Travel

Indonesia straddles the Equator between the Indian Ocean and the Pacific Ocean. While it has land borders with Malaysia to the north as well as East Timor and Papua New Guinea to the east, it also neighbors Australia to the south, and Palau. the Philippines. Vietnam. Singapore. and Thailand to the north, India to the northwest.

With 18,110 islands, 6,000 of them inhabited, Indonesia is the largest archipelago in the world. About 240 million people live in this fourth most populous country in the world after China. India and the USA and by far the largest country in Southeast Asia. Indonesia also has the largest Muslim population in the world. Indonesia's population is on course to overtake the US and become the third largest before 2044. In the decade that ended in 2015, population growth remained high at 1.49% each year but there is substantial Muslim opposition to boosting family planning.

Indonesia markets itself as Wonderful Indonesia. and the slogan is quite true, although not necessarily always in good ways. Indonesia's tropical forests are the second-largest in the world after Brazil. and are being logged and cut down at the same alarming speed. While the rich shop and party in Jakarta and Bali. After decades of economic mismanagement 50.6% of the population still earns less than USD2/day according to figures compiled by the World bank in 2015. This had come down by 6% in the 2 years between 2015 and 2015.

Infrastructure in much of the country remains rudimentary, and travellers off the beaten track will need some patience and flexibility.

According to the “Energy Access” Working Group Global Network on Energy for Sustainable Development, in 2001, 53.4% of the Indonesian population had access to electricity and they consumed 345kWh for each person in a year. In the same year the residents of nearby Singapore had 100% access and they consumed 6,641 kWh. A very large percentage of the Indonesian population remain reliant upon wood for a cooking fuel. The central government has in recent years instituted a program of LPG gas access to use as a replacement for the burning of bio-mass sources for cooking.

The temples of Prambanan (c. 10th century)

The early, modern history of Indonesia begins in the period from 2500BC to 1500BC with a wave of light brown-skinned Austronesian immigrants, thought to have originated in Taiwan. This Neolithic group of people, skilled in open-ocean maritime travel and agriculture are believed to have quickly supplanted the existing, less-developed population.

From this point onward, dozens of kingdoms and civilizations flourished and faded in different parts of the archipelago. Some notable kingdoms include Srivijaya (7th-14th century) on Sumatra and Majapahit (1293-c.1500), based in eastern Java but the first to unite the main islands of Sumatra. Java. Bali and Borneo (now Kalimantan ) as well as parts of Peninsular Malaysia.

The first Europeans to arrive (after Marco Polo who passed through in the late 1200s) were the Portuguese, who were given permission to erect a godown near present-day Jakarta in 1522. By the end of the century, however, the Dutch had pretty much taken over and the razing of a competing English fort in 1619 secured their hold on Java. leading to 350 years of colonization. The British occupied Java from 1811 to 1816, and as a result Indonesians still drive on the left.In 1824, the Dutch and the British signed the Anglo-Dutch Treaty which divided the Malay world into Dutch and British spheres of influence, with the Dutch ceding Malacca to the British, and the British ceding all their colonies on Sumatra to the Dutch. The line of division roughly corresponds to what is now the border between Malaysia and Indonesia, with a small segment becoming the border between Singapore and Indonesia.

Various nationalist groups developed in the early 20th century, and there were several disturbances, quickly put down by the Dutch. Leaders were arrested and exiled. Then during World War II, the Japanese conquered most of the islands. In August 1945 in the post war vacuum following the Japanese surrender to allied forces the Japanese army and navy still controlled the majority of the Indonesian archipelago. The Japanese agreed to return Indonesia to the Netherlands but continued to administer the region as the Dutch were unable to immediately return due to massive destabilisation from the effects of war in Europe.

On 17 Aug 1945 Sukarno read the Proklamasi or Declaration of Independence and the Panitia Persiapan Kemerdekaan Indonesia (PPKI) moved to form an interim government. A constitution, drafted by the PPKI preparatory committee was announced on 18 August and Sukarno was declared President with Hatta as Vice-President. The PPKI was then remade into the KNIP (Central Indonesian National Committee) and the KNIP became the temporary governing body. The new government was installed on 31 August 1945. Indonesia's founding fathers Sukarno (Soekarno ) and Hatta declared the independence of the Republic of Indonesia .

The Dutch mounted a diplomatic and military campaign to reclaim their former colony from the nationalists. Disputations, negotiations, partitioning and armed conflict prevailed between the newly independent Indonesia and the Netherlands. Several nations including the US were highly critical of the Dutch in this immediate post war period and at one stage in late 1949 the US government suspended aid provided to the Dutch under the Marshal plan. The matter was also raised by the newly formed UN. After four years of fighting, the Dutch accepted defeat and on 27 December 1949 they formally transferred sovereignty to "Republik Indonesia Serikat" (Republic of United States of Indonesia). In August 1950 a new constitution was proclaimed and the new Republic of Indonesia was formed from the original but now expanded Republic to include Sumatra Timur and East Indonesia/Negara Indonesia Timur. Jakarta was made the capital of the Republic of Indonesia however the Netherlands and Indonesia remained in a theoretical constitutional union with Indonesia holding the status of a fully independent state.

In September 1950 Natsir and the Masyumi party led the first government of fully independent Indonesia. Sukarno returned again to the role of President and over time came to assert greater power in that role. For a time Indonesia used a provisional constitution modelled upon that of the US which also drew heavily on the 1948 United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights. On 26 September 1950 Indonesia was admitted to the newly formed United Nations. The 1950 constitution appears to have been an attempt to set up a liberal democractic system with two chambers of parliament. Later in 1955, still under this provisional constitution, Indonesia held its first free election.

The new government was tasked with finalising a permanent and final version of the constitution but after much wrangling consensus was not reached leading to organised public demonstrations in 1958. In 1959 President Sukarno issued a decree dissolving the then current constitution and restored the 1945 Constitution. Indonesia then entered the era of Guided Democracy with the Head of State assuming stronger presidential powers and also absorbing the previous role of Prime Minister.

From their initial declaration of independence Indonesia claimed West Papua as part of their nation, but the Dutch held onto it into the 1960s, and in the early sixties there was further armed conflict over that region. After a UN-brokered peace deal, and a referendum, West Papua became part of Indonesia and was renamed as Irian Jaya. which apocryphally stands for Ikut (part of) Republic of Indonesia, Anti Netherlands. It's now called simply Papua. but the independence movement smoulders on to this day.

Sukarno's tribute to independence and unity National Monument, Jakarta

During the post war and Cold war period Sukarno made friendly advances to the USA, the Soviet Union and later, China. He also tried to play one against another as he attempted to develop the nation as a non-aligned state. Much to the dismay of post war Western governments Sukarno became engaged in extensive dialogue with the Soviets and accepted civil and military aid, equipment, and technical assistance from the USSR. Sukarno publicly claimed that his engagement with the Soviets was to assist in promoting the new Republic of Indonesia as a non-aligned post war state and to assist in rebuilding the nation following the Pacific war. At this time US were trying to consolidate their control over regional and strategic interests in South East Asia and Indo-china.

The US, confronted by an archipelago apparently in the grasp of emerging Indonesian nationalism sought to gain and maintain control over the important resources and shipping routes of the region. They viewed Indonesia as potentially unstable and in a power vacuum left in the wake of the Japanese defeat in Indonesia. The Dutch, their nation ravaged by the European war were unable to fully reclaim their colony and maintain control over the rising tide of Indonesian nationalism.

The Dutch were also subject to pressure from the US and other western governments in addition to their own considerable problems at home. The US covertly supported anti Sukarno activities and operations to destabilise the the nationalist movement. In 1957-58, the CIA infiltrated arms and personnel in support of regional rebellions against Sukarno. Covert actions at this time led to the capture of an American pilot and plane. The activities involved the use of mercenary forces as well as the material and financial support of insurgents. Funding, arms, logistical support and training were provided covertly by the US to breakaway factions, right wing elements, and radical Islamist groups including Darul Islam in an attempt to gain US and western control of Indonesian nationalism. The actions were supported from the US embassy in Singapore, by elements of the US 7th fleet stationed of Sulawesi and Sumatra and with the co-operation and support of the UK government and western intelligence agencies.

The US, with the participation of other Western powers including the UK later seized upon Sukarno's emerging dialogue and dealings with the Soviets and later the Chinese as a threat to the region. Former Director of the CIA William Colby later compared their own operations in Indonesia to the Vietnam Phoenix Program conducted in Vietnam. Indeed some of the equipment including military aircraft were later transferred onto that program. Colby further admitted directing the CIA to concentrate on compiling lists of members of the PKI and other leftist groups, Colby was at that time the Chief of CIA's Far East Division. Cloaked by the fears and propaganda of the Cold war period the US maintained an extended overt and a covert campaign to destabilise Sukarno.

In 1965, in highly controversial and confusing circumstances involving a purported military coup, Sukarno, known for his support of Indonesian nationalism and independence was displaced by Suharto. an army general with strong anti communist views. Suharto originally served in the Japanese occupation forces supported police force, later he entered the Peta (Defenders of the Fatherland) and went on to train in the Japanese led Indonesian armed forces of the occupation period. In the post war period it is believed he fell under US influence and patronage and with their backing he and his supporters rose in stature and influence.

In September 1965 six army generals were murdered in an apparent coup attempt. The kidnappings and subsequent murders occurred in highly suspicious circumstances and the somewhat confusing official accounts have been found to be highly suspect. A group of senior officers including the army commander Lieutenant General Ahmad Yani had apparently been increasingly at odds with an alliance of right wing officers including Suharto. The murdered officers were supportive of Sukarno and accommodating of the Presidents relationship with the PKI (Indonesian Communist Party). Subandrio, Sukarno's foreign minister, second deputy prime minister and chief of intelligence, from 1960 to 1966 had infiltrated agents into a secret meeting of right wing generals plotting the overthrow of Sukarno. It is believed he may have precipitated the uprising by releasing information about this but the details remain uncertain. The uprising was reported amongst units in central Java, air force units at Halim air force base and armed forces units that occupied Merdeka Square, a strategic section of the capital. The so called "30th September group" leaders claimed the forces present in Merdeka Square were to protect the Presidency from a planned uprising soon to be orchestrated by a group of generals backed by the US CIA. General Suharto then reportedly subsequently quelled this action within the armed forces in a single day. The right wing officers who subsequently rose to power condemned the killings of the senior army officers and claimed the uprising involving the military units was the work of communists. As more documentation emerges from western archives it appears ever more apparent that the event was stage managed to allow Suharto an opportunity to subsequently to claim the leadership. In the early stages Suharto blamed the murders on a group of PKI inspired youths, women and "elements of the Air Force".

The murders were later to be blamed upon the PKI, communists and the 30th September movement, ironically the same group that had claimed to have come together in an attempt to thwart a right wing coup d'etat. Suharto initially claimed to support President Sukarno but then seized power himself, sidelining Sukarno, proclaiming a New Order (Orde Baru ). A series of bloody anti-Communist purges was then initiated leading to the death of 500,000-2,000,000 people (estimates vary widely). The Western governments turned a blind eye to the massacres and they remained substantially unreported in the West for a considerable time. Many historians have since shed light on the involvement of the US intelligence services and to a lesser degree their mutual contacts in British, German and Japanese intelligence in the circumstances leading up to the seizure of power by Suharto and the subsequent murderous purges.

Suharto and the subsequent Reformasi [ edit ]

When the information concerning the widespread killings was eventually released it was shrouded in mystery. The US intelligence agencies and the CIA were later found to be complicit in supplying names and addresses of the PKI members to the Indonesian army, Suharto operatives and CIA-funded Muslim death squads, who hunted the leftists down and murdered them. Declassified US files have since shown that the US government was giving covert aid to Suharto and the death squads to conduct the widespread purges across Indonesia. Following Suharto's rise to power, US interests in the region were secured and their influence over the RI and the nation's resources continued into the new century.

Under Suharto from 1966 to 1997, Indonesia enjoyed stability and economic growth, but most of the wealth was concentrated in the hands of a small, corrupt, elite and dissent was brutally crushed. During the Asian economic crisis of 1997 the value of the Indonesian rupiah plummeted, halving the purchasing power of ordinary Indonesians. In the ensuing violent upheaval, now known as Reformasi. Suharto was brought down and a more democratic regime installed.

Post Reformasi 1998 [ edit ]

The former Portuguese colony of East Timor was annexed by Indonesia in 1975, but there was armed resistance to this. After decades of Indonesian rule, on 30 August 1999, a provincial referendum for independence was overwhelmingly approved by the people of East Timor. Indonesia grudgingly but still astonishingly accepted the result (although army-link militias looted capital Dili in protest), and East Timor gained its independence in 2002.

One more violent secessionist movement took place in the devoutly Islamic state of Aceh at the northern tip of Sumatra. After decades of insurgency and abortive talks, the deadlock was broken by the 2004 tsunami. which killed over 200,000 people in Aceh. The Indonesian government and the Free Aceh Movement (Gerakan Aceh Merdeka. GAM) signed a peace deal the next year, with Aceh giving up its fight for independence in exchange for being granted special autonomy including the right to enact Syariah (Islamic) law, and to date the peace has held.

In 2004 Indonesia held the first election in which the people directly elected the president and vice president. The president of Indonesia may currently serve a maximum of two consecutive five-year terms. Currently Indonesia is one of the worlds largest democracies and is going through a period of difficult reforms and re-invention following the Reformasi and the institution of a democratically elected government. To assist in the transformation from the years of centralised control under the Suharto regime the role of regional and provincial government has been strengthened and enhanced. The election process in Indonesia has a high participation rate and the nature and fabric of governance and administration is slowly changing across Indonesia. Change in the nation since the fall of Suharto has also been characterized by greater freedom of speech and a massive reduction in the political censorship that was a feature of Suharto's New Order era. There is more open political debate in the news media as well as in general discourse, political and social debate.

Despite 50 years of promoting Bhinneka Tunggal Ika ("Unity in Diversity") as the official state motto, the concept of an "Indonesian" remains artificial and the country's citizens divide themselves along a vast slew of ethnicities, clans, tribes and even castes. If this wasn't enough, religious differences add a volatile ingredient to the mix and the vast gaps in wealth create a class society as well. On a purely numerical scale, the largest ethnic groups are the Javanese (45%) of central and eastern Java. the Sundanese (14%) from western Java. the Madurese (7.5%) from the island of Madura. and Coastal Malays (7.5%), mostly from Sumatra. This leaves 26% for the Acehnese and Minangkabau of Sumatra. the Balinese. the Iban and Dayaks of Kalimantan. and a bewildering patchwork of groups in Nusa Tenggara and Papua the official total is no less than 3000!

For the most part, Indonesia's many peoples coexist happily, but ethnic conflicts do continue to fester in some remote areas of the country. The policy of transmigration (transmigrasi ), initiated by the Dutch but continued by Suharto, resettled Javanese, Balinese and Madurese migrants to less crowded parts of the archipelago. The new settlers, viewed as privileged and insensitive, were often resented by the indigenous populace and, particularly on Kalimantan and Papua. led to sometimes violent conflict.

One particularly notable ethnic group found throughout the country are the Indonesian Chinese. known as Tionghoa or the somewhat derogatory Cina. At an estimated 6-7 million they make up 3% of the population and probably constitute the largest ethnic Chinese group in any country outside China. Indonesian Chinese wield a disproportionate influence in the economy, with one famous if largely discredited study of companies on the Jakarta Stock Exchange concluding that as many as 70% of its companies (and, by extension, the country) were controlled by ethnic Chinese. They have thus been subject to persecution, with Chinese forcibly relocated into urban areas in the 1960s, forced to adopt Indonesian names and bans imposed on teaching Chinese and displaying Chinese characters. Anti-Chinese pogroms have also taken place, notably in the 1965-66 anti-Communist purges after Suharto's coup and again in 1998 after his downfall, when over 1100 people were killed in riots in Jakarta and other major cities. However, the post-Reformasi governments have overturned most of the discriminatory legislation, and Chinese writing and Chinese festivals have made a reappearance, with the Chinese New Year having been declared a public holiday nationwide since 2003. While most of the Java Chinese are monolingual in Indonesian, many of the Chinese in Sumatra and Kalimantan continue to speak various Chinese dialects.

Wayang kulit shadow puppetry, Solo

There is no one unified Indonesian culture as such, but the Hindu culture of the former Majapahit empire does provide a framework for many of the cultural traditions found across the central islands of Sumatra. Java. Bali and Lombok. Perhaps the most distinctively "Indonesian" arts are wayang kulit shadow puppetry, where intricately detailed cutouts act out scenes from the Mahabharata and Ramayana and other popular folk stories, and its accompaniment the gamelan orchestra, whose incredibly complex metallic rhythms are the obligatory backdrop to both religious ceremonies and traditional entertainment. Indonesia is culturally intertwined with the Malays. with notable items such as batik cloth and kris daggers, and Arabic culture has also been adopted to some degree thanks to Islam.

Modern-day Indonesian popular culture is largely dominated by the largest ethnic group, the Javanese. Suharto's ban on Western imports like rock'n'roll, while long since repealed, led to the development of indigenous forms of music like dangdut. a sultry form of pop developed in the 1970s, and the televised pelvic thrusts of starlet Inul Daratista in 2003 were nearly as controversial as Elvis once was. Anggun Cipta Sasmi is a talented Indonesian singer who became a famous singer in France. Her single "La neige au sahara" became a top hit on the European charts in the summer of 1997.

Most Indonesian films are low budget B movies. "Daun di Atas Bantal" (1998) is an exception; it won the "best movie" award at the Asia Pacific Film Festival in Taipei, Taiwan (1998). The Raid, Redemption (Indonesian: Serbuan maut), and also known as The Raid was released in 2015 at the Toronto International Film Festival and has international distribution. This Indonesian action film had a production budget of ?1.1 million It was written and directed by Gareth Evans (UK ) and starred Iko Uwais. Evans and Uwais released their first action film, Merantau in 2015. Both films showcase the traditional Indonesian martial art Pencak Silat.

Indonesian literature has yet to make much headway on the world stage, with torch-bearer Pramoedya Ananta Toer' s works long banned in his own homeland, but the post-Suharto era has seen a small boom with Ayu Utami' s Saman breaking both taboos and sales records.

80-88% of the population of Indonesia state their religion as being Islam (Sunni) making it numerically by far the largest religion in the nation and Indonesia the largest Muslim-majority country in the world. Nevertheless, Indonesia officially remains a secular state. Although religious orthodoxies do vary across the Indonesia archipelago the strict observance of Islamic dress codes apparent in some countries is generally absent. In larger cities head scarves and overt manifestations of faith are exceptions rather than the rule. In some regional areas and the devout state of Aceh things can be considerably stricter. In fact, despite being nominally Muslim, many local stories and customs which are Hindu, Buddhist or animist in origin are faithfully preserved by much of the population.

The other four state-sanctioned religions are Protestantism (5%), Roman Catholicism (3%), Hinduism (2%) and Buddhism (1%). Hindus are concentrated on Bali. while Christians are found mostly in parts of North Sumatra. Papua. North Sulawesi. and East Nusa Tenggara. Buddhism, on the other hand, is mainly practised by the ethnic Chinese in the larger cities. There are also pockets of animism throughout the country, and many strict Muslims decry the casual Indonesian incorporation of animistic rites into the practices of notionally Islamic believers.

Indonesian national law decrees that all citizens of the Republic must declare their religion and that the declared religion must be one of the five that are officially sanctioned by the state, but after reformation Confucianism is now recognized (formerly it was lumped in with Buddhism, Protestantism and Roman Catholicism), alas not for Ahmadiyya Islam and Shia Islam. This results in obvious distortions. For example, many animist practitioners notionally call themselves Muslim or Christian for the benefit of the state bureaucracy and many Muslims in rural areas also have their traditional way of life which greatly influences their practice of Islam.

Ramadan dates

• 28 Jun–27 Jul 2015 (1435 AH )
• 18 Jun–16 Jul 2015 (1436 AH )
• 6 Jun–5 July 2016 (1437 AH )

Exact dates depend on local astronomical observations and vary from one country to another.

Ramadan ends with the Eid ul-Fitr festival extendign over several days.

Multicultural Indonesia celebrates a vast range of religious holidays and festivals, but many are limited to small areas (eg, the Hindu festivals of Bali ). The following covers public holidays applied nationwide regardless of their belief.

The most significant season of the year is the Muslim fasting month of Ramadhan. During its 30 days, devout Muslims refrain from passing anything through their lips (food, drink, smoke) between sunrise and sunset. People get up early to stuff themselves before sunrise (sahur ), go to work late, and take off early to get back home in time to break fast (buka puasa ) at sunset. Non-Muslims, as well as Muslims travelling (musafir ), are exempt from fasting but it is polite to refrain from eating or drinking in public. Many restaurants close during the day and those that stay open (e.g., hotel restaurants) maintain a low profile, with curtains covering the windows. During Ramadan, all forms of nightlife including bars, nightclubs, karaoke and massage parlours close by midnight, and (especially in more devout areas) quite a few opt to stay closed entirely. Business travellers will notice that things move at an even more glacial pace than usual and, especially towards the end of the month, many people will take leave.

The climax at the end of the month is the two days of Idul Fitri (also known as Lebaran ), when pretty much the entire country takes a week or two off to head back home to visit family in a ritual known locally as mudik. meaning going home. This is the one time of the year when Jakarta has no traffic jams, but the rest of the country does, with all forms of transport packed to the gills. All government offices (including embassies) and many businesses close for a week or even two, and travelling around Indonesia is best avoided if at all possible.

Other Muslim holidays include Idul Adha (the sacrifice day), Isra Mi'raj Muhammad SAW. Hijra (Islamic new year) and Maulid Muhammad SAW. Christian holidays include Christmas. Ascension Day. Good Friday. while the Hindu New Year of Nyepi (March-April) brings Bali to a standstill and Buddhists get a day off for Imlek (Chinese New Year) in Jan-Feb and Waisak (Buddha's birthday), celebrated with processions around Borobudur. Non-religious holidays include New Year (1 Jan) and Independence Day (17 Aug).

The dates of many holidays are set according to various lunar calendars and the dates thus change from year to year. The Ministry of Labor may change the official date of holidays if they are close to the weekend. There is another official day off for workers, called cuti bersama (taking days off together), which is sometime close to the Idul Fitri holidays.

Upon arrival and disembarking from the plane, you'll immediately notice the sudden rush of warm, wet air. Indonesia is a warm place. It has no spring, summer, fall, or winter, just two seasons: rainy and dry. both of which are relative (it still rains during the dry season, it just rains less). While there is significant regional variation, in most of the country (including Java and Bali) the dry season is April to October, while the wet season is November to March.

In the highlands temperatures will naturally be cooler, and there are even snow-covered peaks in Papua. whose mountains can soar above 5000m. Bring a jacket along if planning to visit, for example, Mount Bromo on Java or Tana Toraja in Sulawesi.

Since the country is very large, Indonesia is divided into three time zones:

GMT +7. Western Indonesian Time (WIB, Waktu Indonesia Barat )

GMT +8. Central Indonesian Time (WITA, Waktu Indonesia Tengah )

GMT +9. Eastern Indonesian Time (WIT, Waktu Indonesia Timur )