Indonesia

Fast Facts

Location: Southeast Asia, Oceania

Capital: Jakarta

Population: 273.5 million (2020)

Government Type: Constitutional Republic

Language: Bahasa Indonesian (with hundreds of other dialects)

Climate: Tropical rainforest (with variation)

Gross Domestic Product: USD $1.058 trillion (2020)

Human Development Index Rating: 0.718

Overview

For a country of its geographical and population size, we rarely hear about Indonesia in the western world. Which is strange, because by international standards, Indonesia is vast. Although it is located entirely outside of the Middle East, Indonesia is the world’s largest majority Muslim nation. There are so many islands making up this archipelagic nation that nobody - internally or externally - is actually certain how many there are exactly, though efforts to count them all just recently began, and estimates run at over 17,000 (with about one third of them fully inhabited). The Indonesian Embassy to the United States identifies that there are over 300 ethnic groups inhabiting these islands, who speak over 700 different languages and dialects. Just recently, Indonesia launched its first “unicorn” - a company named GoTo with an Initial Public Offering of over USD $1 billion. Needless to say, the country’s future seems like there is room for endless optimism. But is everything as positive as it seems?

History

Pura Ulun Danu Bratan temple near Bali, Indonesia. Credit: Kharl Anthony Paica

The earliest dated human remains in Indonesia date back 1.7 million years ago to the era of the Homo Erectus, when land bridges still connected the scattered islands of the country. Since then, the sea that rose out of the post-glacial era has (perhaps unsurprisingly) greatly influenced Indonesia’s history. Maritime trade networks with India, China, and other nearby powers began around 400 CE. These trade routes initially introduced Buddhism and Hinduism, and later Islam, to the islands. The Majapahit Empire, Southeast Asia’s largest empire, was formed in 1293 and established a legacy of arts, culture, architecture, and political power that was (loosely) centered on the island of Java, where the capital city of Jakarta is currently located. Its imperial colours of red and white also serve as inspiration for the modern Indonesian flag. By the 17th century, Indonesia had been colonised by the Dutch East India Company (and later the Dutch government itself), serving as a colony exploited for indigo, spices, cloth, and other natural resources. As with many other colonial states, independence was secured shortly after the conclusion of the Second World War. Sukarno, the country’s first president, was an advocate for the Non-Aligned Movement, which promoted the idea that postcolonial states should fall into the political sphere of neither the USA nor USSR during the Cold War. Sukarno was not, however, an advocate for open democracy - but rather a “guided democracy” in which he held direct control over an elected parliament. His deposition in 1965 by Suharto, a top-ranking military general, led to an era of restrictive democracy that lasted until 1998 - when flagrant corruption scandals combined with a severe Asian financial crisis led to widespread unrest and his formal resignation. Since then, democracy has been fully stable in the Indonesian archipelago.

Economy

Indonesia is Southeast Asia’s largest economy, with the World Bank reporting that national poverty had been cut in half since 1999 (one year after the financial crisis and Suharto’s resignation mentioned above) until the COVID-19 pandemic occurred. The Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) points out that Indonesia’s economy is estimated to strengthen to a 4.7% GDP growth rate in 2022 and 2023 - a hugely significant growth rate by international standards - as exports increase and tourism restarts. As considerable as this growth is, however, Indonesia still faces issues with widespread poverty, corruption, inadequate infrastructure, and an unequal distribution of resources. Approximately 10% of people - or roughly 27 million - live beneath the poverty line. Furthermore, Indonesia’s exports highly consist of natural resources (fossil fuels, minerals, and rubber products in particular), leaving the country’s economy vulnerable to fluctuations in prices on global markets. With less than 20% of the national GDP coming from the export of goods, however, the economy is able to weather these market shocks better than a majority of developing nations with a similar economic composition.

Indonesia and The Natural World

Three people ride bicycles near Kebumen, Indonesia. Credit: Dikaseva

Indonesia’s natural assets are, like many other facets of the country, enormous. There are over 240 million acres of natural rainforest across the archipelago. 10% of the world’s known plant species, 12% of its known mammal species, and 17% of its known bird species exist within these rainforests, despite containing just 1% of the Earth’s land area. These figures, it should be noted, also do not include undiscovered species - which the Ministry of the Environment believe to be up to half of all species present within Indonesia. The country’s biodiversity is astounding, but under direct threat. From 2001-2016, 40% of deforestation in Indonesia took place as a result of the timber and palm oil industries alone. This rate of deforestation places Indonesia at the world’s third highest ranking, behind only Brazil and the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Furthermore, Indonesia has 127 active volcanoes, frequent earthquakes, and a history of tsunami occurrences. Combined with deforestation and land erosion, torrential seasonal rains (monsoons) can also cause an increase in deadly landslides, with over 1,300 taking place in 2021 alone. These natural disasters alone are enough to destabilise and even destroy communities - especially when emergency aid cannot be easily delivered across a wide archipelago. Improvements in infrastructure would, therefore, not only support an already growing economy, but also help to save more lives, faster.

Trivia

Indonesia has the world’s largest youth population, with 165 million people under the age of 30.

Indonesia and Monaco technically share a flag - the only observable difference being that Indonesia’s is slightly wider.

Every citizen in Indonesia must officially subscribe to one of six religions, and interfaith marriage is banned unless one person converts. The six permitted religions are Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism, Confucianism, Catholicism, and Protestantism. They do not need to formally practice these religions, however.

President Suharto is recorded as the most corrupt leader in history, with an estimated USD $15 billion to USD $35 billion embezzled during his 31 years in office.