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| www.fretnotgospel.com/indonesia.html |
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References - Books Enchantment of the World - Indonesia, Sylvia McNair, Childrens Press, Chicago, 1993 Internet Indonesia: History, Geography, Government, and Culture, Infoplease.com, 05/22/07 Council on Foriegn Relations, Terrorism Havens: Indonesia, December 2005 Canadian Press, Islamic Hardliners Chip Away, March 4, 2007 Popular Entertainment and Islam in Indonesia, Wall Street Journal, April 2007 |
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| by Noah Arthur |
| by Noah Arthur |
| by Noah Arthur |
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| by Noah Arthur |
| SECOND IMPORTANT THING ABOUT INDONESIA Most Indonesians are Sunni Muslim. More Muslims live in Indonesia than in any other country. Indonesia law says that there is to be religious freedom and Islamic laws are usually not strict. Most Muslim women wear a hair covering of some sort to show their religion. Some Christian school girls are forced to wear a headscarf. During one month of every year, all Muslims healthy enough do not eat in daylight hours. The month is called Ramadan. They eat before sunrise and after sunset only. One out of ten or eleven Indonesians is a Christian. That means there are about 30 million Christians. The original people who lived in Indonesia and still live in some areas worship spirits and ancestors. Ninety percent of all people on Bali are Hindus, and statues of Hindu gods are everywhere there. Strict Muslim Rules Even though there are usually not strict Muslim laws, some places, especially the big cities, do have them. Here are some examples: Picky Rules - A coming law in Aceh says that theives will have their hands cut off. Muslim police will not allow women to be out after dark alone or carry lipstick. Secular Entertainment - Mrs. Daratista is a singer and dancer of the Indonesian equivalent of country music. She is criticized by Muslims because some of her dance moves look like what they call pornography. The Muslims call it "porno-action". Mr. Irama and Mr. Tanjung are two Indonesian Muslim men who stirred up a riot of their followers over Mrs. Daratista's "pornography". The Muslims had the government not allow her to be on television. Still she has many supporters. One of them painted a picture of her with an audience of strict Arab Muslims. Christian Conversions - Even though Indonesia's five priciple rules set called Pancasila allows any religion of one god, Christians are still being put in prison. For example, three women are in prison for having a Christian child care program. They have been in prison since May 2005. Many people in Indonesia are worried about the rise of strict Islam |
| Indonesia |
| FIRST IMPORTANT THING ABOUT INDONESIA Indonesia is made up of many very different islands united because of previous Dutch rule. Indonesia has a great diversity of people, and the sentence that goes with the national symbol is, translated into English, "unity through diversity". Some of the main islands are Java, Sumatra, Bali, Borneo, New Guinea, Flores, Sulewesi, Timor, Ceram, and Komodo. The largest island that is completely Indonesian is Sumatra. Borneo, New Guinea, and Timor are shared with other countries, Malaysia in Borneo, East Timor in Timor, and Papua in New Guinea. The British were in Papua and Malaysia. The Portuguese were in East Timor. Everything else was Dutch. The national symbol is Garuda, an eagle from Hindu myths. The national airline is called Garuda Airlines. There is almost every sort of habitat in Indonesia, from tropical rain forest to desert. Indonesia is a fairly poor country, but there is little starvation. There are more than 17,500 islands, half of them uninhabited. The Indian and Pacific Oceans are around the Indonesian islands. There are many active volcanos, an eruption almost each year. It is warm and wet but not too hot, 72-90 degrees F. Some people look African, while others look Chinese or Mongolian. Most are Malay. here are over 100 different cultures and regional languages, although Bahasa Indonesia is taught in all schools. There are many isolated tribes on the larger islands. Five-Principle Political Beliefs Indonesia has a five-principle political belief set called Pancasila: (1) All Indoneisan are to believe in one God, whether it is Christian, Muslim, or any other one God religion. (2) There is to be no oppression of people by any other people. (3) No race is to be superior. Suharto said that differences should "blend us together in perfect harmony like the beautiful spectrum of the rainbow". (4) Political decision are to be made by talking things over in detail. (5) There should justice for all, the means the highest possible good and the lowest possible exploitation of everyone. |
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| Country of the Month |
| by Noah Arthur |
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| by Noah Arthur |
| Early History Very early in Indonesian history, there was influence from India and China. People from India brought the use of metal and later on Hinduism and Buddhism. There was a myth that only spirits lived on Java and people eventually crowded the spirits out. The Hindu Kingdoms In 750 to 850 AD, there was a large kingdom in central Java called Sailendra. It built the largest Buddhist temple in the world. The temple is called Borobudur. The Majapahit kingdom from Java too power in Sumatra, borneo, and some other islands. The Majapahit kingdom was Hindu. The Majapahits had trade with mainland Asia. In the 1200's and 1300's, there was a small kingdom called Srivijaya in southern Sumatra. It's ship builders built the largest ships of the time. It had control of the narrow strait between Sumatra and Java. Srivijaya was a large center for trade. In 1377 it was overthrown by another kingdom across the strait on Java. Europeans In the 1300's many people began to convert to Islam. Some rulers converted peacefully but others converted in war. Some Hindus left their home island instead of converting. Soon Islam was the main religion. In the 1500's, Europeans began to take power. First the Portuguese came, then the Dutch. The Dutch called Indonesia the East Indies. The Dutch, after an unsuccesful try, got control of some of the large and growing spice trade in Indonesia. There was competition from the British, Spanish, and the Indonesians. The Dutch destroyed Java's capital city and built a new city like a Dutch city in the capital city's place. The Dutch city is called Jakarta. Indonesia became a Dutch colony in date. The Dutch lost their control to the British for a short time in date. This time was better for the Indonesians because the British did not exploit the Indonesians as much as the Dutch had. ?The British also got rid of the trade of indonesians as slaves. The Dutch took control again in the early 1800's. The Dutch were even worse this time. They made Indonesian farmers use almost all of their land to grow crops to give to the Dutch as taxes. This resulted in famine and death. Occasionally, Indonesians rebeled. This usually resulted in many lost lives and had little effect on the Dutch government. Major anti-Dutch movements began in the 1900's. Two new political parties formed against the Dutch. One of which was lead by a man named Sukarno, and was called the Indonesian National Party. Sukarno was imprisoned and, with other anti-Dutch leaders, was held in captivity for almost ten years. Even when World War II started the Dutch stayed in Indonesia. Japanese There was a very short Japanese invasion starting in 1942. At first, it looked like the Japanese were freeing Indonesia. They defeated the Dutch and sent them to concentration camps. The Dutch language was stopped and the Indonesian language replaced it. The Japanese freed Sukarno. Then they began exploiting the Indonsians. Independence In 1945, Indonesia became independent. The Japanese were gone. Sukarno was president and another man, Muhammad Hatta was vice president. They made a declaration of independence. Then the Dutch came back and took control. But they let Indonesia have Java, Sumatra, and one other island. Then the Dutch left the other islands but they still had Irian Jaya. President Sukarno held a conference of people from different Asian and African countries that had recently come out from under control of European countries. Sukarno did all he could to get rid of the Dutch. He even through Dutch people out of his country. He made it extremely hard for a person from another country to do any business. The results were not all good. There was inflation and road and electricity were very bad. In 1965, there was a largerly successful attempt to rid Indonesia of Communists. Sukarno lost all his power and a new president, Soeharto, was elected. Soeharto was re-elected many times, and was a dictator. He made Indonesia a member of the United Nations, which it had not been for a long time. President Soeharto worked on making a better economy for Indonesia. He made transit and farming better. He put down uprising in Kalimantan and Irian Jaya. The high oil prices helped Indonesia's economy. Islamic leaders weren't satified over Soeharto's government, and there were riots over non-Islamic marriage laws. When oil prices dropped in the 1980's, there was serious economic trouble. Some Indonesia have a general rebellious mood, and the government must keep a close eye on these or else they might become independent. There are fairly frequent rebellions everywhere. Recent History In 1976 Indonesia invaded the formerly Portuguese area called East Timor. The people of East Timor, being mostly Catholic, didn't like the Muslim rule. In 1998 President Soeharto stepped down from being president. In 1999 they had their first real election since 1955 and they elected Megawati Sukarnoputri, the daughter of Sukaro. There was resistence to the Indonesian rule and East Timor eventually became independent in 2002 after vote for independence and a war by the Indonesians. There was fighting in other parts of Indonesia also, such as Moluccas, Aceh, and Kalimantan (Indonesian Borneo). There were riots and bombings and some people tried to make Irian Jaya independent. So, in the same year, 1999, a new president was elected to replace Megawati. He was a Muslim religious leader named Wahid. There was fighting and unrest everywhere while he was in power and so he had to step down. Megawati who was vice-president became president again. Bali Bombing a bombing happened in a Bali nightclub, and the two bombers were put to death. They were members of a terrorist group called Jemaah Islamiyah, an Islamic terrorist group connected to Al-Qaeda. Many people were killed, mainly Australian tourists. Another man was accused but it turned out that he was not held responsible for the bombing. Finally, after 30 years of on and off fighting, the people of Aceh, who wanted independence, gave up and a peace agreement was made. But fighting started in the Moluccas between Christians and Muslims. It ended in a cease-fire in 2002. In 2004, a new president, Bambang, was elected. An earthquake caused a tsunami (flood) that killed thousand of people in Aceh. Another earthquake hit Java killing thousands of people. Then another killing hundreds. Floods hit Jakarata, Java in February 2007. Living in Indonesia would be very different from living in the United States. In Indonesia, there would always be the fear of violence and natural disasters, while here in the United States there is far less trouble and strife. |
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| Arfak Astrapia - I drew this picture because I saw a similar but much larger one of different birds at an Indonesian restaurant. This is a picture of two Arfak Astrapias from Indonesia. The top bird is the male. Some of the background foliage is from Indonesia that I found pictures of on-line. I mailed this picture to an Indonesian man we met at the restaurant. His name is Gustaaf. |
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| borneo rhino |
| golden birdwing |
| clouded leopard |
| crested fireback |
| lesser wood partridge |
| goliath birdwing |
| josephine's lorikeet |
| coelocanth |
| priam's birdwing |
| rhino hornbill |
| red bird of paradise |
| clipper |
| rufous collared kingfisher |
| orangutan |
| rainbow lorikeet |
| atlas moth |
| borneo pygmy elephant |
| broadbill |
| proboscis monkey urination |
| echidna |
| blue flycatcher |
| sumatran tiger |
| yellow crested cockatoo |
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| komodo dragon |
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| by Noah Arthur |
| by Noah Arthur |
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| by Noah Arthur |
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| Economy Indonesia is poor but not very poor. There is very little starvation. In the western islands, rice is the main food crop. There are destructive methods of farming and other more work-demanding less destructive ones. Some people raise animals. There are some important export crops. Along the north Java coast there is a major fishing industry and fish is a major food source everywhere. There are several valuable minerals mined in Indonesia including tin and copper. There are also coal and oil. Shell Oil is Dutch Indonesian petroleum company. Wood is a very important product but the government has put restrictions on it to conserve the rain forests. Rubber is a major product in some places. The Indonesian government had restrictions on the ownership of businesses by people from other countries, but there are fewer restrictions now. Some of the major products are cars, cloth, plywood, and processed foods. One industry that I am particularly interested in is butterfly farming. Indonesia has spectacular tropical butterflies and mounted specimens of these sell for a lot of money. Some poeple do this instead of cutting down trees for wood or farmland. |
| Diet In western Indonesia rice is the main food. Almost all western Indonesian dishes include rice. Fish is the main source of protein and many rice farmers raise fish in their flooded rice fields. Some farmers live off of only what they grow. Other foods are soups, noodles, shrimps, bananas, shellfish, desserts, eggs, and meats. Lifestyle All normal life goes along with the principle belief system. Almost all kids between the ages of seven and twelve go to school. Everything after sixth grade is taught in Bahasa Indonesia. There is high school and college for older kids. The Indonesian constitution says that women and men should be equal but there are restrictions on women that are not on men. There are women's rights organizations and they have had some success. Women can now serve in certain parts of the army. There is apparently no discrimination against women in school. Indonesians enjoy many different sports. Bull racing and duck racing are two of the most unusual. Ball sports include tennis, badminton, soccer, and vollyball. They also enjoy kite flying, biking, parks, and television. |
| Wildlife Indonesia has more different kinds of animals than anywhere in the world. It has everything from the Priam's birdwing butterfly to the Borneo pygmy elephant. There are clouded leopards, Asian elephants, pygmy buffalo, small hairy rhinos, bandicoots, mutjaks, orang-utans, tapirs, tigers, and wild pigs. Those are just some of the 500 known mammal species in Indonesia. Indonesia also has the largest lizard in the world, the Komodo dragon, growing up to ten-feet long, found on a small island called Komodo. One-thousand five-hundred species of birds live in Indonesia, including giant hornbills, cassowaries, and 40 species of birds-of-paradise. There also are giant sea turtles. Researchers recently found a new mammal that looks like a cross between a kangaroo rat and a fox. They only caught it on film for a few seconds and still don't know what it is. Indonesia has what I think is the world's most beautiful butterfly, the paradise birdwing. There are also many other beautiful butterflies including the goliath birdwing, priam's birdwing, wanderer, ulysses swallowtail, delias white, clipper, cruiser, and danis blue. There also is one of the largest moths, the atlas moth. Other insects include leaf insects, giant grasshoppers, katydids, stick insects, and beetles of all kinds. Indonesia probably has the greatest birds of any place. These range from the little green dollarbird to the giant flightless cassowary. They include the red bird-of-paradise, six-wired bird-of-paradise, lesser bird-of-paradise, sulfur-rested cockatoo, rainbow lorikeet, arfak astrapia, kokokan heron, sulawesi hawk eagle, blue-winged kukabura, argus pheasant, rhinoceros hornbill, and many more. Plants Ten percent of all plant species are in Indonesia. The trees include palms, sandalwood, oaks, ebony, camphor, and many others. There are ferns, orchids, bamboo, and the largest flower in the world, the rafflesia. It grows from a plant that has no leaves only a line of roots inside a woody vine. The rafflesia flower weighs twenty pounds. Art and Music Textile making is a very popular art. Batik is a kind of textile that is made by drawing on a cloth with dye resistant wax and dipping the cloth in dye. The wax is scraped off and leaves a dyeless pattern. Some batik makers stamp the wax on instead of drawing it on. There are other ways of making cloth that are often used. They include ikat, where dye-resistant fibers are used instead of wax. For a long time, squares of cloth were used for money on one island. Puppet shows are another popular form of art. Most are shadow puppet shows. These are done by a man moving puppets behind a lighted curtain. The puppets are usually made out of leather and painted. The man also thumps his feet on the floor in a rhythm. Puppet shows often last nine hours or more. Some puppets are three dimensional and these aren't for shadow puppet shows. Some shows are done by people dressed up as puppets. Indonesian dances usually have a purpose. Some tell stories. Some are supposed to drive away evil. Some used to be done by a whole tribe dancing at once. Some dances in Bali are supposed to put people in a trance. Some dances require years of training. A kind of music called gamelan is played mainly with drum-like instruments, including kettles, and brass gongs. Bali probably has the greatest artists but there is no word for are or artist in Bali. |
| jakarta |
| sumatra equator |
| men in the rainforest |
| rainforest |
| muslim cartoon protestors |
| blue winged kookabura |
| lotus flower lanterns |
| shadow puppet man |
| sumatran rhino |
| kissing lion dance |
| lesser wood partridge |
| delias descombesi |
| muslim women praying |
| ulysses |