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Travel to Indonesia — Unbiased reviews and
great deals from TripAdvisorIndonesia
| Republic of Indonesia National
name: Republik Indonesia President:
Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono (2004)
Current government officials
Land area: 699,548 sq mi (1,811,831 sq
km); total area: 741,096 sq mi (1,919,440 sq km) Population (2008 est.): 237,512,355 (growth
rate: 1.1%); birth rate: 19.2/1000; infant mortality rate: 31.0/1000;
life expectancy: 70.4; density per sq mi: 130
Capital and largest city (2003 est.):
Jakarta, 13,194,000 (metro. area), 8,389,443
(city proper) Other large cities:
Surabaya, 3,038,800; Bandung, 2,733,500; Medan, 2,204,300; Semarang,
1,267,100 Monetary unit: Rupiah
Languages:
Bahasa Indonesia (official), English, Dutch,
Javanese, and more than 580 other languages and dialects
Ethnicity/race:
Javanese 45%, Sundanese 14%, Madurese 7.5%,
coastal Malays 7.5%, other 26%
Religions:
Islam 88%, Protestant 5%, Roman Catholic 3%,
Hindu 2%, Buddhist 1% (1998)
National Holiday:
Independence Day, August 17 Literacy rate: 90% (2004 est.) Economic summary: GDP/PPP (2007 est.):
$845.6 billion; per capita $3,400. Real growth rate: 6.1%.
Inflation: 6.3%. Unemployment: 9.7%. Arable land:
11%. Agriculture: rice, cassava (tapioca), peanuts, rubber,
cocoa, coffee, palm oil, copra; poultry, beef, pork, eggs. Labor
force: 108 million (2007 est.); agriculture 43.3%, industry 18%,
services 38.7% (2004 est.). Industries: petroleum and natural
gas, textiles, apparel, footwear, mining, cement, chemical
fertilizers, plywood, rubber, food, tourism. Natural resources:
petroleum, tin, natural gas, nickel, timber, bauxite, copper, fertile
soils, coal, gold, silver. Exports: $118.4 billion f.o.b. (2007
est.): oil and gas, electrical appliances, plywood, textiles, rubber.
Imports: $86.24 billion f.o.b. (2007 est.): machinery and
equipment, chemicals, fuels, foodstuffs. Major trading
partners: Japan, U.S., Singapore, South Korea, China, Taiwan,
Malaysia (2006). Communications:
Telephones: main lines in use: 14.821 million (2006); mobile
cellular: 63.803 million (2006). Radio broadcast stations: AM
678, FM 43, shortwave 82 (1998). Television broadcast stations:
54 (2006). Internet hosts: 559,359 (2007). Internet
users: 16 million (2005). Transportation: Railways: total: 6,458 km
(2006). Highways: total: 368,360 km; paved: 213,649 km;
unpaved: 154,711 km (2006 est.). Waterways: 21,579 km; note:
Sumatra 5,471 km, Java and Madura 820 km, Kalimantan 10,460 km,
Sulawesi (Celebes) 241 km, Irian Jaya 4,587 km (2007). Ports and
harbors: Banjarmasin, Belawan, Ciwandan, Krueg Geukueh, Palembang,
Panjang, Sungai Pakning, Tanjung Perak, Tanjung Priok.
Airports: 652 (2007). International
disputes: East Timor-Indonesia Boundary Committee continues to
meet, survey and delimit land boundary, but several sections of the
boundary remain unresolved; Indonesia and East Timor contest the
sovereignty of the uninhabited coral island of Palau Batek/Fatu Sinai,
which hinders a decision on a northern maritime boundary; a 1997
treaty between Indonesia and Australia settled some parts of their
maritime boundary but outstanding issues remain; ICJ's award of
Sipadan and Ligitan islands to Malaysia in 2002 left maritime boundary
in the hydrocarbon-rich Celebes Sea in dispute, culminating in hostile
confrontations in March 2005 over concessions to the Ambalat oil
block; the ICJ decision has prompted Indonesia to assert claims to and
to establish a presence on its smaller outer islands; Indonesia and
Singapore pledged in 2005 to finalize their 1973 maritime boundary
agreement by defining unresolved areas north of Batam Island;
Indonesian secessionists, squatters, and illegal migrants create
repatriation problems for Papua New Guinea; piracy remains a problem
in the Malacca Strait.
Major sources and definitions
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Geography
Indonesia is an archipelago in Southeast Asia
consisting of 17,000 islands (6,000 inhabited) and straddling the equator.
The largest islands are Sumatra, Java (the most populous), Bali,
Kalimantan (Indonesia's part of Borneo), Sulawesi (Celebes), the Nusa
Tenggara islands, the Moluccas Islands, and Irian Jaya (also called West
Papua), the western part of New Guinea. Its neighbor to the north is
Malaysia and to the east is Papua New Guinea.
Indonesia, part of the “ring of
fire,” has the largest number of active volcanoes in the world.
Earthquakes are frequent. Wallace's line, a zoological demarcation between
Asian and Australian flora and fauna, divides Indonesia.
Government
Republic.
History
The 17,000 islands that make up Indonesia were
home to a diversity of cultures and indigenous beliefs when the islands
came under the influence of Hindu priests and traders in the first and
second centuries A.D. Muslim invasions began in
the 13th century, and most of the archipelago had converted to Islam by
the 15th century. Portuguese traders arrived early in the next century but
were ousted by the Dutch around 1595. The Dutch United East India Company
established posts on the island of Java, in an effort to control the spice
trade.
After Napoléon subjugated the Netherlands
in 1811, the British seized the islands but returned them to the Dutch in
1816. In 1922, Indonesia was made an integral part of the Dutch kingdom.
During World War II, Japan seized the islands. Tokyo was primarily
interested in Indonesia's oil, which was vital to the war effort, and
tolerated fledgling nationalists such as Sukarno and Mohammed Hatta. After
Japan's surrender, Sukarno and Hatta proclaimed Indonesian independence on
Aug. 17, 1945. Allied troops, mostly British Indian forces, fought
nationalist militias to reassert the prewar status quo until the arrival
of Dutch troops.
In Nov. 1946, a draft agreement on forming a
Netherlands-Indonesian Union was reached, but differences in
interpretation resulted in more fighting between Dutch and nationalist
forces. Following a bitter war for independence, leaders on both sides
agreed to terms of a union on Nov. 2, 1949. The transfer of sovereignty
took place in Amsterdam on Dec. 27, 1949. In Feb. 1956, Indonesia
abrogated the union and began seizing Dutch property in the islands.
In 1963, Netherlands New Guinea (the Dutch
portion of the island of New Guinea) was transferred to Indonesia and
renamed West Irian, which became Irian Jaya in 1973 and West Papua in
2000. Hatta and Sukarno, the cofathers of Indonesian independence, split
over Sukarno's concept of “guided democracy,” and under
Sukarno's rule the Indonesian Communist Party (PKI) steadily increased its
influence.
Sukarno was named president for life in 1966. He
enjoyed mass support for his policies, but a growing power struggle
between the military and the PKI loomed over his government. After an
attempted military coup was put down by army chief of staff, General
Suharto, and officers loyal to him, Suharto's forces killed hundreds of
thousands of suspected Communists in a massive purge aimed at undermining
Sukarno's rule.
Suharto took over the reins of government and
gradually eased Sukarno out of office, completing his consolidation of
power in 1967. Under Suharto the military assumed an overarching role in
national affairs, and relations with the West were enhanced. Indonesia's
economy improved dramatically and national elections were permitted,
although the opposition was so tightly controlled as to virtually choke
off dissent.
In 1975, Indonesia invaded the former Portuguese
half of the island of Timor; it seized the territory in 1976. A separatist
movement developed at once. Unlike the rest of Indonesia, which had been a
Dutch colony, East Timor was governed by the Portuguese for 400 years, and
while 90% of Indonesians are Muslim, the East Timorese are primarily
Catholic. More than 200,000 Timorese are reported to have died from
famine, disease, and fighting since the annexation. In 1996, two East
Timorese resistance activists, Bishop Carlos Filipe Ximenes Belo and
José Ramos-Horta, received the Nobel Peace Prize.
In the summer of 1997, Indonesia suffered a
major economic setback, along with most other Asian economies. Banks
failed and the value of Indonesia's currency, the rupiah, plummeted.
Antigovernment demonstrations and riots broke out, directed mainly at the
country's prosperous ethnic Chinese. As the economic crisis deepened,
student demonstrators occupied the national parliament, demanding
Suharto's ouster. On May 21, 1998, Suharto stepped down, ending 32 years
of rule, and handed over power to Vice President B. J. Habibie.
June 7, 1999, marked Indonesia's first free
parliamentary election since 1955. The ruling Golkar Party took a backseat
to the Indonesian Democratic Party-Struggle (PDI-P), led by Megawati
Sukarnoputri, the daughter of Sukarno, Indonesia's first president.
The ethnic, religious, and political tensions
kept in check during Suharto's 32 years of authoritarian rule erupted in
the months following his downfall. Rioting and violence shook the
provinces of Aceh, Ambon (in the Moluccas), Borneo, and Irian Jaya. But
nowhere was the violence more brutal and unjust than in East Timor.
Habibie unexpectedly ended 25 years of Indonesian intransigence by
announcing in Feb. 1999 that he was willing to hold a referendum on East
Timorese independence. Twice rescheduled because of violence, a
UN-organized referendum took place on Aug. 30, 1999, with 78.5% of the
population voting to secede from Indonesia. In the days following the
election, pro-Indonesian militias and Indonesian soldiers massacred
civilians and forced a third of the population out of the region. After
enormous international pressure, the government, which was either
unwilling or unable to stop the violent rampage, finally agreed to allow
UN forces into East Timor on Sept. 12, 1999. East Timor achieved
independence on May 20, 2002.
On Oct. 20, 1999, in a surprising upset, the
Indonesian parliament elected Abdurrahman Wahid as the new president of
Indonesia, defeating Megawati Sukarnoputri, the popular leader of the
Indonesian Democratic Party-Struggle. Wahid was a Sufi cleric as well as
an adept politician with a reputation for honesty and moderation.
Rioting, bombing, and growing unrest continued
to plague Indonesia in 2000. On June 4, 2000, separatists declared Irian
Jaya (also called West Papua) an independent state. Wahid flatly opposed
independence for the province, which contains sizable copper and gold
mines. Unlike East Timor, there is little international support for an
independent Irian Jaya.
In fall 2000, Suharto failed twice to show up in
court to face corruption charges of embezzling $570 million in state
funds, but his lawyers insisted he was too ill to stand trial. In July
2007, prosecutors filed a civil suit against Suharto, seeking $440 million
that he had embezzled and $1.1 billion in damages.
In Sept. 2000, Suharto's playboy son, Hutomo
“Tommy” Mandala Putra, was arrested for his role in a
fraudulent multimillion-dollar land deal. He fled and was finally arrested
and jailed in November 2001 after a manhunt. In July 2002, he was
sentenced to 15 years in prison after being convicted of coordinating the
murder of the judge who had sentenced him in the corruption trial.
In the fall of 2000 and winter of 2001,
President Wahid came under increasing criticism for corruption and
incompetence. He was blamed for not stopping ethnic clashes and killings
in Aceh, Irian Jaya, the Moluccas Islands, and especially in Borneo, where
the Dayak people turned against Madurese immigrants, slaughtering
hundreds. Wahid was forced from power in July 2001, and Vice President
Megawati Sukarnoputri assumed the helm.
A terrorist bombing on Oct. 12, 2002, at a
nightclub in Bali killed more than 200 people, mostly tourists. In 2003,
Amrozi bin Nurhasyim and Imam Samudra, members of Jemaah Islamiyah, an
Islamic terrorist group linked to al-Qaeda, were sentenced to death for
their roles in the bombing. But the radical Muslim cleric Abu Bakar
Bashir, believed to be the head of Jemaah Islamiyah, was only given a
light three-year sentence on lesser charges, causing some in the
international community to question Indonesia's commitment to fighting
terrorism. Authorities arrested Bashir in April 2004—on the same day
he was set to be released from prison—claiming they had new evidence
that proved he is in fact the leader of Jemaah Islamiyah and that he
approved the Bali bombing. In March 2005, he was found not guilty of
terrorism charges in the bombings of Jakarta's Marriott Hotel in 2003 and
the Bali nightclub. He was, however, convicted of a lesser
charge—criminal conspiracy. That charge was overturned in Dec.
2006.
In May 2003, President Megawati declared
military rule in Aceh and launched an offensive intended to destroy the
Free Aceh Movement. The invasion marked the end of a cease-fire that was
signed in Dec. 2002 between the Indonesian government and Aceh
separatists. The government and the separatists signed a peace treaty in
Aug. 2005, ending the 30-year war that had claimed the lives of 15,000
people. As part of the accord, the rebels will surrender their arms and
the government will gradually withdraw its troops. In addition, the
Acehnese agreed to give up their demand for independence in exchange for
the right to establish political parties. The separatists disbanded their
army in December, finalizing the end to their insurgency.
Violence erupted again in the Moluccas Islands
in April 2004, when more than 40 people died in fighting between
Christians and Muslims. The two groups signed a cease-fire in 2002.
Megawati's PDI-P Party fared poorly in April
2004 elections, placing second behind the Golkar Party of former president
Suharto. In July, retired general Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono placed first in
the country's inaugural direct presidential elections, but he did not
garner enough votes to win outright. However, he soundly defeated Megawati
in the September runoff.
On Dec. 26, 2004, a magnitude 9.0 earthquake,
whose epicenter was off the west coast of the Indonesian island of
Sumatra, caused a tremendously powerful tsunami in the Indian Ocean that
devastated 12 Asian countries. At least 225,000 people died in the
disaster, and millions were left homeless. Indonesia was the heaviest hit,
with more than 150,000 casualties. Many of the deaths occurred in the
war-torn province of Aceh.
About two dozen people died in Sept. 2005 when
suicide bombers attacked tourist sites in Bali. The attack was eerily
similar to the one that took place two years earlier.
On May 26, 2006, more than 6,200 people were
killed in a 6.3 magnitude earthquake on Java. About 130,000 were left
homeless. Just two months later, on July 17, an earthquake and tsunami
struck Java, killing more than 500 people. It was the fourth major
earthquake to strike the country in 19 months.
Floods ravaged Jakarta in Feb. 2007, killing
about 30 people and leaving approximately 340,000 homeless.
In June 2007, police arrested Abu Dujana, a
senior military leader of the militant group Jemaah Islamiah who police
suspect was involved in the 2003 bombing of the Marriott Hotel.
Authorities hoped that his arrest would strike a blow to the group's
operations.
Suharto died on January 27, 2008, after spending
most of the month in the hospital for heart, lung, and kidney ailments. At
his death, a civil suit, which was filed in 2007 and sought $440 million
that he had embezzled and $1.1 billion in damages, was still pending. He
was never criminally charged for embezzlement or for the deaths of
approximately 500,000 people who died in the purge of suspected Communists
in the late 1960s. The United Nations has called Suharto the most corrupt
contemporary leader.
See also Encyclopedia: Indonesia
U.S. State Dept. Country Notes:
Indonesia
Central Bureau of Statistics http://www.bps.go.id .
Information Please® Database, © 2008 Pearson
Education, Inc. All rights reserved.
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