General Information
Indonesia is the largest archipelagic country in the world, located off the coast of mainland Southeast Asia in the Indian and Pacific Oceans, extending 5,120km from east to the west and 1,760 km from north to south. The capital of the country is Jakarta. Indonesia is a presidential, constitutional republic with an elected legislature it has 34 provinces, of which five have special status. The President of Indonesia is the head of state and head of the Indonesian government. The President of the country is also the Commander-in-Chief of the Indonesian National Armed Forces and the director of domestic governance, policy-making, and foreign affairs.
The President of Indonesia may serve a maximum of two consecutive five-year terms. The highest representative body at the national level is the People's Consultative Assembly. The main functions of the People's Consultative Assembly are supporting and amending the constitution, inaugurating and impeaching the President and formalizing broad outlines of state policy. The People's Consultative Assembly comprises two houses; the People's Representative Council, and the Regional Representative Council. The People's Representative Council passes legislation and monitors the executive branch, while the Regional Representative Council is a new chamber for matters of regional management.
History
The first recorded Kingdom in the islands of Indonesia was "Dvipantara" or "Yawadvipa" a Hindu Kingdom thought to have existed in Java or Sumatra during 200 BC. Several Kingdoms were established the following centuries such as, the Tarumanagara in 450 AD, the Holing (Kalingga) kingdom in 664 AD, the Empire of Srivijaya in 650 AD, Melayu Kingdom in the 7th Century AD, Srivijaya naval kingdom in 700 AD, the Hindu Medang (Mataram) Kingdom in 752 AD, the Kingdom of Kahuripan in 1019 AD and the Singhasari kingdom in 1222 AD.
The earliest evidence of Islamised populations in the Indonesia archipelago dates to the 13th century, in northern Sumatra. The same period, 13th century, two more Kingdoms were established, the Majapahit Kingdom in 1293 AD and the Kingdom of Negara Dipa in 1355 AD. In 1511 AD Portuguese conquered the Sultanate of Malacca and in 1596 AD the first Dutch expeditionary force arrived in West Jawa and clashed with the Portuguese and the Indonesians.
Several years later, in 1602 AD the Dutch East India Company (Verenigde Oostindische Compagnie, VOC) is established. In 1619 AD, the VOC conquered the city of Jayakarta, where it founded the city of Batavia (present-day Jakarta). In 1641 AD the Dutch captured Malacca from the Portuguese, thus weakened Portuguese position in Asia. In 1800 the VOC goes bankrupt and is formally dissolved and nationalized Dutch East Indies is established. On 8th of December 1941 Netherlands declared war on Japan and several monthg later in February 1942 Imperial Japan invaded and occupied Indonesia overthrowing the Dutch East Indies and install their own imperial structure.
On August the 17th, 1945 Sukarno the leader of the Indonesian struggle for independence from the Dutch Empire proclaimed the Indonesian Independence and started the armed struggle against British and Dutch forces. This struggle against the British and Indian forces initially (9/1945-11/1946) and the Royal Netherlands Army later (11/1946-12/1949) caused the death of tens of thousands of Indonesians but galvanised the nation in support of independence.
Four years later, December the 27th 1949, the Government of the Netherlands eventually transferred sovereignty of the Dutch East Indies to the Republic of the United States of Indonesia (RUSI). With the end of the struggle for independence in 1949, the Republic of the United States of Indonesia was established. The federal system did not last for a long time. Just a year later in 1950 the federated governments unanimously decided to return to a more centralized form of government and to the name the country, Republic of Indonesia. On September 27th, 1950 Indonesia becomes the 60th member of the United Nations.
Geography and Climate
The total area of Indonesia is 1,904,569 km² (land: 1,811,569 km², inland water: 93,000 km²), the country has 17,504 islands scattered over both sides of the equator and 6,000 of them are inhabited. The length of the coastline of Indonesia is 54,720 km, its territorial sea is 12 nmi and the size of its exclusive economic zone is 6,159,032 km².
The islands are grouped into the Greater Sunda islands, of Sumatra, Jawa, the southern extent of Borneo and Sulawesi, the Lesser Sunda islands of Bali and a chain of islands that runs eastward through Timor, the Moluccas between Sulawesi (Celebes) and the island of New Guinea and the western extent of New Guinea. Indonesia shares land borders with Malaysia (2,019 km) on the island of Borneo, with Papua New Guinea (824 km) on the island of New Guinea and with East Timor (253 km) on the island of Timor.
Indonesia shares maritime borders with Singapore, Malaysia, Vietnam, the Philippines, Palau and Australia. The majority of the Indonesian islands have densely forested volcanic mountains in the interior that slope downward to coastal plains covered by thick alluvial swamps. The highest peak of Indonesia is Puncak Jaya (4,884 meters) and lake Toba in the island of Sumatra is the largest lake with an area of 1,145 km². The largest rivers of Indonesia are Kapuas, Barito, Mamberamo, Sepik, Mahakam in the islands of Kalimantan (Indonesian part of Borneo) and New Guinea.
There are over 100 active volcanos in Indonesia and hundreds more that are considered extinct. These volcanos run in a crescent-shaped line along the islands of Sumatra and Java as far as Flores then north through the Banda Sea. Indonesia lies along the Equator and its climate is determined partly by its island structure. The country has two seasons, a wet season between November and April and a dry season between May and October with no extremes of Summer or Winter, while the temperature varies between 24° and 34° C and the rate of humidity reaches 80%.
The Ethnic Groups of the Population of Indonesia
The population of Indonesia in 2018 according to the World Bank was 267.67 million people and includes more than 300 distinct native ethnic groups. Indonesia is the world's 4th most populous country, as well as the most populous Muslim-majority country.
These groups can be divided according to regions where they live. In Western Indonesia, the diverse ethnic populations could be grouped into three categories. The first group is the Hinduized people (now primarily Muslim) which includes the Javanese, the largest ethnic group of the country accounting 1/3 of the total Indonesian population, the Sundanese, the Madurese and the Balinese. This group of people lives on the islands of Java (56.7% of the Indonesian population), the islands of Madura and Bali, making up nearly 3/5 of the total population of Indonesia.
The second group, the more strongly Islamized people includes the Malays from Sumatra and the Makassarese and Buginese people from southern Sulawesi (Celebes). third group is consisted of the Toraja people that live at southern Celebes, the Batak of the highlands of northern Sumatra, and the various communities such as the Kenyah, Kayan, Ngaju, and Embaloh, who officially and collectively are called Dayak that live at the interior of Kalimantan island (Indonesian part of Borneo).
The people that live at Eastern Indonesia are characterized by the traditional Melanesian cultural identity. These are the Moluccas people that live at the Maluku Islands, the Ambonese that live at Ambon island and at the western part of the island of Ceram (Maluku). In addition to these groups of people the Chinese account for a small (1.2%) but significant portion of the total population of Indonesia.
The capital of the country is Jakarta with 9,607,787 population. The second biggest city of Indonesia is Surabaya with 2,765,487 population; Bandung with 2,394,873 population; Bekasi with 2,334,871 population; Medan with 2,097,610 population; Tangerang with 1,798,601 population; Depok with 1,738,570 population; Semarang with 1,520,481 population; Palembang with 1,440,678 population; Makassar with 1,331,391 population and Tangerang Selatan with 1,290,322 population.
According to the World Bank the average life expectancy in Indonesia for 2018 was 71.5. The birth rate for 2018 was 2.3 per woman and the death rate per 1,000 people for the same year was 6.46, while the average annual population growth rate for the during the period 2010-2016 was 1.36. According to the facts of the World Bank about 25.1 million Indonesians still live below the poverty line and based on March 2019 data, approximately 20.6% of the entire population remains vulnerable of falling into poverty, as their income hovers marginally above the national poverty line.
Foreign Relations of Indonesia
Indonesia became member of the United Nations in 1950 just after it gained its independence. During the Indonesia–Malaysia confrontation, Indonesia withdrew from the UN due to the latter's election to the United Nations Security Council, although it returned 18 months later. Indonesia was a founding member of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) in 1961 and in 1967, a founding member of the Association of Southeast Nations (ASEAN), with the ASEAN Secretariat HQ in Jakarta. In 1969 became member of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC). Indonesia became member of the World Trade Organization (WTO), and an occasional member of OPEC.
In 1989, Indonesia was a founding member of Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC). In 1999, after the onset of the Asian financial crisis of 1997–98, Indonesia was invited to join the Group of Twenty (G-20), a select assembly of advanced and emerging economies that has become a critical forum for global economic governance.
Furthermore Indonesia is a member of the following organisations: ADB, APEC, ARF, BIS, CD, CICA (observer), CP, D-8, EAS, EITI (compliant country), FAO, G-11, G-15, G-20, G-77, IAEA, IBRD, ICAO, ICC (national committees), ICRM, IDA, IDB, IFAD, IFC, IFRCS, IHO, ILO, IMF, IMO, IMSO, Interpol, IOC, IOM (observer), IORA, IPU, ISO, ITSO, ITU, ITUC (NGOs), MIGA, MINURSO, MINUSTAH, MONUSCO, MSG (associate member), NAM, OECD (enhanced engagement), OIC, OPCW, PIF (partner), UN, UNAMID, UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNIDO, UNIFIL, UNISFA, UNMIL, UNWTO, UPU, WCO, WFTU (NGOs), WHO, WIPO, WMO, WTO.
Since its independence Indonesia endorsed a “Free and active” foreign policy. The country wanted to play a role in regional affairs avoiding any involvement in conflicts among major powers. The most important goals of Indonesia were security of the state and territorial integrity. In 1957 the Indonesian Government promulgated the "Proclamation on the Territorial Waters of the Republic of Indonesia". This was the first step towards the “Archipelagic State Doctrine” that replaced the old national jurisdiction over coastal waters according to the territorial waters of the country were only 3nm offshore. The archipelago principle territorialized all ocean space inside straight baselines drawn from the farthest points of the most distant islands of Indonesia.
With the incorporation of the “archipelago principle” into the new international law of the Sea a new regime codified as the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea in 1982, the jurisdictional boundaries of the state of Indonesia were greatly expanded. The first President of Indonesia Sukarno (18 August 1945 – 12 March 1967) endorsed a series of policies based on anti-imperialism in order to increase Indonesia's international prestige.Indonesia developed international relations starting with P.R of China. the U.S.S.R and the U.S.A but refuse to take sides with the U.S.A or the U.S.S.R. in the Cold War.
In 1961, Sukarno established a political alliance, called the Non-Aligned Movement with the leaders of Yugoslavia, Josip Tito, India, Jawaharlal Nehru, Ghana, Kwame Nkrumah, Egypt, Gamal Abdel Nasser paving the way for an independent foreign policy not aligned to the U.S.A or the U.S.S.R. Three years later in 1964, Sukarno commenced an anti-American campaign, which was motivated by his shift towards the communist bloc and formed a new alliance with China, North Korea, North Vietnam, and Cambodia which he called the "Beijing-Pyongyang-Hanoi-Phnom Penh-Jakarta Axis".
The second President of the country Suharto (27 March 1968 – 21 May 1998), and his “New Order” government embraced a pragmatic, low-profile style of foreign policy, moving away from the stridently anti-Western anti-American posture that characterized the latter part of the Sukarno era.
The new President and his government adopted a policy of neutrality during the Cold War but was quietly aligned with the Western bloc in order to secure economic support. Following the resignation of President Suharto, the new government of Indonesia preserved the broad outlines of Suharto’s independent and moderate foreign policy. new foreign policy of Indonesia promotes cooperation, development, democracy, security peace, stability in the region through its leadership in ASEAN.