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Selamat Datang / Welcome to the Indonesian Portal
Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of over 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo and New Guinea. Indonesia is the world's largest archipelagic state and the 14th-largest country by area, at 1,904,569 square kilometres (735,358 square miles). With over 279 million people, Indonesia is the world's fourth-most-populous country and the most populous Muslim-majority country. Java, the world's most populous island, is home to more than half of the country's population.
Indonesia is a presidential republic with an elected legislature. It has 38 provinces, of which nine have special autonomous status. The country's capital, Jakarta, is the world's second-most-populous urban area. Indonesia shares land borders with Papua New Guinea, East Timor, and the eastern part of Malaysia, as well as maritime borders with Singapore, Vietnam, Thailand, the Philippines, Australia, Palau, and India. Despite its large population and densely populated regions, Indonesia has vast areas of wilderness with the world's second-highest levels of biodiversity after Brazil.
Indonesia consists of thousands of distinct native ethnic and hundreds of linguistic groups, with Javanese being the largest. A shared identity has developed with the motto "Bhinneka Tunggal Ika" ("Unity in Diversity" literally, "many, yet one"), defined by a national language, cultural diversity, religious pluralism within a Muslim-majority population, and a history of colonialism and rebellion against it. The economy of Indonesia is the world's 16th-largest by nominal GDP and the 7th-largest by PPP. It is the world's third-largest democracy, a regional power, and is considered a middle power in global affairs. The country is a member of several multilateral organisations, including the United Nations, World Trade Organization, G20, and a founding member of the Non-Aligned Movement, Association of Southeast Asian Nations, East Asia Summit, D-8, APEC, and the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation. (Full article...)
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A Tongkonan is the traditional dwelling of the Toraja people in central Sulawesi. The construction of a tongkonan is a laborious work in which usually all members of a family, including extended ones, are involved.
Photo credit: Elma Roux.
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Religions in Indonesia
Southeast Asia
Other countries
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Tengku Amir Hamzah (February 1911 – 20 March 1946) was an Indonesian poet and National Hero of Indonesia. Born into a Malay aristocratic family in the Sultanate of Langkat in North Sumatra, he was educated in both Sumatra and Java. While attending senior high school in Surakarta around 1930, Amir became involved with the nationalist movement and fell in love with a Javanese schoolmate, Ilik Sundari. Even after Amir continued his studies in legal school in Batavia (now Jakarta) the two remained close, only separating in 1937 when Amir was recalled to Sumatra to marry the sultan's daughter and take on responsibilities of the court. Though unhappy with his marriage, he fulfilled his courtly duties. After Indonesia proclaimed its independence in 1945, he served as the government's representative in Langkat. The following year he was killed in a social revolution led by the PESINDO (Pemuda Sosialis Indonesia), and buried in a mass grave.
Amir began writing poetry while still a teenager: though his works are undated, the earliest are thought to have been written when he first travelled to Java. Drawing influences from his own Malay culture and Islam, as well as from Christianity and Eastern literature, Amir wrote 50 poems, 18 pieces of lyrical prose, and numerous other works, including several translations. In 1932 he co-founded the literary magazine Poedjangga Baroe. After his return to Sumatra, he stopped writing. Most of his poems were published in two collections, Nyanyi Sunyi (1937) and Buah Rindu (1941), first in Poedjangga Baroe then as stand-alone books. (Full article...)Did you know -
- ... that Nia Dinata (pictured), director of controversial films on homosexuality and polygamy, started a children's film festival in 2009?
- ... that Sandra Dewi gave an "arousing" performance in Quickie Express, but has refused to do "vulgar" photo shoots?
- ... that one of the statues in Candi Sukuh is a giant 1.82-metre (6 ft 0 in) phallus with four balls below its tip?
More Did you know (auto generated)
- ... that Suluh Indonesia, once Indonesia's top newspaper by circulation, was banned after the 30 September Movement in 1965?
- ... that in 1993, Indonesia's home affairs minister Yogie Suardi Memet used thugs to disrupt the opposition Indonesian Democratic Party's national congress?
- ... that Satya Graha was briefly barred from reporting from the Indonesian presidential palace after his newspaper published a piece on Sukarno's new wife?
- ... that Habiburokhman made a public bet that Basuki Tjahaja Purnama would not be able to collect one million ID cards – or else he would jump off the National Monument?
- ... that Paul Gutama Soegijo travelled from Germany to Indonesia to study the gamelan instruments of Java for eight years?
- ... that in the 2024 election, Indonesian comedian Komeng received the most votes of any senatorial candidate to date?
In this month
- 10 April 1815 – Mount Tambora, on the island of Sumbawa, erupts, leading to the year without a summer
- 18 April 1955 – The Asian–African Conference, an important step towards the establishment of the Non-Aligned Movement, begins (building pictured)
- 20 April 1975 – Taman Mini Indonesia Indah, a large cultural park in Jakarta, opens
- 21 April 1879 – Women's rights figure Kartini is born; this date continues to be celebrated as Kartini Day
- 24 April 1778 – The Royal Batavian Society of Arts and Sciences, one of the first scientific groups in the country, is established