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 km: 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
Flag of Indonesia
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.
