INDONESIA

officially Republic of Indonesia, Indonesian Republik Indonesia island republic lying off the coast of mainland Southeast Asia and composed of some 13,670 islands. Indonesia extends approximately 3,200 miles (5,100 km) from the island of Sumatra in the west to that of New Guinea in the east, and about 1,000 miles (1,600 km) from north to south. It is bordered by Papua New Guinea and the Arafura Sea in the east, the Indian Ocean in the south and west, the Andaman Sea in the northwest, and the Strait of Malacca, the South China Sea, the Sulu Sea, the Celebes Sea, and the western Pacific Ocean in the north. Indonesia is the fourth most populous country in the world. The capital is Jakarta. Area 741,052 square miles (1,919,317 square km). Pop. (1993 est.) 188,216,000. Temporary housing in a Toraja village, constructed for guests and relatives attending a funeral, officially Republic of Indonesia, Indonesian Republik Indonesia country located off the coast of the Southeast Asian mainland in the Indian and Pacific oceans. It is an archipelago that lies across the equator for one-eighth of the Earth's circumference. Its islands can be grouped into the Greater Sunda Islands of Sumatra (Sumatera), Java (Jawa), the southern extent of Borneo known as Kalimantan, and Celebes (Sulawesi); the Lesser Sunda Islands (Nusa Tenggara) of Bali and a chain of islands that runs eastward through Timor; the Moluccas (Maluku) between Celebes and the island of New Guinea; and the western extent of New Guinea known as Irian Jaya (formerly Irian Barat). The country is the largest in Southeast Asia, about 752,400 square miles (1,948,700 square kilometres) in area, with a maximum dimension from east to west of about 3,200 miles (5,100 kilometres) and a dimension from north to south of 1,100 miles. It is composed of some 13,670 islands, of which more than 7,000 are uninhabited. Almost 75 percent of Indonesia's area is included in the three largest islands of Borneo, of which about three-quarters, or 212,000 square miles, is part of Indonesia; Sumatra, with 186,000 square miles; and the Irian Jaya portion of New Guinea, with 162,000 square miles. Nearly all of the total land area is accounted for with the addition of Celebes (75,100 square miles) and Java and the Moluccas (83,400 square miles). Indonesia was formerly known as the Dutch, or Netherlands, East Indies; the islands were first named Indonesia in modern times by a German geographer in 1884, although this name is thought to derive from Indos Nesos, Indian Islands, in the ancient trading language of the region. The capital, Jakarta, is located near the northwestern coast of Java. After a period of occupation by the Japanese (194245) during World War II, Indonesia declared its independence from The Netherlands in 1945. Its struggle for independence, however, continued until 1949; and it was not until the official recognition by the United Nations of Irian Barat as a part of Indonesia in 1969 and the incorporation of the former Portuguese territory of East Timor in 197576 that the nation took on its present form. The Indonesian archipelago represents one of the most unusual areas in the world, encompassing a major juncture of the Earth's tectonic plates, the dividing line between two faunal realms, and the meeting point for the peoples and cultures of mainland Asia and Oceania. These factors have created a highly diverse environment and society in which the only common elements are the susceptibility to seismic and volcanic activity, close proximity to the sea, and a moist, tropical climate. In its economic development the country relies heavily upon its agricultural capacityparticularly rice cultivationand the export of such cash crops as coconuts, rubber, and tea; its petroleum products, of which it is the major producer in Asia; its rich deposits of tin and other minerals; and timber. Indonesia is the most populous nation in Southeast Asia, and it is advantageously located between mainland Asia and Australia. As such, the country has a critical role to play in the development of its part of the world. In keeping with its size and importance, it is active in such regional and international groupings as the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), the Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP), the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), and the United Nations. Additional reading Geography General overviews are provided by Charles A. Fisher, South-East Asia: A Social, Economic, and Political Geography, 2nd ed. (1966), a classic work with a dated though very useful perspective on Indonesia that details economic, social, and political as well as physical variations; G.J. Missen, Viewpoint on Indonesia: A Geographical Study (1972), an older but well-written historical economic geography that traces agriculture, both traditional and commercial, from the Dutch period until independence and discusses the problems of the economy and urbanization; Donald W. Fryer and James C. Jackson, Indonesia (1977), a broad survey of the physical environment and an analysis of the country's complex history, with an exploration of the dichotomy between indigenous agriculture and the modern economy, especially oil; Hassan Shadily (ed.), Ensiklopedi Indonesia, 7 vol. (198084); Frederica M. Bunge (ed.), Indonesia: A Country Study, 4th ed. (1983); and the relevant section in The Far East and Australasia (annual).R.W. Van Bemmelen, The Geology of Indonesia, 2 vol. in 3 (1949, reprinted 1970), is an exhaustive survey of the country's geology and natural resources, with detailed information on individual islands. Also useful are Warren Hamilton, Tectonics of the Indonesian Region (1979); and E.C.J. Mohr, F.A. Von Baren, and J. Van Schuylenborgh, Tropical Soils: A Comprehensive Study of Their Genesis, 3rd rev. and enlarged ed. (1973), with most examples drawn from Indonesia. Detailed regional studies include Anthony J. Whitten, Muslimin Mustafa, and Gregory S. Henderson, The Ecology of Sulawesi (1987); and Anthony J. Whitten et al., The Ecology of Sumatra (1987).W.F. Wertheim, Indonesian Society in Transition: A Study of Social Change, 2nd rev. ed. (1959, reprinted 1980); and Ruth T. McVey (ed.), Indonesia (1963), provide introductions to Indonesian society. N. Iskandar, Some Monographic Studies on the Population of Indonesia (1970), contains a review of the 1961 census and projections; see also Widjojo Nitisastro, Population Trends in Indonesia (1970), which covers the period 17751961 and predicts trends through 1991. Universitas Indonesia, The Population of Indonesia (1974), is the World Population Year monograph commissioned by the UN Committee for International Coordination of National Research in Demography; and Werner Rutz, Cities and Towns in Indonesia (1987; originally published in German, 1985), is a study of urbanization based on the 1980 census. Christine Drake, National Integration in Indonesia: Patterns and Policies (1989), examines integration and cohesiveness in a country with a varied social fabric; and Victor T. King (ed.), Essays on Borneo Societies (1978), discusses the Dayak peoples.Hal Hill, Foreign Investment and Industrialization in Indonesia (1988), is a good analysis of historical and current economic development. Hal Hill (ed.), Unity and Diversity: Regional Economic Development in Indonesia Since 1970 (1989), focuses on problems and progress in regional development, with chapters on each province. Colin MacAndrews (ed.), Central Government and Local Development in Indonesia (1986), discusses the evolution of development policies under the New Order government, with attention to increasing trends toward decentralized decison making and to how the government works and how development policies are implemented at the national and local levels. Graeme J. Hugo et al., The Demographic Dimension in Indonesian Development (1987), analyzes in detail population growth and trends, fertility and mortality, mobility and urbanization, and the growth of the labour force. Wolf Donner, Land Use and Environment in Indonesia (1987), describes the geographic and demographic setting and analyzes the social and environmental catastrophe confronting Java; it also analyzes the environmental side effects of nonagricultural land use development. Thomas R. Leinbach and Chia Lin Sien, South-East Asian Transport: Issues in Development (1989), offers a developmental approach to the evolution of transport in the region; the Indonesian chapter traces investment and planning and discusses air, road, rail, and sea sectors. A useful work on Indonesian government and politics is Benedict Anderson and Audrey Kahin (eds.), Interpreting Indonesian Politics (1982). Cultural material is presented in Miguel Covarrubias, Island of Bali (1937, reissued 1986); Ruth T. McVey (ed.), Indonesia (1963), a scholarly reference work; Niels A. Douwes Dekker, Tanah Air Kita: A Book on the Country and People of Indonesia, 5th rev. ed. (1965?), a popular pictorial review of the islands but one that contains an accurate cultural description; Frits A. Wagner, Indonesia: The Art of an Island Group, rev. ed., trans. from Dutch (1967); Claire Holt, Art in Indonesia: Continuities and Change (1967); and Jacques Dumaray, Borobudur, trans. from French (1978, reprinted 1983). Thomas R. Leinbach History General treatments of Indonesian history in the context of the broader history of Southeast Asia include D.G.E. Hall, A History of South-East Asia, 4th ed. (1981); Paul Wheatley, Nagara and Commandery: Origins of the Southeast Asian Urban Traditions (1983); Kenneth R. Hall, Maritime Trade and State Development in Early Southeast Asia (1985); and David Steinberg (ed.), In Search of Southeast Asia: A Modern History, rev. ed. (1987). Histories of the country alone may be found in Bernard H.M. Vlekke, Nusantara: A History of Indonesia, rev. ed. (1959); Benjamin Higgins and Jean Higgins, Indonesia: The Crisis of the Millstones (1963); Ailsa Zainu'ddin, A Short History of Indonesia, 2nd ed. (1980); M.C. Ricklefs, A History of Modern Indonesia, c. 1300 to the Present (1981); and Louis Fischer, The Story of Indonesia (1959). J.D. Legge, Indonesia, 3rd ed. (1980), examines some historiographical problems.F.D.K. Bosch, Selected Studies in Indonesian Archaeology (1961), contains selected translations of some of Bosch's distinguished contributions to the study of Indonesian culture. G. Coeds, The Indianized States of Southeast Asia (1968, reissued 1975; originally published in French, 1944), has sections dealing with Indonesia that introduce basic information on early Indonesian history and discuss its implications in a judicious manner. N.J. Krom, Hindoe-javaansche Geschiedenis, 2nd ed. (1931), is the first and a very detailed critical account of information on early Indonesian history; though parts of the work are now dated, it remains the basic work on the subject. Theodoor G. Pigeaud (ed.), Java in the 14th Century: A Study in Cultural History, 3rd ed. rev., 5 vol. (196063), a translation of the 14th-century Nagarakertagama, accompanied by an extensive commentary, is indispensable reading for the study of Java, especially in the 13th and 14th centuries. Soedjatmoko et al. (eds.), An Introduction to Indonesian Historiography (1965), is an important survey and discussion of the skills and contributions of a variety of scholarly disciplines in the field of Indonesian history. The attention being given to the study of early Java is reflected in Jan Wissman Christie, Raja and Rama: The Classical State in Early Java, in Lorraine Gesick (ed.), Centers, Symbols, and Hierarchies: Essays on the Classical States of Southeast Asia (1983), pp. 944. On the continuing study of Srivijaya, consult O.W. Wolters, Studying Srivijaya, Journal of the Malaysian Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society, 52(2):132 (December 1979); and Pierre-Yves Manguin (comp.), Bibliography for Sriwijayan Studies (1989).For a discussion of trade patterns of the early period of European contact, see J.C. Van Leur, Indonesian Trade and Society: Essays in Asian Social and Economic History, 2nd ed., trans. from Dutch (1960); M.A.P. Meilink-Roelofsz, Asian Trade and European Influence in the Indonesian Archipelago Between 1500 and About 1630 (1962); and Anthony Reid, Southeast Asia in the Age of Commerce, 14501680 (1988 ). M.C. Ricklefs, Jogjakarta Under Sultan Mangkubumi, 17491792: A History of the Division of Java (1974), examines 18th-century Javanese politics against the background of the Dutch presence. Christine Dobbin, Islamic Revivalism in a Changing Peasant Economy: Central Sumatra, 17841847 (1983); and Heather Sutherland, The Making of a Bureaucratic Elite: The Colonial Transformation of the Javanese Priyayi (1979), examine social change in the 19th century in Sumatra and Java, respectively. Jean Gelman Taylor, The Social World of Batavia: European and Eurasian in Dutch Asia (1983), explores European adaptation to the local scene in the 18th and 19th centuries. Clive Day, The Policy and Administration of the Dutch in Java (1904, reprinted as The Dutch in Java, 1972), remains an interesting treatment of the Cultivation System and Liberal Policy. The best survey in English of Dutch economic policies in the 19th and 20th centuries is still J.S. Furnivall, Netherlands India (1939, reissued 1983). See also G.C. Allen and Audrey G. Donnithorne, Western Enterprise in Indonesia and Malaya: A Study in Economic Development (1954, reprinted 1968); and the collection of Dutch economic writings published as Indonesian Economics: The Concept of Dualism in Theory and Policy, 2nd ed. (1966). Robert Van Niel, The Emergence of the Modern Indonesian Elite (1960, reissued 1984), studies the theory and operation of the Ethical Policy. Deliar Noer, The Modernist Muslim Movement in Indonesia, 19001942 (1973), surveys Islamic thought in the late colonial period.George McTurnan Kahin, Nationalism and Revolution in Indonesia (1952, reissued 1970), remains the standard study of the rise of nationalism and the struggle for independence. For a more recent survey of the revolution, see Anthony Reid, The Indonesian National Revolution, 19451950 (1974, reprinted 1986). Ruth T. McVey, The Rise of Indonesian Communism (1965), is an authoritative history of the Indonesian Communist Party to the revolts of 192627. Bernhard Dahm, Sukarno and the Struggle for Indonesian Independence (1969; originally published in German, 1966), explores the development of Sukarno's thinking up to 1945. The Japanese occupation is examined in Harry J. Benda, The Crescent and the Rising Sun: Indonesian Islam Under the Japanese Occupation, 19421945 (1958, reissued 1983); and Benedict R. O'G. Anderson, Some Aspects of Indonesian Politics Under the Japanese Occupation: 19441945 (1961). Anderson's Java in a Time of Revolution: Occupation and Resistance, 19441946 (1972), gives a close study of the opening period of revolution. The standard account of the early years of independence is Herbert Feith, The Decline of Constitutional Democracy in Indonesia (1962). Daniel S. Lev, The Transition to Guided Democracy (1966), carries the story from 1957 to 1959; and Rex Mortimer, Indonesian Communism Under Sukarno (1974), continues from 1959 to 1965. J.D. Legge, Sukarno: A Political Biography, 2nd ed. (1984), also covers the period. J.A.C. Mackie, Konfrontasi: The Indonesia-Malaysia Dispute, 19631966 (1974), examines closely a significant episode of Indonesian foreign policy. The essays in Claire Holt (ed.), Culture and Politics in Indonesia (1972), provide illuminating treatment of aspects of modern Indonesian history and culture. The role of the army is examined in Harold Crouch, The Army and Politics in Indonesia, rev. ed. (1988). The New Order is discussed by Karl D. Jackson and Lucian W. Pye (eds.), Political Power and Communications in Indonesia (1978). Richard Robison, Indonesia: The Rise of Capital (1986), gives a radical interpretation of New Order economic policy. David Reeve, Golkar of Indonesia: An Alternative to the Party System (1985), examines the background to the political ideas of the New Order. Charles A. Coppel, Indonesian Chinese in Crisis (1983), is a study of the modern Chinese community. The journals Indonesia (semiannual) and The South East Asian Review (semiannual) contain useful articles on current scholarship. Oliver W. Wolters John David Legge Administration and social conditions Government The Republic of Indonesia was proclaimed in 1945. Its jurisdiction included the present area from Sabang in Sumatra to Merauke in Irian Jaya, or the entire area of the former Dutch (or Netherlands) East Indies. The Netherlands retained possession of a large part of this region, however, and a provisional capital was established in Yogyakarta, which was the stronghold of the revolution. With the close of the struggle for independence in 1949, the Republic of the United States of Indonesia was established. The federal system did not last, however, and in 1950 the federated governments unanimously decided to return to a republican form of government. After some difficulties the Republic of Indonesia returned to the constitution of 1945 by presidential decree. Constitutional framework Executive power lies in the president, who is assisted by a vice president. Both are elected every five years by the People's Consultative Assembly (Majelis Permusyawaratan Rakyat; MPR), and consequently are responsible, although not subordinate, to that body. The ministers and heads of departments are appointed and dismissed by the president, who is also responsible for the supreme command of the army, navy, and air force. The president has the authority to issue regulations, to implement acts, and to make agreements with foreign countries. The president is assisted by the Supreme Advisory Council (Dewan Pertimbangan Agung). A maximum of 45 members are appointed by the president for a term of five years. They are prominent figures from all fields with wide experience at the regional as well as the national level. The Supreme Audit Board (Badan Pemeriksa Keuangan) appointed by the president and having 5 members, controls state finance and makes regular reports to the House of People's Representatives (Dewan Perwakilan Rakyat; DPR). Besides holding executive power, the president is the leader of the legislative branch, the DPR, and in case of emergency may issue governmental regulations with the consent of the DPR as a substitute for legislative acts. If such governmental regulation does not get the consent of the DPR, it is considered revoked. The People's Consultative Assembly is the highest authority in the state, with the primary responsibilities of electing the president and vice president and determining the constitution and the broad lines of governmental policy. It consists of 1,000 members, including representatives from the DPR, regional delegates, and representatives of political parties and functional groups such as farmers, businessmen, the armed forces, and students, appointed by the president on the basis of nominations from those respective groups. The term of office of the MPR is five years, and the assembly sits at least once every five years. The DPR consists of 500 members, 400 of whom are elected on a proportional system and 100 of whom are appointed by the respective groups as representatives of political parties and functional groups. The body sits once a year, and its members serve a term of five years. The Regional Council of Representatives (Dewan Perwakilan Rakyat Daerah) forms the government for each region, the regulations and composition of which are determined along lines similar to those of the DPR. The president is advised and assisted by a cabinet of ministers from the various government departments. Ministries include those for broad areas such as economic, financial, and industrial affairs; foreign affairs; defense; social welfare; supervision of development; research and technology; and administrative reform. Each minister is assisted by a secretary-general, one or more director generals, an inspector general (if appropriate), and a staff of special assistants.