Indonesia

Indonesia Background

The Dutch began to colonize Indonesia in the early 17th century; the islands were occupied by Japan from 1942 to 1945. Indonesia declared its independence after Japan's surrender, but it required four years of intermittent negotiations, recurring hostilities, and UN mediation before the Netherlands agreed to relinquish its colony. Indonesia is the world's largest archipelagic state. Current issues include: alleviating widespread poverty, preventing terrorism, continuing the transition to popularly-elected governments after four decades of authoritarianism, implementing reforms of the banking sector, addressing charges of cronyism and corruption, holding the military and police accountable for human rights violations, and resolving armed separatist movements in Aceh and Papua.

Indonesia Information

• Population: 238,452,952 (July 2004 est.)
• Nationality: noun: Indonesian(s) adjective: Indonesian
• Location:: Southeastern Asia, archipelago between the Indian Ocean and the Pacific Ocean
• Religions:: Muslim 88%, Protestant 5%, Roman Catholic 3%, Hindu 2%, Buddhist 1%, other 1% (1998)
• Ethnic Groups:: Javanese 45%, Sundanese 14%, Madurese 7.5%, coastal Malays 7.5%, other 26%
• Land Boundaries:: total: 2,830 km border countries: East Timor 228 km, Malaysia 1,782 km, Papua New Guinea 820 km
• Area: total: 1,919,440 sq km water: 93,000 sq km land: 1,826,440 sq km
• Coast Line: 54,716 km
• Climate: tropical; hot, humid; more moderate in highlands
• Terrain: mostly coastal lowlands; larger islands have interior mountains
• Maritime Claims: measured from claimed archipelagic straight baselines territorial sea: 12 nm exclusive economic zone: 200 nm
• Land Use: arable land: 11.32% permanent crops: 7.23% other: 81.45% (2001)
• Environmental Issues: deforestation; water pollution from industrial wastes, sewage; air pollution in urban areas; smoke and haze from forest fires
• Natural Resources: petroleum, tin, natural gas, nickel, timber, bauxite, copper, fertile soils, coal, gold, silver
• Highways: total: 342,700 km paved: 158,670 km unpaved: 184,030 km (1999 est.)
• Railways: total: 6,458 km narrow gauge: 5,961 km 1.067-m gauge (125 km electrified); 497 km 0.750-m gauge (2003)
• Ports & Harbours: Cilacap, Cirebon, Jakarta, Kupang, Makassar, Palembang, Semarang, Surabaya
• Airports: 661 (2003 est.)