The Republic of Indonesia is an archipelago of more than 13,500 islands located astride the equator in Southeast Asia. Sumatra, the westernmost major island, lies south of Burma, while Irian Jaya on the island of New Guinea is the country's eastern extreme. The islands command vital sea routes between Australia, Europe, and the Asian mainland and are the principal link between the Indian and Pacific oceans. Foreign traders, immigrants, cultural ideas, and technologies have given Indonesia great internal diversity. Indonesia, formerly part of the Netherlands East Indies, proclaimed its independence on August 17, 1945, after more than 300 years of Dutch control.

LAND, PEOPLE, AND ECONOMY                

Territories on five islands make up 90% of Indonesia. The largest territory, Kalimantan, constitutes 28% of Indonesia's total area, and occupies the southern two-thirds of the island of Borneo. Also in terms of land area, second in size is the island of Sumatra, comprising 24% of total. Irian Jaya, which occupies the western half of New Guinea, forms 22% of the country; Sulawesi, 10%; and the islands of Java and Madura--inhabited by 64% of the population--only 7%.
Indonesia is potentially rich in mineral resources. The most important is crude petroleum--with associated deposits of natural gas--extracted primarily in eastern Sumatra and Kalimantan. Tin ores are found on a number of islands, as well as deposits of bauxite, nickel, coal, copper, uranium, gold, and diamonds. Large reserves of low-grade iron ore have been reported.

PEOPLE

Indonesia has one of the most ethnically diverse populations in the world. It has more than 300 distinct groups, the largest being Javanese, who constitute 40-50% of the total population. Sundanese in western Java make up about 15% of the total population, and the Madurese, on Madura, an estimated 5%. Smaller, but regionally important, ethnic peoples include the Balinese, Batak, Dayak, Papuans, Acehnese (Achinese), and Toradja. The largest nonindigenous group is the Chinese, constituting about 3% of the total population and living mainly in urban areas.

ECONOMY

Indonesia's traditional subsistence and trading economy was altered radically under the rule of the Dutch. Export crops were emphasized, and for many years their growth was mandatory. A state-dominated, centralized economic system was developed after independence, but it was replaced in 1969 by the "New Order" of President Suharto, based on a series of 5-year plans designed to build an agriculture-based economy capable of supporting simultaneous development of large-scale industrial projects and smaller consumer- and export-oriented processing industries.

GOVERNMENT

Executive power is vested in the president--who is elected by the People's Consultative Assembly for a 5-year term--and in the president's appointed cabinet. Legislative power rests with the Council of Representatives, but since 20% of this body's members are appointed from the armed forces, and the government party, Golkar, holds a substantial majority of the directly elected seats, the president in effect rules by decree. Governors, district heads, and mayors appointed by the central government administer the 27 provinces, 241 districts, and 55 municipalities.

The official government web site of Indonesia is http://www.indonesia.go.id.