Indonesia, republic (c.735,000 sq mi/1,903,650 sq km; 1993 estimated population 188,216,000; 2004 estimated population 238,452,952), SE Asia, in the Malay Archipelago (sometimes called Nusantara); (cap.) and largest city is Jakarta, on Java.
Geography
The fifth-most populous country in the world, Indonesia comprises more than 13,000 islands extending c.3,000 mi/4,830 km along the equator from the Malaysia mainland toward Australia; the archipelago forms a natural barrier between the Indian and Pacific oceans. Consisting of the territory of the former Dutch (or Netherland) East Indies, Indonesia’s main island groups are the Greater Sunda Islands, which include Java, Sumatra, central and S Borneo (Kalimantan), and Sulawesi (formerly Celebes); the Lesser Sunda Islands, consisting of Bali, Flores, Sumba, Lombok, and the W part of Timor; the Maluku (Moluccas), with Ambon, Buru , Seram, and Halmahera and the Riau Archipelago. Irian Jaya (West New Guinea), after years of dispute with the Dutch, was formally annexed by Indonesia in August 1969. The most important islands, culturally and economically, are Java, Sumatra, and Bali. All the larger islands have a central volcanic mountainous area flanked by coastal plains; there are more than 100 active volcanoes. Earthquakes are frequent, and occasionally severe. On December 26, 2004, the western islands of Indonesia were devasatated by a massive tsunami, generated by a 9.0 magnitude earthquake off the W coast of Sumatra, which sustained the heaviest damage and the loss of tens of thousands of lives; particularly affected was the Aceh province and the city of Banda Aceh.The animal life of Indonesia roughly forms a connecting link between the fauna of Asia and that of Australia. Elephants are found in Sumatra and Borneo, tigers as far S as Java and Bali, and marsupials in Timor and Irian Jaya. Crocodiles, snakes, and richly colored birds are everywhere. The tropical climate, abundant rainfall, and remarkably fertile volcanic soils permit a rich agricultural yield.
Administratively, Indonesia is divided into twenty-six provinces (Sumatra, eight provinces; Java, five provinces; Bali; Kalimantan (Indonesian Borneo), four provinces; Sulawesi, four provinces; Lesser Sundas, two provinces; Maluku; and Irian Jaya) and further divided into districts (kabupaten) and municipalities (kotamadya).
Population
The population falls roughly into two groups, the Malays and the Papuans, with many of the inhabitants E of Bali representing a transition between the two types. Within each group are numerous subdivisions, and cultural development ranges from the modern Javanese and Balinese to ancient tribes in Borneo, Sumatra, and Irian Jaya. The complex ethnic structure is the result of several great migrations many centuries ago largely from Asia. More than three hundred languages are spoken in Indonesia, but an official language, Bahasa Indonesia (regarded as the purest Malay and originally spoken in the Rim Archipelago) has been adopted; it has spread rapidly and is now understood in all but the most remote villages. English is considered to be the country’s second language. About 87% of the population is Muslim, some 9% is Christian, and about 2% is Hindu. Hindus are concentrated principally on Bali, which is known for its distinctive culture. Animism, sometimes combined with Islam, is common among some tribal groups. The Chinese constitute by far the greatest majority of the nonindigenous population; they number between two to three million and play an important role in the country’s economic life. There are smaller minorities of Arabs and Indians.
Economy
Crude oil is Indonesia’s most valuable natural resource. Also, Indonesia is the world’s leading supplier of liquified natural gas. Nearly all of the country’s oil and gas deposits are located on Sumatra, though oil fields have recently been discovered in Kalimentan Timur province. Indonesia is one of the world’s major rubber producers; other plantation and smallholder crops include sugarcane, coffee, tea, tobacco, palm oil, cinchona, cacao, sisal, coconuts, and spices. Despite plantation cultivation, Indonesia has a wide landholding base; the majority of the people are largely self-sufficient in food. Rice is the major crop; cassava, maize, yams, soybeans, peanuts, and fruit are also grown. Horses and cattle are raised on some of the Lesser Sunda Islands. Fish are abundant, both in the ocean and in inland ponds. In natural-resource potential, Indonesia is one of the wealthiest countries in the world. It has great timberlands; vast rain forests of giant trees (among the world’s tallest) cover the mountain slopes, and teak, sandalwood, ironwood, camphor, and ebony are cut. Palm, rattan, and bamboo abound, and a great variety of forest products are produced. Indonesia is a major exporter of timber, accounting for nearly half of the world’s tropical hardwood trade. However, the rapid deforestation of Indonesia’s hardwoods, mainly due to its expanding population and growing timber-related industries, has caused concern among international environmental groups regarding the impact on global warming. Tin, bauxite, nickel, coal, manganese, salt, copper, gold, and silver are also mined. Salt is available in large quantities from shallow enclosed seashore lagoons, especially Madura Island and Java Timur province. Iron is believed to exist in great quantity, and uranium has been reported. Primarily a supplier of raw materials, the country has begun to industrialize. However, much of its working force is still engaged in agriculture. Industry is mainly limited to food, mineral and wood processing, a variety of light manufacturing, and cement production. However, Indonesia faces economic development concerns because of recent acts of terrorism, endemic corruption, and the weeknesses of its banking system.
History to 16th Century
Early in the Christian era, Indonesia came under the influence of Indian civilization through the gradual influx of Indian traders and Buddhist and Hindu monks. By the 7th and 8th centuries, kingdoms closely connected with India had developed in Sumatra and Java; the Hindu temple, Prambanan, and the spectacular Buddhist temples of Borobudur date from this period. Sumatra was the seat (7th–13th centuries) of the important Buddhist kingdom of Sri Vijaya, in the SE in the Palembang and Jambi areas. In the late 13th century the center of power shifted to Java, where the fabulous Hindu kingdom of Majapahit had arisen; for two centuries it held sway over Indonesia and large areas of the Malay Peninsula. A gradual infiltration of Islam began in the 14th and 15th centuries with the arrival of Indian Muslim and Arab traders, and by the end of the 16th century Islam had replaced Buddhism and Hinduism as the dominant religion. The once-powerful kingdoms broke into smaller Islamic states whose internecine strife made them vulnerable to European imperialism.
History - 16th Century to 1825
Early in the 16th century the Portuguese, in pursuit of the rich spice trade, began establishing trading posts in Indonesia, after taking the strategic commercial center of Melaka (Malacca) in 1511 on the Malay Peninsula. The Dutch followed in 1596 and the English in 1600. By 1610 the Dutch had ousted the Portuguese, who were allowed to retain only the E part of Timor Island, but English competition remained strong, and it was only after a series of Anglo-Dutch conflicts (1610–1623) that the Dutch emerged as the dominant power in Indonesia. Throughout the 17th and 18th centuries the Dutch East India Company steadily expanded its control over the entire area. When the company was liquidated in 1799, the Dutch government assumed its holdings, which were thereafter known in English as the Netherlands (or Dutch) East Indies. Dutch rule was briefly broken (1811–1814) during the Napoleonic Wars when the islsands were occupied by the British under T. Stamford Raffles. Bengkulu, the last British holding in SW Sumatra, was relinquished in 1824.
History - 1825 to 1957
The Dutch exploited the riches of the islands throughout the 19th century, but their rule did not go unchallenged by the Indonesians. In 1825, Prince Diponegoro of Java launched a long and bloody guerrilla war against the Dutch; in 1906 and again in 1908 the native rulers of Bali led their subjects in suicidal charges against Dutch fortifications; the Acehnese in N Sumatra fought Dutch rule from 1820 into the early 1900s. The Indonesian independence movement began early in the 20th century. The Indonesian Communist Party (PKI) was founded in 1920; in 1927 the Indonesian Nationalist Party (PNI) arose under the leadership of Sukarno. It received its impetus during World War II, when the Japanese drove out (1942) the Dutch and occupied the islands. In August 1945, immediately after the Japanese surrender, Sukarno and Muhammad Hatta, another nationalist leader, proclaimed Indonesia an independent republic. The Dutch bitterly resisted the nationalists, and four years of intermittent and sometimes heavy fighting followed. Under UN pressure, an agreement was finally reached (November 1949) for the creation of an independent republic of Indonesia. A new constitution provided for a parliamentary form of government. Sukarno was elected president, and Hatta became premier and then vice president. Although Sukarno had achieved a major accomplishment in uniting so many diverse peoples and regions under one government and one language, his administration was marked by inefficiency, injustice, corruption, and chaos.
History - 1957 to 1965
The rapid expropriation of Dutch property and the ousting of Dutch citizens (1957) severely dislocated the economy; the country’s great wealth was not exploited, and soaring inflation and great economic hardship ensued. A popular revolt, stemming from a desire for greater autonomy, began on Sumatra early in 1958 and spread to Sulawesi (Celebes) and other islands; the disorders led to increasingly authoritarian rule by Sukarno, who dissolved (1960) the parliament and reinstated the constitution of 1945, which had provided for a strong, independent executive. The army, whose influence was strengthened by its role in quickly quelling the revolts, and the Communist Party, whose ranks were growing very rapidly, constituted two important power blocs in Indonesian politics, with Sukarno holding the balance of power between them. In early 1962, Sukarno dispatched paratroopers to Netherlands New Guinea—territory claimed by Indonesia but firmly held by the Dutch—forcing the Dutch to agree to transfer that area to the UN with the understanding that it would pass under Indonesian administration in May 1963, pending a referendum that was to be held by 1970. After the referendum, in August 1969, Netherland New Guinea was formally annexed by Indonesia, and its name was changed to Irian Barat (or West Irian), which was then renamed Irian Jaya. Sukarno began to lean increasingly toward the left, openly summoning Communist leaders for advice, exhibiting hostility toward the U.S., and cultivating the friendship of Communist China.
History - 1965 to 1970
In 1965, he withdrew Indonesia from the UN. An abortive Communist coup against the army began in September 1965 with the assassination of six high army officials. The coup was swiftly thwarted by strategic army forces under General Suharto, who gradually assumed power (although retaining Sukarno as symbolic leader). Thousands of alleged Communists were executed, and a widespread massacre ensued (October-December 1965). As many as 750,000 people may have been killed throughout Indonesia, including many ethnic Chinese; in E and central Java and in Bali entire villages were wiped out. The new government steadily increased its power, aided by massive student demonstrations against Sukarno. General Suharto banned the PKI, reestablished close ties with the U.S., and reentered (1966) the UN. On March 12, 1967, the national assembly voted Sukarno out of power altogether and named General Suharto acting president. Indonesia was one of the founding countries of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in 1967. Suharto was elected president in 1968. The government re-instituted an earlier Dutch colonial policy of “transmigration,” in which farmers from the overpopulated islands of Java and Bali were moved to underpopulated areas such as Sumatra, Kalimantan (Indoesian Borneo), and most recently, Irian Jaya.
History - 1970 to Present
The policy, which has continued through the 1990s, has had mixed results; though more than six million have moved Java and Bali continue to be heavily populated (especially Java, which has received large numbers of immigrants in recent years and whose population had nearly quadrupled in the 20th century). The economy grew rapidly during the 1970s and 1980s due to expanded oil, gas, timber, textiles, and coffee exporting, but corruption also remained a problem. After the financial collapse of the national oil corporation Pertamina in 1975, the government instituted a series of reforms to liberalize the economy and promote private enterprise. In the 1980s, government policies promoting export manufacturing was successful, and the country’s industrial sector grew quickly, particularly in chemicals, electronic components, cement, rubber tires, paper, and textiles. During the 1990s, the Jakarta Stock Exchange grew rapidly, becoming one of the largest in the region. The country has also promoted tourism, and Bali has become a popular tourist attraction. In 1975–1976, Indonesia annexed East Timor (a former Portugese colony), and incorporated it as the province of Timor Timur. Indonesia defended its actions by claiming that it was preventing growing Soviet influence, but the takeover was not recognized by the UN. Since the annexation, separatists resisted Indonesian control, suffering substantial loss of life, and in the 1980s and 1990s, Indonesia came under increasing criticism from the U.S. and international organizations for human-rights abuses in the area. In August 1999, the East Timorese voted for independence, leading to widespread violence by Indonesian militias backed by some elements of the army, and the UN est. a peacekeeping mission and interim administrative force in October 1999; East Timor officially became an independent country in May 2002. Internationally, Indonesia is a leading member of ASEAN and is one of five countries claiming sovereignty over the Spratley Islands in the South China Sea.
Higher Education
Notable among the many state universities scattered throughout the islands are the University of Indonesia, at Jakarta; the Bandung Technology Institute, one of the country’s oldest and most prestigious universities; Airlangga Surabaya University, at Surabaya; Gadjah Mada University, at Yogyakarta; and the University of North Sumatra, at Medan. Private schools include the Islamic University of Indonesia, at Yogyakarta, and National University, at Jakarta.
Government
The current chief of state is President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono (since October 2004). He is also prime minister.
