were rarely or only selectively enforced, leaving the bare land exposed to heavy rainfall, leaching, and erosion. Because commercial logging permits were granted from Jakarta, the local inhabitants of the forests had little say about land use, but in the mid-1980s, the government, through the Department of Forestry, joined with the World Bank to develop a forestry management plan. The efforts resulted in the first forest inventory since colonial times, seminal forestry research, conservation and national parks programs, and development of a master plan by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations (UN).
Natural hazards: occasional floods, severe droughts, tsunamis, earthquakes, volcanoes, forest fires
Environment - current issues: deforestation; water pollution from industrial wastes, sewage; air pollution in urban areas; smoke and haze from forest fires
The population consists of over 300 ethnic groups largely of Malay origin. These include the Javanese who account for 45% of the population while the Sundanese account for 14%, the Madurese for 8% and the Malay for 8%. The principal ethnic minority group is the Chinese. MORE
Density; 93 persons per sq km (241 persons per sq mi) (1991). Urban-Rural; 30.9% urban, 69.1% rural (1990). Sex Distribution; 49.9% male, 50.1% female (1990). Life Expectancy at Birth; 55.6 years male, 58.9 years female (1991). Age Breakdown; 37% under 15, 28% 15 to 29, 18% 30 to 44, 11% 45 to 59, 5% 60 to 74, 1% 75 and over (1990). Birth Rate; 32.2 per 1,000 (1991). Death Rate; 11.7 per 1,000 (1991). Increase Rate; 20.5 per 1,000 (1991). Infant Mortality Rate; 90.0 per 1,000 live births (1991). MORE
Currently, Indonesia has 33 provinces (of those, 2 are special territories and 1 capital city territory). The provinces are subdivided into regencies and cities, which are in turn split up in sub-districts.
The provinces are:
The special territories (daerah istimewa) are Aceh (or Nanggroe Aceh Darussalam) and Yogyakarta. Special territories have more autonomy from the central government than other territories, and as a result they have unique legislative privileges: the Acehnese government has the right to create an independent legal system and instituted a form of sharia (Islamic Law) in 2003; Yogyakarta remains a sultanate whose sultan (currently the wildly popular Sri Sultan Hamengkubuwono X) is the territory's de facto governor for life.
The capital city territory is Jakarta. Though Jakarta is a single city, it is administered much as any other Indonesian province. For example, Jakarta has a governor (instead of a mayor), and is divided into several sub-regions with their own administrative systems.
East Timor was a province of Indonesia from 1975 when it was annexed by military invasion, until Indonesia relinquished sovereignty in 1999, after years of bitter fighting against East Timor guerillas, and abuses reaped on the East Timorese civilians by Indonesian military forces. Following a period of transitional administration by the UN, it became an independent state in 2002. MORE
The official religion is Monotheism, however, 87% of the population are Muslims, 10% are Christians and 2% are Hindus. The remainder are Buddhists, Taoists and Confucianists.
The official language is Bahasa Indonesian, although there are over 250 languages spoken throughout the territory. Javanese is spoken by 40% of the population, Sundanese by 15%, Madurese and Malay by 5 to 10% each. English is also widely understood.
Based on the Malay trade dialect, Bahasa Indonesia is the national language of the Republic of Indonesia. It unites the over 242 million people (2005 estimate) of Indonesia, whose native tongue may be one of the over 300 distinct languages or regional dialects. Older people may speak some Dutch and the foreign language of choice for business, tourism and study is English.
Learn Bahasa Indonesian
While it is possible for foreigners to live in Jakarta without speaking Bahasa Indonesia, it is highly recommended that you obtain a working knowledge of the Indonesian national language. An inability to communicate in Bahasa Indonesia will cut you off from the mainstream of society, and dealing with those who don't speak a foreign language will be very difficult. You deny yourself as well the rich cultural experience of fully communicating with those from another culture.
To get you started and introduce you to the language, are some basic phrases in Bahasa Indonesia. Click 
to hear the Indonesian phrase, the words to the right of the icon are how to say it.
Greetings |
| Good morning |
Selamat Pagi |
| Mid-day |
Selamat siang |
| Evening |
Selamat malam |
| Good-bye (if you're leaving) |
Selamat tinggal |
| Good-bye (to someone who is leaving you) |
Selamat jalan |
| Thank you |
Terima kasih |
| You're welcome |
Kembali or sama-sama |
| How are you? |
Apa kabar? |
| Excuse me |
Permisi or maaf |
Communicating |
| Do you speak English? |
Bisa bicara Bahasa Inggris? |
| I don't speak Indonesian. |
Saya tidak bisa bicara bahasa Indonesia. |
| I don't understand. |
Saya tidak mengerti. |
Requesting basic assistance |
| Can you help me? |
Bisa bantu saya? |
| Where is the bathroom? |
Di mana kamar kecil? |
| Where is . . . |
Di mana. . . |
| How much is this? |
Berapa harganya ini? |
| I want this. |
Saya mau ini. |
| I want to eat. |
Saya mau makan. |
Getting home |
| My address is ... |
Alamat saya... |
| Please take me to ... |
Tolong, antar saya ke ... |
MORE
Aged 25 or over and having attained: no formal schooling 30.3%, incomplete primary 32.3%, primary 22.8%, incomplete secondary 6.4%, secondary 7.1%, higher 1.2% (1985). Literacy; literate population aged 15 or over 80,233,132 or 77.6% (1987).
Under the influences of Hinduism and Buddhism, several kingdoms formed on the islands of Sumatra and Java from the 7th to 14th century. The arrival of Arabs trading in spices later brought Islam, which became the dominant religion in many parts of the archipelago after the collapse of Hindu and Buddhist kingdoms.
When the Portuguese came in the early 16th century, they found a multitude of small states. These states were vulnerable to the Portuguese, and later other Europeans, who were in pursuit of dominating the spice trade. In the 17th century, the Dutch emerged as the most powerful of the Europeans, ousting the Spanish and Portuguese (except for their colony of Portuguese Timor on the island of Timor). |
Banda Aceh's Grand Mosque was built around 12th century. |
The Dutch influence started with trading by the Dutch East India Company (VOC), a chartered private enterprise constituting a state in all but name, complete with its own fleet and army, which gradually expanded its sphere of influence and its grip on political matters. Like the British, the Dutch would mainly rely on indirect rule, using traditional native elites as vassals, while imposing their will and extracting major income under supervision of their colonial officials. Following the dissolution of the VOC in 1799 by the Batavian Republic (Napaoleon's Dutch satellite state), and the political instability from the Napoleonic Wars including partial British occupation, the East Indies were awarded to the United Kingdom of the Netherlands in 1815. From this time onward, the East Indies were officially ruled as the major colonies of the Dutch crown.
Under the nineteenth-century Cultivation System (Cultuurstelsel), large plantations and forced cultivation were established on Java, finally creating the profit for the Netherlands that the VOC had been unable to produce. In a more liberal period of colonial rule after 1870 the Cultivation System was abolished, and after 1901 the Dutch introduced the Ethical Policy, which included limited political reform and increased investment in the colony.
During World War II, with the Netherlands under German occupation, in December 1941 Japan began a five prong campaign towards Java and the vital fuel supplies of the Dutch East Indies. Though Japan captured Java by March 1942, it was initially unable to find any national leader willing to collaborate with the Japanese government against the Dutch. Eventually the Japanese commander ordered that Sukarno be released from his prison island, and in July 1942, Sukarno arrived in Jakarta. Sukarno and his colleagues collaborated with the Japanese occupiers. In 1945, with the war drawing to a close, Sukarno was made aware of an opportunity to declare independence. In response to lobbying, Japan agreed to allow Sukarno to establish a committee to plan for independence. Sukarno and Mohammad Hatta declared independence on 17 August.
Following the defeat of Japan in the World War, the Netherlands' Army, at first backed by the Allies, attempted to reoccupy their former East Indies colonies. Indonesia's war for independence lasted from 1945 until 27 December 1949, when, under heavy international pressure, the Netherlands acknowledged the independence of Indonesia, as a Federation of autonomous states. This federation soon became a republic with Sukarno as the first president, and Mohammad Hatta as the first vice president. See Indonesian National Revolution. It was not until 16 August 2005 that the Dutch government recognised 1945 as the country's year of independence and expressed its regrets over the Indonesian deaths caused by the Netherlands' Army.
The 1950s and 1960s saw Sukarno's government aligning itself first with the emerging non-aligned movement and later with the socialist bloc. The 1960s saw Indonesia in a military confrontation against neighboring Malaysia, and increasing frustration over domestic economic difficulties. Army general Suharto became president in 1967 on the pretext of securing the country against an alleged Communist coup attempt against a weakening Sukarno. In the aftermath of Suharto's rise, hundreds of thousands people were killed or imprisoned by the military and religious groups in a backlash against alleged Communist supporters. Suharto's administration is commonly called the New Order era. Suharto invited major foreign investment into the country, which produced substantial, if uneven, economic growth. However, Suharto enriched himself and his family through widespread corruption and he was forced to step down amid massive popular demonstrations and a faltering economy by the Indonesian Revolution of 1998.
In the period of 1998 to 2001, the country had three presidents: Bacharuddin Jusuf (BJ) Habibie, Abdurrahman Wahid and Megawati Sukarnoputri. In 2004 the largest one-day election in the world and Indonesia's first direct Presidential election was held and was won by Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono. Parts of northern Sumatra, particularly Aceh, were devastated by a massive earthquake and tsunami on 26 December 2004.
The official currency is the Rupiah (Rp) divided into 100 Sen.
Indonesia's economy suffered greatly in the late 1990s, in part as a result of the financial crisis that struck most of Asia at the time. The economy has stabilized somewhat since then.
The country has extensive natural resources outside of Java, including crude oil, natural gas, tin, copper and gold. Indonesia is the world's second largest exporter of natural gas, though it has recently become a net importer of crude oil. Major agricultural products include rice, tea, coffee, spices and rubber. The central bank of Indonesia is Bank Indonesia.
Indonesia's major trading partners are Japan, the United States and the surrounding nations of Singapore, Malaysia and Australia.
Despite being the only Asian member of OPEC, Indonesia's fuel production has declined significantly over the years, owing to aging oil fields and lack of investment in new equipment. As a result, despite being an exporter of crude oil, Indonesia is now a net importer of oil and had previously subsidized fuel prices to keep prices low, costing US$ 7 billion in 2004. The current president has mandated a significant reduction of government subsidy of fuel prices in several stages. In order to alleviate economic hardships, the government has offered one-time subsidies to qualified citizens. The economy is now undergoing a process of rebuilding after the tsunami that struck in December of 2004. The government has stated the cuts in subsidies are aimed at reducing the budget deficit to 1% of gross domestic product (GDP) this year, down from around 1.6% last year. MORE
Railroads; route length 6,583 km (4,090 mi) (1990), passenger-km 7,860,000,000 (4,884,000,000 passenger-mi) (1988), cargo ton-km 2,364,000,000 (1,619,000,000 short ton-mi) (1988). Roads; length 250,314 km (155,538 mi) (1988). Vehicles; cars 1,228,180 (1990), trucks and buses 1,424,189 (1990). Merchant Marine; vessels 1,884 (1990), deadweight tonnage 2,910,123 (1990). Air Transport; passenger-km 13,381,714,000 (8,315,009,000 passenger-mi) (1990), cargo ton-km 473,132,000 (324,048,000 short ton-mi) (1990). MORE
Daily Newspapers; total of 68 with a total circulation of 4,591,000 (1992). Radio; receivers 26,000,000 (1994). Television; receivers 11,000,000 (1994). Telephones; units 1,713,000 (1993). MORE
276,000 (1994) total active duty personnel with 77.5% army, 15.2% navy and 7.3% air force while military expenditure accounts for 1.5% (1993) of the Gross National Product (GNP). MORE
Link - Provides detailed information and statistics on Geography, People, Government, Economy, Communications, Transportation, Military and Transnational Issues.
Link - World Bank Dat Profile provides key statistical information on People, Environment, Economy, Technology Infrastructure, Trade & Finance.
Link- link to a Wikipedia page providing a wealth of information from History and Culture through to Politics and Religion.
Link - link to the latest New Headlines for this country.
Link - link to Human Rights report for this country produces by Amnesty International
Link - link to US Congress Country Study for this country. Contains comprehensive information on a wide range of topics, particularly good for historical context.
Link - link to GE Source World Guide providing country profile, demographics, economic data, satellite images.
Antara — National News Agency
Bank Indonesia — Indonesian Central Bank
List of Indonesian embassies and consulates worldwide (Department of Foreign Affairs)
RRI — National Radio Network
