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Indonesia , officially the Republic of Indonesia
(Indonesian: Republik Indonesia), is a country in
Southeast Asia and Oceania. Indonesia comprises
17,508 islands. With over 238 million people, it is
the world's fourth most populous country, and has
the world's largest population of Muslims. Indonesia
is a republic, with an elected legislature and
president. The nation's capital city is Jakarta. The
country shares land borders with Papua New Guinea,
East Timor, and Malaysia. Other neighboring
countries include Singapore, Philippines, Australia,
and the Indian territory of the Andaman and Nicobar
Islands. Indonesia is a founding member of ASEAN and
a member of the G-20 major economies. The Indonesian
economy is the world's eighteenth largest economy by
nominal GDP and fifteenth largest by purchasing
power parity.
The Indonesian archipelago has been an important
trade region since at least the 7th century, when
Srivijaya and then later Majapahit traded with China
and India. Local rulers gradually absorbed foreign
cultural, religious and political models from the
early centuries CE, and Hindu and Buddhist kingdoms
flourished. Indonesian history has been influenced
by foreign powers drawn to its natural resources.
Muslim traders brought Islam, and European powers
brought Christianity and fought one another to
monopolize trade in the Spice Islands of Maluku
during the Age of Discovery. Following three and a
half centuries of Dutch colonialism, Indonesia
secured its independence after World War II.
Indonesia's history has since been turbulent, with
challenges posed by natural disasters, corruption,
separatism, a democratization process, and periods
of rapid economic change. The current nation of
Indonesia is a unitary presidential republic
consisting of thirty three provinces.
Across its many islands, Indonesia consists of
distinct ethnic, linguistic, and religious groups.
The Javanese are the largest—and the politically
dominant—ethnic group. Indonesia has developed a
shared identity defined by a national language,
ethnic diversity, religious pluralism within a
majority Muslim population, and a history of
colonialism including rebellion against it.
Indonesia's national motto, "Bhinneka Tunggal Ika"
("Unity in Diversity" literally, "many, yet one"),
articulates the diversity that shapes the country.
Despite its large population and densely populated
regions, Indonesia has vast areas of wilderness that
support the world's second highest level of
biodiversity. The country is richly endowed with
natural resources, yet poverty remains widespread in
contemporary Indonesia.
The name Indonesia derives from the Latin Indus, and
the Greek nesos, meaning "island". The name dates to
the 18th century, far predating the formation of
independent Indonesia. In 1850, George Windsor Earl,
an English ethnologist, proposed the terms
Indunesians — and, his preference, Malayunesians —
for the inhabitants of the "Indian Archipelago or
Malayan Archipelago". In the same publication, a
student of Earl's, James Richardson Logan, used
Indonesia as a synonym for Indian Archipelago.
However, Dutch academics writing in East Indies
publications were reluctant to use Indonesia.
Instead, they used the terms Malay Archipelago
(Maleische Archipel); the Netherlands East Indies
(Nederlandsch Oost Indië), popularly Indië; the East
(de Oost); and even Insulinde.
From 1900, the name Indonesia became more common in
academic circles outside the Netherlands, and
Indonesian nationalist groups adopted it for
political expression. Adolf Bastian, of the
University of Berlin, popularized the name through
his book Indonesien oder die Inseln des Malayischen
Archipels, 1884–1894. The first Indonesian scholar
to use the name was Suwardi Suryaningrat (Ki Hajar
Dewantara), when he established a press bureau in
the Netherlands with the name Indonesisch
Pers-bureau in 1913.
Indonesia is a republic with a presidential system.
As a unitary state, power is concentrated in the
central government. Following the resignation of
President Suharto in 1998, Indonesian political and
governmental structures have undergone major
reforms. Four amendments to the 1945 Constitution of
Indonesia have revamped the executive, judicial, and
legislative branches. The president of Indonesia is
the head of state, commander-in-chief of the
Indonesian National Armed Forces, and the director
of domestic governance, policy-making, and foreign
affairs. The president appoints a council of
ministers, who are not required to be elected
members of the legislature. The 2004 presidential
election was the first in which the people directly
elected the president and vice president. The
president may serve a maximum of two consecutive
five-year terms.
The highest representative body at national level is
the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR). Its main
functions are supporting and amending the
constitution, inaugurating the president, and
formalizing broad outlines of state policy. It has
the power to impeach the president. The MPR
comprises two houses; the People's Representative
Council (DPR), with 560 members, and the Regional
Representative Council (DPD), with 132 members. The
DPR passes legislation and monitors the executive
branch; party-aligned members are elected for
five-year terms by proportional representation.
Reforms since 1998 have markedly increased the DPR's
role in national governance. The DPD is a new
chamber for matters of regional management.
Most civil disputes appear before a State Court
(Pengadilan Negeri); appeals are heard before the
High Court (Pengadilan Tinggi). The Supreme Court
(Mahkamah Agung) is the country's highest court, and
hears final cessation appeals and conducts case
reviews. Other courts include the Commercial Court,
which handles bankruptcy and insolvency; a State
Administrative Court (Pengadilan Tata Negara) to
hear administrative law cases against the
government; a Constitutional Court (Mahkamah
Konstitusi) to hear disputes concerning legality of
law, general elections, dissolution of political
parties, and the scope of authority of state
institutions; and a Religious Court (Pengadilan
Agama) to deal with codified Sharia Law cases.
In contrast to Sukarno's anti-imperialistic
antipathy to western powers and tensions with
Malaysia, Indonesia's foreign relations since the
Suharto "New Order" have been based on economic and
political cooperation with Western nations.
Indonesia maintains close relationships with its
neighbors in Asia, and is a founding member of ASEAN
and the East Asia Summit. The nation restored
relations with the People's Republic of China in
1990 following a freeze in place since
anti-communist purges early in the Suharto era.
Indonesia has been a member of the United Nations
since 1950, and was a founder of the Non-Aligned
Movement (NAM) and the Organisation of the Islamic
Conference (OIC). Indonesia is signatory to the
ASEAN Free Trade Area agreement, the Cairns Group,
and the WTO, and has historically been a member of
OPEC, although it withdrew in 2008 as it was no
longer a net exporter of oil. Indonesia has received
humanitarian and development aid since 1966, in
particular from the United States, western Europe,
Australia, and Japan.
The Indonesian Government has worked with other
countries to apprehend and prosecute perpetrators of
major bombings linked to militant Islamism and
Al-Qaeda. The deadliest killed 202 people (including
164 international tourists) in the Bali resort town
of Kuta in 2002. The attacks, and subsequent travel
warnings issued by other countries, severely damaged
Indonesia's tourism industry and foreign investment
prospects.
Indonesia's 300,000-member armed forces (TNI)
include the Army (TNI–AD), Navy (TNI–AL, which
includes marines), and Air Force (TNI–AU). The army
has about 233,000 active-duty personnel. Defense
spending in the national budget was 4% of GDP in
2006, and is controversially supplemented by revenue
from military commercial interests and foundations.
One of the reforms following the 1998 resignation of
Suharto was the removal of formal TNI representation
in parliament; nevertheless, its political influence
remains extensive.
Separatist movements in the provinces of Aceh and
Papua have led to armed conflict, and subsequent
allegations of human rights abuses and brutality
from all sides. Following a sporadic thirty-year
guerrilla war between the Free Aceh Movement (GAM)
and the Indonesian military, a ceasefire agreement
was reached in 2005.[61] In Papua, there has been a
significant, albeit imperfect, implementation of
regional autonomy laws, and a reported decline in
the levels of violence and human rights abuses,
since the presidency of Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono.
Administratively, Indonesia consists of 33
provinces, five of which have special status. Each
province has its own political legislature and
governor. The provinces are subdivided into
regencies (kabupaten) and cities (kota), which are
further subdivided into districts (kecamatan), and
again into village groupings (either desa or
kelurahan). Furthermore, a village is divided into
several citizen-groups (Rukun-Warga (RW)) which are
further divided into several neighbourhood-groups
(Rukun-Tetangga (RT)). Following the implementation
of regional autonomy measures in 2001, the regencies
and cities have become the key administrative units,
responsible for providing most government services.
The village administration level is the most
influential on a citizen's daily life, and handles
matters of a village or neighborhood through an
elected lurah or kepala desa (village chief).
The provinces of Aceh, Jakarta, Yogyakarta, and West
Papua have greater legislative privileges and a
higher degree of autonomy from the central
government than the other provinces. The Acehnese
government, for example, has the right to create an
independent legal system; in 2003, it instituted a
form of Sharia (Islamic law). Yogyakarta was granted
the status of Special Region in recognition of its
pivotal role in supporting Indonesian Republicans
during the Indonesian Revolution. Papua, formerly
known as Irian Jaya, now West Papua, was granted
special autonomy status in 2001. Jakarta is the
country's special capital region.
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