00 and one million people were killed.[27] The head of the military, General Suharto, out-maneuvered the politically weakened Sukarno, and was formally appointed president in March 1968. His New Order administration[28] was supported by the US government,[29] and encouraged foreign direct investment in Indonesia, which was a major factor in the subsequent three decades of substantial economic growth.[30] However, the authoritarian "New Order" was widely accused of corruption and suppression of political opposition. In 1997 and 1998, Indonesia was the country hardest hit by the Asian Financial Crisis.[31] This increased popular discontent with the New Order[32] and led to popular protests. Suharto resigned on 21 May 1998.[33] In 1999, East Timor voted to secede from Indonesia, after a twenty-five-year military occupation that was marked by international condemnation of often brutal repression of the East Timorese.[34] The Reformasi era following Suharto's resignation, has led to a strengthening of democratic processes, including a regional autonomy program, and the first direct presidential election in 2004. Political and economic instability, social unrest, corruption, and terrorism have slowed progress. Although relations among different religious and ethnic groups are largely harmonious, acute sectarian discontent and violence remain problems in some areas.[35] A political settlement to an armed separatist conflict in Aceh was achieved in 2005.[36] [edit] Government and politics Main article: Politics of Indonesia Indonesia is a republic with a presidential system. As a unitary state, power is concentrated in the national 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[37] have revamped the executive, judicial, and legislative branches.[38] The president of Indonesia is the head of state, commander-in-chief of the Indonesian 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.[39] The president serves a maximum of two consecutive five-year terms.[40] A session of the People's Representative Council in Jakarta 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.[41] The MPR comprises two houses; the People's Representative Council (DPR), with 550 members, and the Regional Representatives Council (DPD), with 168 members. The DPR passes legislation and monitors the executive branch; party-aligned members are elected for five-year terms by proportional representation.[38] Reforms since 1998 have markedly increased the DPR's role in national governance.[42] The DPD is a new chamber for matters of regional management.[43] Most civil disputes appear before a State Court; appeals are heard before the High Court. The Supreme Court is the country's highest court, and hears final cassation appeals and conducts case reviews. Other courts include the Commercial Court, which handles bankruptcy and insolvency; a State Administrative Court to hear administrative law cases against the government; a Constitutional Court 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 to deal with specific religious cases.[44] [edit] Foreign relations and military Main articles: Foreign relations of Indonesia and Military of Indonesia In contrast to Sukarno's anti-imperialistic antipathy to western powers and tensions with Malaysia, Indonesia's foreign relations approach since the Suharto "New Order" has been one of economic and political cooperation with Western nations.[45] Indonesia maintains close relationships with its neighbors in Asia, and is a founding member of ASEAN and the East Asia Summit.[46] 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.[44] Indonesia has been a member of the United Nations since 1950,[47] and was a founder of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) and the Organisation of the Islamic Conference (OIC).[46] Indonesia is signatory to the ASEAN Free Trade Area agreement, and a member of OPEC, the Cairns Group and the WTO. Indonesia has received humanitarian and development aid since 1966, in particular from the United States, western Europe, Australia, and Japan.[46] National flags at the site of the 2002 terrorist bombing in Kuta, Bali The Indonesian Government has worked with other countries to apprehend and prosecute perpetrators of major bombings linked to militant Islamism and Al-Qaeda.[48] The deadliest killed 202 people (including 164 international tourists) in the Bali resort town of Kuta in 2002.[49] The attacks, and subsequent travel warnings issued by other countries, have severely damaged Indonesia's tourism industry and foreign investment prospects.[50] Indonesia's 300,000-member armed forces (TNI) include the Army (TNI-AD), Navy (TNI-AL, which includes marines), and Air Force (TNI-AU).[51] 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.[52] In the post-Suharto period since 1998, formal TNI representation in parliament has been removed; though curtailed, its political influence remains extensive.[53] 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.[54] Following a sporadic thirty year guerrilla war between the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) and the Indonesian military, a ceasefire agreement was reached in 2005.[55] 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.[56] [edit] Administrative divisions Main articles: Provinces of Indonesia and Administrative divisions of Indonesia Provinces of Indonesia 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 subdistricts (kecamatan), and again into village groupings (either desa or kelurahan). 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). Aceh, Jakarta, Yogyakarta, Papua, and West Papua provinces 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).[57] Yogyakarta was granted the status of Special Region in recognition of its pivotal role in supporting Indonesian Republicans during the Indonesian Revolution.[58] Papua, formerly known as Irian Jaya, was granted special autonomy status in 2001.[59] Jakarta is the country's special capital region. Indonesian provinces and their capitals (Indonesian name in brackets where different from English) † indicates provinces with Special Status Sumatra Aceh† (Nanggroe Aceh Darussalam) - Banda Aceh North Sumatra (Sumatera Utara) - Medan West Sumatra (Sumatera Barat) - Padang Riau - Pekanbaru Riau Islands (Kepulauan Riau) - Tanjung Pinang Jambi - Jambi (city) South Sumatra (Sumatera Selatan) - Palembang Bangka-Belitung (Kepulauan Bangka-Belitung) - Pangkal Pinang Bengkulu - Bengkulu (city) Lampung - Bandar Lampung Java Jakarta† - Jakarta Banten - Serang West Java (Jawa Barat) - Bandung Central Java (Jawa Tengah) - Semarang Yogyakarta Special Region† - Yogyakarta (city) East Java (Jawa Timur) - Surabaya Lesser Sunda Islands Bali - Denpasar West Nusa Tenggara (Nusa Tenggara Barat) - Mataram East Nusa Tenggara (Nusa Tenggara Timur) - Kupang Kalimantan West Kalimantan (Kalimantan Barat) - Pontianak Central Kalimantan (Kalimantan Tengah) - Palangkaraya South Kalimantan (Kalimantan Selatan) - Banjarmasin East Kalimantan (Kalimantan Timur) - Samarinda Sulawesi North Sulawesi (Sulawesi Utara) - Manado Gorontalo - Gorontalo (city) Central Sulawesi (Sulawesi Tengah) - Palu West Sulawesi (Sulawesi Barat) - Mamuju South Sulawesi (Sulawesi Selatan) - Makassar South East Sulawesi (Sulawesi Tenggara) - Kendari Maluku islands Maluku - Ambon North Maluku (Maluku Utara) - Ternate Papua West Papua† (Papua Barat) - Manokwari Papua† - Jayapura [edit] Geography Main article: Geography of Indonesia Map of Indonesia Indonesia consists of 17,508 islands, about 6,000 of which are inhabited.[60] These are scattered over both sides of the equator. The five largest islands are Java, Sumatra, Kalimantan (the Indonesian part of Borneo), New Guinea (shared with Papua New Guinea), and Sulawesi. Indonesia shares land borders with Malaysia on the islands of Borneo and Sebatik, Papua New Guinea on the island of New Guinea, and East Timor on the island of Timor. Indonesia also shares borders with Singapore, Malaysia, and the Philippines to the north and Australia to the south across narrow straits of water. The capital, Jakarta, is on Java and is the nation's largest city, followed by Surabaya, Bandung, Medan, and Semarang.[61] At 1,919,440 square kilometers (741,050 sq mi), Indonesia is the world's 16th-largest country in terms of land area.[62] Its average population density is 134 people per square kilometer (347 per sq mi), 79th in the world,[63] although Java, the world's most populous island,[64] has a population density of 940 people per square kilometer (2,435 per sq mi). At 4,884 meters (16,024 ft), Puncak Jaya in Papua is Indonesia's highest peak, and Lake Toba in Sumatra its largest lake, with an area of 1,145 square kilometers (442 sq mi). The country's largest rivers are in Kalimantan, and include the Mahakam and Barito; such rivers are communication and transport links between the island's river settlements.[65] Mount Semeru and Mount Bromo in East Java. Indonesia's seismic and volcanic activity is among the world's highest. Indonesia's location on the edges of the Pacific, Eurasian, and Australian tectonic plates, makes it the site of numerous volcanoes and frequent earthquakes. Indonesia has at least 150 active volcanoes,[66] including Krakatoa and Tambora, both famous for their devastating eruptions in the 19th century. The eruption of the Toba supervolcano, approximately 70,000 years ago, was one of the largest eruptions ever, and a global catastrophe. Recent disasters due to seismic activity include the 2004 tsunami that killed an estimated 167,736 in northern Sumatra,[67] and the Yogyakarta earthquake in 2006. However, volcanic ash is a major contributor to the high agricultural fertility that has historically sustained the high population densities of Java and Bali.[68] Lying along the equator, Indonesia has a tropical climate, with two distinct monsoonal wet and dry seasons. Average annual rainfall in the lowlands varies from 1,780–3,175 millimeters (70–125 in), and up to 6,100 millimeters (240 in) in mountainous regions. Mountainous areas—particularly in the west coast of Sumatra, West Java, Kalimantan, Sulawesi, and Papua—receive the highest rainfall. Humidity is generally high, averaging about 80%. Temperatures vary little throughout the year; the average daily temperature range of Jakarta is 26–30 °C (79–86 °F).[69] [edit] Ecology Main articles: Fauna of Indonesia and Flora of Indonesia The critically endangered Sumatran Orangutan, a great ape endemic to Indonesia Indonesia's size, tropical climate, and archipelagic geography, support the world's second highest level of biodiversity (after Brazil),[70] and its flora and fauna is a mixture of Asian and Australasian species.[71] Once linked to the Asian mainland, the islands of the Sunda Shelf (Sumatra, Borneo, Java, Borneo, and Bali) have a wealth of Asian fauna. Large species such as the tiger, rhinoceros, orangutan, elephant, and leopard, were once abundant as far east as Bali, but numbers and distribution have dwindled drastically. Forests cover approximately 60% of the country.[72] In Sumatra and Kalimantan, these are predominantly of Asian species. However, the forests of the smaller, and more densely populated Java, have largely been removed for human habitation and agriculture. Sulawesi, Nusa Tenggara, and Maluku—having been long separated from the continental landmasses—have developed their own unique flora and fauna.[73] Papua was part of the Australian landmass, and is home to a unique fauna and flora closely related to that of Australia, including over 600 bird species.[74] Orchid Cymbidium dayanum Indonesia's 80,000 kilometers (50,000 mi) of coastline are surrounded by tropical seas that contribute to the country's high level of biodiversity. Indonesia has a range of sea and coastal ecosystems, including beaches, sand dunes, estuaries, mangroves, coral reefs, sea grass beds, coastal mudflats, tidal flats, algal beds, and small island ecosystems.[5] The British naturalist, Alfred Wallace, described a dividing line between the distribution of Indonesia's Asian and Australasian species.[75] Known as the Wallace Line, it runs roughly north-south along the edge of the Sunda Shelf, between Kalimantan and Sulawesi, and along the deep Lombok Strait, between Lombok and Bali. West of the line the flora and fauna are more Asian; moving east from Lombok, they are increasingly Australian. In his 1869 book, The Malay Archipelago, Wallace described numerous species unique to the surrounding area,[76] which is now termed Wallacea.[75] Indonesia's high population and rapid industrialization present serious environmental issues, which are often given a lower priority due to high poverty levels and weak, under-resourced governance.[77] Issues include large-scale deforestation (much of it illegal) and related wildfires causing heavy smog over parts of western Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore; over-exploitation of marine resources; and environmental problems associated with rapid urbanization and economic development, including air pollution, traffic congestion, garbage management, and reliable water and waste water services.[77] Habitat destruction threatens the survival of indigenous and endemic species, including 140 species of mammals identified by the World Conservation Union (IUCN) as threatened, and 15 identified as critically endangered, including the Sumatran Orangutan.[78] [edit] Economy Main article: Economy of Indonesia Using water buffalo to plough rice fields in Java. Agriculture has been the country's largest employer for centuries. Indonesia's estimated Gross Domestic Product (GDP) for 2007 is US$408 billion (US$1,038 bn PPP).[2] In 2007, estimated nominal per capita GDP is US$1,812, and per capita GDP PPP was US$4,616 (International Dollars).[79] The services sector is the economy's largest and accounts for 45.3% of GDP (2005). This is followed by industry (40.7%) and agriculture (14.0%).[80] However, agriculture employs more people than other sectors, accounting for 44.3% of the 95 million-strong workforce. This is followed by the services sector (36.9%) and industry (18.8%).[81] Major industries include petroleum and natural gas, textiles, apparel, and mining. Major agricultural products include palm oil, rice, tea, coffee, spices, and rubber. Indonesia's main export markets (2005) are Japan (22.3%), the United States (13.9%), China (9.1%), and Singapore (8.9%). The major suppliers of imports to Indonesia are Japan (18.0%), China (16.1%), and Singapore (12.8%). In 2005, Indonesia ran a trade surplus with export revenues of US$83.64 billion and import expenditure of US$62.02 billion. The country has extensive natural resources, including crude oil, natural gas, tin, copper, and gold. Indonesia's major imports include machinery and equipment, chemicals, fuels, and foodstuffs.[82] Jakarta, the capital of Indonesia and the country's largest commercial center In the 1960s, the economy deteriorated drastically as a result of political instability, a young and inexperienced government, and ill-disciplined economic nationalism, which resulted in severe poverty and hunger.[83] Following President Sukarno's downfall in the mid-1960s, the New Order administration brought a degree of discipline to economic policy that quickly brought inflation down, stabilized the currency, rescheduled foreign debt, and attracted foreign aid and investment.[84] Indonesia is Southeast Asia's only member of OPEC, and the 1970s oil price raises provided an export revenue windfall that contributed to sustained high economic growth rates.[85] Following further reforms in the late 1980s,[86] foreign investment flowed into Indonesia, particularly into the rapidly developing export-oriented manufacturing sector, and from 1989 to 1997, the Indonesian economy grew by an average of over 7%.[87] Indonesia was the country hardest hit by the East Asian financial crisis of 1997–98. Against the US dollar, the currency dropped from about Rp. 2,000 to Rp. 18,000, and the economy shrunk by 13.7%.[88] The rupiah has since stabilized at around Rp. 10,000, and there has been a slow but significant economic recovery. Political instability since 1998, slow economic reform, and corruption at all levels of government and business, have contributed to the patchy nature of the recovery.[89] (Transparency International, for example, ranked Indonesia 143rd out of 180 countries in its 2007 Corruption Perceptions Index).[90] GDP growth, however, exceeded 5% in both 2004 and 2005, and is forecast to increase further.[91] This growth rate, however, is not enough to make a significant impact on unemployment,[92] and stagnant wages growth, and increases in fuel and rice prices have worsened poverty levels.[93] As of 2006, an estimated 17.8% of the population live below the poverty line, 49.0% of the population live on less than US$2 per day[94], and unemployment rate at 9.75%.[95] [edit] Demographics Main articles: Demographics of Indonesia, Languages of Indonesia, and Religion in Indonesia The national population from the 2000 national census is 206 million,[96] and the Indonesian Central Statistics Bureau and Statistics Indonesia estimate a population of 222 million for 2006.[97] 130 million people live on the island of Java, the world's most populous island.[98] Despite a fairly effective family planning program, which has been in place since the 1960s, the population is expected to grow to around 315 million in 2035, based on the current estimated annual growth rate of 1.25%.[99] A Minangkabau woman in traditional dress Most Indonesians are descendant from Austronesian-speaking peoples, who originated from Taiwan. The other major grouping are Melanesians, who inhabit eastern Indonesia.[1