INDONESIA

COUNTRY
Formal Name: Republic of Indonesia
(Republik Indonesia; the word Indonesia was
coined from the Greek indos—for India—and nesos—for island).

Short Form: Indonesia.

Former Names: Netherlands East Indies; Dutch East Indies.
Click to Enlarge Image

Term for Citizen(s): Indonesian(s).

Capital: Jakarta (Special Capital City Region of Jakarta), located on the north coast of Java.

Major Cities: The eight largest cities in 2004 were Jakarta (Java), Surabaya (Java), Bandung
(Java), Medan (Sumatra), Palembang (Sumatra), Semarang (Java), Ujungpandang (Sulawesi),
and Tangerang (Java).

Date of Independence: Proclaimed August 17, 1945, from the Netherlands. The Hague
recognized Indonesian sovereignty on December 27, 1949.

National Public Holidays: Religious holidays (celebrated by followers of that faith): include
Imlek (Chinese or Lunar New Year, movable date in January or February); Eid’l Adha (Feast of
the Sacrifice of the Prophet Ibrahim, movable date); Hari Raya Nyepi (Balinese Hindu New
Year, movable date in March or April); Hijriyah (Islamic New Year, first day of Muharram, first
month of the Islamic calendar, variable date); Good Friday (movable date in March or April);
Maulid (Birthday of the Prophet Muhammad, movable date); Waisak (Buddha’s Birthday,
movable date in May or June); Ascension of Christ (movable date in May or June); Isra Miraj
Nabi Muhammad (Night Journey and Ascension of the Prophet Muhammad, movable date);
Eid’l Fitri (end of the month of Ramadan, variable cluster of two days, often late in the year);
and Christmas (December 25). Other days commemorated include: New Year’s Day, January 1; National Education Day, May 2; National Awakening Day, May 20; National Children’s Day,
July 23; Independence Day, August 17; National Sports Day, September 8; Armed Forces Day,
October 5; Youth Pledge Day, October 28; Heroes’ Day, November 10; and Women’s Day,
December 22.

Flag:
The Indonesian flag has two equal horizontal bands of red (top) and
white. It is similar to the flag of Monaco, which is shorter, and also
to the flag of Poland, which is white (top) and red.

HISTORICAL BACKGROUND

Prehistory: Archaeological evidence indicates that ancestors of modern humans occupied sites
in Central and East Java as early as 1.9 million years ago; presumably, these hominids were
widely distributed in other areas. Fossils were found in 2003 of a tiny species of ancient hominid
(homo floresiensis) that lived up until at least 18,000 years ago on the island of Flores in the
Lesser Sunda Islands. There is evidence of modern humans as early as about 40,000 years ago,
but they may have been present much earlier. By about 5,000 years ago, the circulation of
peoples within the archipelago and the absorption of influences from outside had begun to create
a diverse but related complex of cultures often identified as Austronesian. What is today
Indonesia lay at or near the center of this complex, which eventually spread east throughout the
Pacific, and west as far as Madagascar. Early History: Although Indonesian peoples clearly had contact with the outside world at an
early date (cloves, found only in Maluku, had made their way to the Middle East as early as
4,000 years ago), physical evidence in the archipelago is much later. Sites containing Indian
trade goods now date at about 400 B.C., and the first inscriptions (in eastern Kalimantan and
West Java) at about 375–400 B.C. The first formal kingdoms of which we have extensive
knowledge are Srivijaya (flourished c. A.D. 550–c. 1050), a Buddhist trading polity whose
power was centered in the region of present-day Palembang and reached to coastal areas on the
Malaysian peninsula and elsewhere, and Mataram, in Central Java, where magnificent Buddhist
and Hindu monuments such as Borobudur and Prambanan were constructed in the eighth and
ninth centuries. The greatest of the subsequent Hindu-Buddhist states, the empire of Majapahit
centered in East Java, claimed hegemony from the late thirteenth to early sixteenth centuries over
a wide trading region stretching from Sumatra to Maluku.

Islam entered the archipelago in about the eleventh century, but significant conversions did not
take place for two centuries or more, beginning with Pasai (North Sumatra) at the turn of the
fourteenth century and going on to Makasar and Central Java in the seventeenth century.
Contacts from China deepened between the tenth and fourteenth centuries as a result of growing
trade, but Mongol attempts to control Javanese power (in the late thirteenth century) failed, and
early Ming dynasty (1368–1644) efforts to exercise great political and economic influence were
fleeting. It was at this time also that Western visitors began appearing, starting with Marco Polo
in the late thirteenth century and continuing with the Portuguese and Spanish in the sixteenth
century. They were soon followed by the Dutch (1596) and the English (1601). Europeans
affected trade and politics in specific places and periods, but for most of the archipelago beyond
Java and parts of Maluku, colonial rule did not set in until the mid- or late nineteenth century.
Colonial Period: Dutch power in the archipelago grew very gradually, and colonial rule was not
a goal of the Dutch East India Company (VOC), which dominated trade from Amsterdam and,
after the early seventeenth century, a fortified port called Batavia (now Jakarta) in West Java.
But on Java local realities produced, by the mid-eighteenth century, a symbiotic Dutch-Javan
relationship that survived the bankruptcy of the VOC in 1799 and soon took the shape of a
colonial administration, which grew and consolidated during the late 1800s. In the first decades
of the twentieth century, a modern Dutch colonial state extended its control to most of the area we now call Indonesia. Simultaneously, some of the peoples ruled by this state discovered
nationalism; the first groups date from the early 1900s, and by the 1920s and 1930s an array of
modern political organizations and leaders, including the well-known nationalist figure Sukarno
(1901–70), came to the fore. The struggle between the Dutch colonial government and the
Indonesian nationalist movement was well under way when the Japanese occupied the Indies in
1942. They remained until the end of World War II in August 1945.

Independence Period: On August 17, 1945, Sukarno and Mohammad Hatta proclaimed the
independent Republic of Indonesia with Sukarno as president and Hatta as vice president. Allied
forces (mostly British and British Indian troops) did not arrive until six weeks later, by which
time the republic had begun to establish itself and nationalist pride had burgeoned. The period
October-December 1945 was filled with violent conflict in which Indonesians made it clear they
would defend their independence with their lifeblood. Forcing the Dutch to negotiate with the
republic for an end to hostilities, the British withdrew in late 1946. The republic subsequently
survived two Dutch “police actions” and an internal communist rebellion, and on December 27,
1949, The Hague formally recognized the sovereignty of a federated Republic of the United
States of Indonesia, which a year later was formed into a unitary Republic of Indonesia.
Despite the holding of democratic elections in 1955, the years following the struggle for
independence were characterized by political and economic difficulty: regional dissidence,
attempted assassinations and coups d’état, military-civilian conflict, and economic stagnation. A
period of Guided Democracy was announced in 1959 by Sukarno, who in September 1963
proclaimed himself president-for-life and presided over a political system in which the civilian
nationalist leadership, much of the Islamic leadership, the large Indonesian Communist Party
(PKI), and the army were all at odds. This tense and hostile atmosphere was broken on
September 30, 1965, with what appears to have been an attempted PKI coup against the Sukarno
government. The precise circumstances remain unclear, but the immediate result was that a
“New Order” coalition of students, intellectuals, Muslims, and the army brought about a
military-dominated government that removed Sukarno and permitted a broad and deadly assault
on communists, especially on Java, Bali, and Sumatra. In late 1965 and early 1966, an estimated
500,000 Indonesian communists and suspected communists were killed and many more arrested.
On March 11, 1966, power was transferred from a seriously ill Sukarno to a high-ranking army
officer, Suharto; the PKI was formally banned the following day. Suharto became the acting
president on March 12, 1967, and the New Order era began.

The New Order era, which lasted for more than 30 years, has a mixed record. Like Guided
Democracy, it was authoritarian, but it was more successful in bringing stability to the nation.
Unlike Guided Democracy, its economic achievements were enormous and the well-being of the
majority of Indonesians undeniably improved. Average life expectancy, for example, increased
from 46 to 65.5 years. On the other hand, the state’s heavy involvement in banking and industry,
especially the petroleum and natural gas sectors, worked against competition and encouraged
corruption on a large scale. Heavy-handed political control and propagandizing of a national
ideology may have aided stability, but also did not prepare the nation for a modern political
existence. A modernizing, educated, and better-off middle class grew, but gained little or no
political clout; poverty was reduced, but some particularly severe pockets appeared to be
intractable. Suharto provided strong leadership, but he did not provide for a wise transition and, n his last years, clung to power and favored family and friends. East Timor, which had been
forcibly annexed to Indonesia in 1976, saw bitter conflict between the Indonesian military and
local independence movements. When the Asian financial crisis hit in 1997–98, the New Order
lost the economic justification that had guaranteed much of its public support, and there was a
widespread call for Suharto to step down. He resigned on May 21, 1998, little more than two
months after being selected for his seventh term as president.

Suharto was succeeded by Bucharuddin Jusuf Habibie, who sought first to resolve the East
Timor situation and begin a new and more open electoral process. In 1999, following Indonesia’s
first freely contested parliamentary elections since 1955, Abdurrahman Wahid, well-known as
both a progressive intellectual and as leader of Indonesia’s largest Muslim organization
(Nahdlatul Ulama, NU) became president. His quirky and often uncompromising leadership
style, and questions about both his competency and his health, brought him increasing opposition
and eventually serious threats of impeachment. He was dismissed from office in July 2001 in
favor of Megawati Sukarnoputri, his vice president and head of the Indonesian Democratic Party
of Struggle (PDI-P). Megawati, Sukarno’s eldest daughter, was decisively defeated in the
September 2004 presidential runoff election by the Democratic Party candidate, retired army
general Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono. Yudhoyono was sworn in as president in October 2004.

SOCIETY
Population: Indonesia has the world’s fourth largest population after China, India, and the
United States, totaling an estimated 238,452,952 individuals in July 2004, with a 1.5 percent
annual population growth rate. Sixty-nine percent of the population lives in rural areas. Java is
one of the most densely populated areas in the world, with more than 120 million people, or
some 945 persons per square kilometer. By contrast, the most densely populated Outer Islands
have 90 persons or fewer per square kilometer. Jakarta, on the western end of Java, is the largest
city, with an estimated population of 11.4 million in mid-2001.

Demography: According to estimates of Indonesia’s age structure, 29.4 percent of Indonesians
are under 14 years of age; 65.6 percent are between 15 and 64; and only 5.1 percent are 65 and
older. Estimates made in 2004 indicate a birthrate of 21.1 births per 1,000 and a death rate of
6.26 deaths per 1,000. In 2004 life expectancy was estimated at 71.8 years for women and 68.8
for men, or 69.3 years total. Estimates for infant mortality ranged from 37 to 63 per 1,000 live
births. The total fertility rate estimated for 2004 was 2.47 children per woman.

Ethnic Groups: Indonesia is a culturally very diverse nation. Ethnic identities are not always
clear, stable (even for individuals), or agreed upon; ethnic groups may appear or profess to be
more distinct socially or culturally than they actually are. But there are about 350 recognized
ethnolinguistic groups in Indonesia, 180 of them located in Papua; 13 languages have more than
1 million speakers (see below). Javanese make up 45 percent of the population, Sundanese 14
percent, Madurese 7.5 percent, coastal Malays 7.5 percent, and others 26 percent.

Languages: The official national language is Bahasa Indonesia (or Indonesian), a modified form
of Malay, with an estimated 17 million to 30 million mother-tongue speakers and more than 140
million second-language speakers or readers. Additionally, as many as 725 other languages and
dialects are spoken. Some have large numbers of speakers: Javanese (75 million), Sundanese (27
million), Madurese (nearly 14 million), and Malay (10 million). Other languages with more than 1 million speakers each, in descending order, are Minangkabau, Balinese, Buginese, Acehnese,
Batawi, Banjarese, Sasak, Toba Batak, Chinese of various dialects, Makasarese, Lampung, Dairi
Batak, and Rejang. Since independence, and particularly since 1965, English has replaced Dutch
as the main Western language spoken and is widely used in government and business circles.

Religion: Indonesia has the largest Islamic population of any nation. Most Indonesians (88
percent) count themselves as Muslims and observe Islamic practices to varying degrees; another
5 percent of Indonesians are Protestant, 3 percent are Roman Catholic, 2 percent are Hindu, 1
percent are Buddhist, and 1 percent observe other religions. In some remote areas, animism is
practiced. The constitution guarantees religious freedom for the five religions (the first five
mentioned) recognized by the state. In 2002 the People’s Consultative Assembly (Majelis
Permusyawaratan Rakyat—MPR) rejected a proposal to introduce Islamic law as a constitutional
requirement.

Education and Literacy: Indonesia has a twelve-year public and private education system
(primary—grades one through six; junior high school—grades seven through nine; and senior
high school—grades ten through twelve). An estimated 3.7 percent of government expenditures
go toward education. Schooling is compulsory at the primary and, since 1993, junior high levels;
senior high school education is optional. The system is supervised by the Ministry of National
Education (which is responsible for nonreligious, public schools—about 92 percent of total
enrollment at the primary level and 44 percent at the secondary level) and the Ministry of
Religious Affairs (which is responsible for religious, private, and semiprivate schools—about 15
percent of total enrollment). Pesantren (Islamic religious boarding schools) doubled in number
between 1980 and 1996 and enrolled more than twice the number of students, which in 1996
amounted to 1.9 million. Nearly 98 percent of students complete primary school according to
United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) estimates in 2001.
The adult literacy rate ranges between 88.5 percent, according to a U.S. Government estimate for
2003, and 90.2 percent, according to a 2001 UNESCO estimate. In public schools, emphasis on
moral and civil studies under the rubric of a state philosophy known as Pancasila (Five
Principles: monotheism, humanitarianism, nationalism, democracy, and social justice), was
altered after the end of the New Order. Since 2000, for example, courses in “Pancasila Morality”
have been known as “Civic Education” and their intensity and propagandistic qualities much
reduced. Most religious schools emphasize Islamic values and thought. There are some 1,634
institutions of higher education, including the University of Indonesia in Jakarta, founded by the
Dutch in the 1930s, and Gadjah Mada University in Yogyakarta, founded by Indonesians in
1946. Health: Indonesia had a three-tiered system of community health centers in the late 1990s, with
0.66 hospital beds per 1,000 population, the lowest rate among members of the Association of
Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). In the mid-1990s, according to the World Health
Organization (WHO), there were 16 physicians per 100,000 population in Indonesia, 50 nurses
per 100,000, and 26 midwives per 100,000. Both traditional and modern health practices are
employed. Government health expenditures are about 3.7 percent of the gross domestic product
(GDP). There is about a 75:25 percent ratio of public to private health-care expenditures. Human
immuno-deficiency virus/acquired immune deficiency syndrome (HIV/AIDS) has posed a major
public health threat since the early 1990s. In 2003 Indonesia ranked third among ASEAN nations in Southeast Asia—after Burma (Myanmar) and Thailand—with a 0.1 percent adult prevalence
rate, 130,000 HIV/AIDS cases, and 2,400 deaths. In Jakarta it is estimated that 17 percent of
prostitutes have contracted HIV/AIDS; in some parts of Papua, it is thought that the rate of
inflection among village women who are not prostitutes may be as high as 26 percent. Two othe
health hazards facing Indonesia in 2004 were dengue fever and dengue haemorrhagic fever
(DHF) and avian influenza. All 30 provincial-level units were affected by dengue fever and
DHF, according to WHO. The outbreak of highly pathogenic avian influenza (A/H5N1) in
chickens and ducks in Indonesia was said to pose a significant threat to human health.

Welfare: Of the government budget for FY2002, 8.8 percent was devoted to the category of
“social welfare, health, and the empowerment of women.”