There are few places in the world that offer such cultural variety and geographical complexity as Indonesia. Blessed with a phenomenal array of natural resources and unique cultures, Indonesia has been a magnet for every shade of entrepreneur from the west: determined missionaries, unscrupulous traders, unruly adventurers, artists in search of inspiration… The country has been occupied by Dutch and Japanese armies, surveyed, drilled, dug up and shipped off by foreign mining companies, analyzed and written about by ethnologists and anthropologists and more recently invaded by tourists. Despite this fatal attraction, Indonesia’s thousands of islands remain barely touched.
Indonesia is the fourth most populated country in the world after China, India and the United States with 237 million people (2010), comprising some 300 ethnic groups who speak an estimated 583 languages and dialects. The glue that binds the people together is the usage of the Bahasa Indonesia, the national language, and Pancasila, the national philosophy, which stresses the doctrine of unity and universal justice for all Indonesians.
Over two thirds of the population resides in Java. By contrast, the province of Papua represents 22% of the total land mass, yet has only 1% of the population. A government transmigration policy resettles people on the less populated islands, and Indonesians have been alerted to the importance of only two children to a family to control the birth explosion.
Indonesia is the biggest Islamic nation in the world, with Muslims forming about 90% of the population. Bali, however, is almost entirely Hindu and everywhere there are Buddhists and Christians. But, strangely enough, there is no official state religion – freedom of thought being guaranteed by the Constitution.
With more than 17,000 islands, nearly 60 percent of forested land and a significant portion of mountainous and volcanic land, Indonesia is endowed with endless wonders in one unforgettable destination.
