History UsefulNotes / Indonesia

Indonesia's territorial expanse is unimaginably vast: the distance separating Aceh in the northwest from the far east of West New Guinea is over 5,000 km, comparable to the geographic stretch of the entire European continent. The archipelago is mainly volcanic in nature and has lots of natural barriers. This, combined with the waters separating the islands, results in an extremely diverse population. Indonesia officially registers 1,340 ethnic groups, and has the world's second biggest number of languages at about 700. Indeed, one might say that it's ''too'' diverse; although the Javanese form a plurality, an enduring issue inside the country is whether the state can legitimately unite what's basically the society of a small continent. As with India, if not for the fact that country was subjugated by a single colonizer, it would likely be made up of a galaxy of far smaller ethnostates by now.

Indonesia's major religion is Islam -- it is in fact the world's largest Muslim-majority country, and has the world's second-largest Muslim population.[[note]]For decades, it was the country with the highest number of Muslims. However, as of 2024, UsefulNotes/{{Pakistan}} officially has more Muslims despite having less people overall compared to Indonesia.[[/note]] However, it is not the sole religion: Christianity, Buddhism and Hinduism are significant minorities in the country. Interestingly enough, Indonesian Islam (outside Aceh, which prides itself on being the "veranda of Mecca" as the westernmost province and therefore the closest part of Indonesia to Arabia) is almost a religion unto itself -- while Indonesian Muslims make the Hajj and pray facing Mecca, they also often combine their faith with indigenous traditions. The ''Literature/{{Ramayana}}'' is performed by Muslim ''wayang'' puppeteers, women and men pray in the same room (though not the same row), and a vast number of Indonesians believe in ghosts and spirits from their ethnic folklore. Indonesia's penchant for cultural and religious syncretism is such that rather than being called fundamentalists or reactionaries, Indonesian Muslim clerics advocating for a return to orthodox Islam are known as "modernists", because putting its own, synthetic spin on things is just ''that'' integral to Indonesian identity.

Portugal was first, followed by the Dutch. After almost two hundred years, the Dutch government dissolved the hopelessly corrupt MegaCorp Dutch East India Company (VOC, ''Vereenigde Oostindische Compagnie'') and took over its assets. The Dutch colonial period was a time of much hardship to the Indonesian people and universally regarded by historians as a shining example of the evils of colonialism. The Dutch largely fenced off Indonesian natives from themselves, and although some Dutch imprints in Indonesian culture were evident (mainly in the realm of food, loanwords, and certain aspects of the legal system), they did not make much of an impact in the overall civilization. Like French Indochina but unlike British Malaya, Indonesia is one of those former European colonies where the colonial language did not become a widespread language among the colonized population. The Dutch rule was briefly interrupted in the early 19th century after the UsefulNotes/TheNapoleonicWars, when UsefulNotes/{{France}} swept in, sending Herman Willem Daendels to administer the colony. He built the first trans-Java road, a postal road that spans from Anyer in the west to Panarukan in the east, forming the basis of the modern ''Pantura'' road. Daendels' reign only lasted about three years, and after that, the British swept in. They sent in a British man called Sir Thomas Stamford Raffles who came to administrate Java, and surprisingly the British were a bit more lax in colonization. Because of this, Raffles was more looked upon by the natives and eventually in his honor, he would become the namesake of a huge corpse flower growing in Indonesia, ''Rafflesia arnoldi'' (the ''arnoldi'' part came from the naturalist who actually founded the flower, Joseph Arnold). He also wrote a book named ''The History of Java'', some of which looted from Mataram's courtly chronicles, and started cataloguing historical places of interest, such as Borobudur. However, Britain left the archipelago after a few years and the Netherlands were once again dominant in colonization, restarting the period of cruelty. The various sultanates did not take this kindly and they initiated a lot of rebellions for the freedom of the people. Even some noblewomen at that time had to give the middle finger to the StayInTheKitchen culture and became ActionGirl to oppose the Dutch. The Dutch loved their DivideAndConquer strategy, though, and were always able to crush these rebellions with them[[note]]they love it so much, ''divide et impera'' is always taught in Indonesian schools as the bane of early resistance to the colonisation[[/note]]. Later on, these kind of rebel leaders would be appointed as modern Indonesia's national heroes. (Curiously, most of them were Muslim. While there were some Christian/Catholic rebel leaders as the minority of the national heroes, these people were mostly cooperative with the Dutch since they share similar religion and way of thinking.)\\\

During the colonial era, Indonesia was known as a producer of spices such as nutmeg, which is endemic to the Maluku islands. Today, Indonesia is a developing country and an important emerging market. It is among the world's 20 largest economies, and thus a member of the G20. While its relevance as a transshipment port has waned with the rise of the Singaporean economy, it makes up for it with its sheer volume of exports, including coal, petroleum oil, natural gases, palm oil, nickel, while it imports machinery and chemicals. Domestic consumption of palm oil, rice (a staple; see the Cuisine folder), and locally-manufactured consumer goods is ravenous. Indonesia was a longtime member of the OPEC, but decreasing oil wealth led to it exiting the bloc in 2008, having failed to meet production quota. Indonesia is well-known for its palm oil production, being the industry's top producer. Unfortunately, clearances for palm plantations have resulted in the rapid depletion of the country's rainforests since the late 20th century. For most of its history, Indonesia's main trade partner is Japan, though by the TurnOfTheMillennium China has been quickly ascending to become a key trade partner; backlash against this by far has to do with perceived transgressions against Indonesian sovereignty. A large chunk of Indonesia's economy is still dominated by the state, who owns several important enterprises, including its oil industry.\\\

The Indonesian rupiah is infamous for its [[RidiculousExchangeRates steep official exchange rate]] (1 USD = 15,100 IDR as of July 2023). This was the result of the hyperinflation the country experienced during the 1997 Asian financial crisis, when the currency was floated and ended up depreciating ten times its previous value. Although it has recovered and become stable in recent years, the currency stays around the same range. Do note, however, that the rate is deceptive and no way an indication of living costs, which are generally on the same level as other middle income countries and have risen much more steadily; the rupiah today takes you over a fifth as far as it did pre-crisis, which is fairly reasonable. Nevertheless, the rupiah is frequently the butt of jokes among Asian media for this reason (only the UsefulNotes/{{Vietnam}}ese dong suffers more, since it has an even steeper rate than the rupiah). The last time it was under five digits against the dollar was when the United States faced an economic slump in 2013.

Public transportation in Indonesia is still a work in progress. Many people continue to find it more convenient to use private cars or motorcycles to go around, resulting in traffic jams being common sight during rush hours. During the New Order, aside from conventional buses operated by the state-owned DAMRI (''Djawatan Angkoetan Motor Repoeblik Indonesia'', "Motor Transport Enterprise of the Republic of Indonesia"), public transportation was dominated by share taxis called ''angkot'' (short for ''angkutan kota'', "city transport") or ''mikrolet''. They have a fixed route and charge a fixed fee, but in return you'll have to be patient as they stop to load and unload passengers whenever they feel like it. A few places offer autorickshaws that use the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daihatsu_Midget Daihatsu Midget]], which do not have a fixed route and can seat fewer passengers than ''angkot''. Jakarta's autorickshaws are called ''bajaj'', and they have become something of a cultural icon. Manual cycle rickshaws used to be very common until Jakarta banned them in 1970s, citing public order concerns, though they still can be seen in slums and smaller cities. There are also motorcycle taxis, ''ojek'', whose fee is customarily haggled between the driver and the customer before the trip begins, and which often do not bother to offer the passenger a helmet to wear, making them technically illegal. Despite its shady reputation, ''ojek'' are often preferred over Western-style taxicab service, because they are cheaper. Modern taxis entered Indonesia during the 1970s with the Blue Bird Group, and their relative priciness compared to the services mentioned above caused them to be stereotyped as something that only rich people use.\\\

Indonesia's railways are operated by the Indonesian Railways Company (''PT Kereta Api Indonesia''). They are inherited from networks built during the Dutch colonial period wholesale, and there have been no major expansions since the country gained independence. Rail transport exists only in Java and parts of Sumatra; there used to be railways in Borneo and Sulawesi, but both were shut down. Urban rail transit in Indonesia currently consists of two light rail transit networks in Palembang (built to coincide with the opening of the 2018 Asian Games) and Jakarta, one mass rapid transit/metro rail in Jakarta, four airport rail links, several commuter rail lines, and a high-speed rail line connecting Jakarta with Bandung. The high-speed rail, the first in Southeast Asia and the Southern Hemisphere, is named Whoosh (short for "Waktu Hemat, Operasi Optimal, Sistem Hebat", lit. ''Time Saving, Optimal Operation, Superior System''). It is based on China's high-speed trains, and is operated by a Chinese and Indonesian joint venture company, PT. KCIC (Kereta Cepat Indonesia China). It began operations in 2023.\\\

Being an archipelagic state, aviation is an important industry in Indonesia, with flights being the primary mode of transportation that connects the major islands. Between 2009 to 2014, air passengers grew threefold, and are expected to increase in the coming years. Indonesia's flag carrier and most popular full-service airline is Garuda Indonesia, while its most popular airline overall is the low-cost Lion Air. These two, alongside Garuda Indonesia's low-cost subsidiary Citilink, as well as Lion Air's three subsidiaries Batik Air (its foray to the full-service market), Wings Air (regional airline best known for its all-turboprop fleet), and Super Air Jet (a low-cost airline that targets young adults) form some 80% of Indonesia's market share, with the remaining 20% being in turn dominated by the hybrid airline Sriwijaya Air, its regional subsidiary NAM Air, and Indonesia [=AirAsia=] (which began as the fully domestic Awair; [=AirAsia=] purchased 49% shares of Awair in 2005 and rebranded it as its Indonesian branch). Garuda Indonesia, Citilink, Lion Air, Batik Air, Indonesia [=AirAsia=], and [=TransNusa=] (a former regional airline that was relaunched as a nationwide low-cost airline after the UsefulNotes/COVID19Pandemic) all have international routes, though compared to hubs like Singapore, Indonesia's offerings are rather lacking. Garuda Indonesia, currently flying only to nine countries today, used to service major European and North American destinations before the 1997 Asian financial crisis, which forced it to scale back operations, something that it never recovered from (currently, the only European destination it serves nonstop flights to is Amsterdam). Also, Indonesia has a rather notorious reputation in the world for its poor airline safety record, with no less than six plane crashes claiming at least 100 fatalities occurring between 2002 and 2018. The 2007 New Year's Day crash of Adam Air Flight 574, which resulted in the airline [[CreatorKiller ceasing its operation shortly afterwards]], followed by the relatively minor but still deadly crash of Garuda Indonesia Flight 200 later that year, caused the European Union to impose a blanket ban on Indonesian airlines from crossing into its airspace, although the major airlines successfully petitioned to have their individual bans removed, before the law was scrapped completely in 2018.\\\

The Javanese, at 95 million people, make up 42% of the total population. Their language is the most-spoken native language in the country, and is the world's single largest language with no official status. Their native homeland is the provinces of Central Java, East Java, and Yogyakarta, but, owing to their historical dominance (like the Majapahit Empire), they have spread far and wide throughout the archipelago, and their culture is felt across the nation. The Dutch settled hundreds of thousands of Javanese outside Java during the colonial period, a policy continued by the Indonesian government as part of the ''Transmigrasi'' program. All seven Indonesian presidents to date are ethnic Javanese (although three of them: Soekarno, his daughter Megawati, and B.J. Habibie, are only partially-Javanese[[note]]Soekarno had a Balinese mother; Megawati was fathered by Soekarno with a Minang woman from Bengkulu and grew up in Jakarta as the "First Daughter"; while B.J. Habibie was born to a Gorontalo father in South Sulawesi's Bugis-dominated Parepare and mostly identified himself as a Bugis[[/note]]). Among linguists, the Javanese language is considered an odd member of the Malayo-Polynesian family, as it is grammatically and phonetically very different from neighboring languages like Malay, Sundanese, and Balinese, to the point that some have considered it to form an independent branch within Malayo-Polynesian. Javanese has three separate registers that are used depending on situation and formality, and was formerly written in a Brahmic script, but thanks to Dutch colonization, it is now written in the Latin script. The Javanese language heavily impacted modern Balinese and Sundanese languages; both of these contain three registers that are influenced by Javanese (with their "high" register basically replacing their vocabulary with Javanese loanwords), and their traditional scripts are descended from the Javanese Kawi script. Despite the Javanese being majority Muslim, their language has absorbed fewer Arabic loanwords compared to Malay, and their loanwords instead mostly came from Sanskrit. Many Javanese people today still give their children Sanskrit names regardless of their religion.\\\

Living together with the Javanese in the Javan region are the Sundanese and the Madurese. The former are Indonesia's second largest ethnic group, and mostly live in West Java and Banten, though like the Javanese, many have migrated out of the island as part of ''Transmigrasi''. The Sundanese are ancient neighbors and [[ArchEnemy historical rivals]] of the Javanese; an old saying is that a marriage involving a Javanese and a Sundanese will always end in tragedy, which is rooted from the Bubat Incident during the Majapahit era (see the above folder). However, near the end of the 2010's, both sides have agreed to bury the hatchet. The Sundanese are the original inhabitants of the land that became Jakarta today, and many toponyms in Jakarta are clearly rooted in the Sundanese language. Meanwhile, the Madurese live in Madura, located off the coast of Surabaya in East Java connected by the Suramadu Bridge, Indonesia's longest. Historically, they were noted for their warlike culture, but are best known today for producing a ''lot'' of barbers who proudly advertise their business as ''Potong Rambut Madura'' (Madurese barbershop), and, less glowingly, for being the centerpiece of an ethnic conflict in Borneo during the early 2000s.\\\

Sumatra is home to a dozen ethnic groups, but the most numerous are the Malays, who are the third largest Indonesian ethnic group. They are dominant in Riau, South Sumatra, Jambi, and the Bangka Belitung Islands, and constitute significant minorities in North Sumatra and Borneo's West Kalimantan. Sumatra was the heart of the Srivijaya Empire, a humongous medieval Malay state that was something of a precedent to the later (Javanese) Singhasari and Majapahit. The standard register of Malay as used in Indonesia, Malaysia, Brunei, and Singapore is based on the dialect of Riau. There are many other Malay dialects, though, and the language was used as part of the extensive trading network during the early modern period, spawning myriad of language creoles, including Manado Malay, Ambonese Malay, and famously, Betawi (the language of Jakarta; it's often said that Jakarta has no native inhabitants because it's a city of immigrants, and appropriately, it's "native" language is a creole). If you include people who speak these creole languages as part of ethnic Malays, then the number of Malay Indonesians swell from 8.7 million to around 16 million. Still, these numbers are dwarfed by other ethnic groups like the Javanese and Sundanese, which is why Indonesians don't like it when their country is lumped as part of the "Malay nation"; while the Malay identity forms the nucleus of Malaysia and Brunei, in Indonesia, it is merely one of the many identities that exist within the country. Despite the Indonesian language being a standardized register of Malay, many Indonesians draw a sharp distinction between their national language and Malay, which is regarded as just a regional ethnic language in the same vein as Javanese and Sundanese.\\\

Aside from the Malays, Sumatra is also home to the Acehnese, the Bataks, the Minangkabau, the Rejang, and the Lampungese. The Acehnese were the first Indonesian ethnic group to convert to Islam, and today (in)famous for imposing Islamic laws in their everyday life. Interestingly, rather than their Sumatran neighbors, the Acehnese language has more in common with the moribund Chamic languages of UsefulNotes/{{Vietnam}} (formerly spoken in Champa, the only Austronesian state in Indochina, it was absorbed by the Vietnamese in the 19th century). The Bataks of North Sumatra are the largest Christian-majority ethnic group in Indonesia, and produce some of the country's best singers, orators, and, lawyers (those ministerial trainings definitely help). Their presence in the military even predates Indonesia, serving in the colonial army and bringing their expertise to the nascent Indonesian army. The Bataks are a tribal nation, and divide themselves into six major tribes, two of which are majority Muslim. Their religious divide is largely a result of the Padri War, initiated by the Bataks' southern neighbors, the Minangkabau, under the Wahhabi-influenced Padri movement led by independence fighter Tuanku Imam Bonjol. As for the Minang, they speak a language that is closely related to but not mutually intelligible with Malay (and may have been descended from an archaic form of Malay). They are a matriarchal, scholarly nation, and Minang men are traditionally expected to emigrate to seek higher learning and success elsewhere. One result of this is that Minangkabau cuisine is a common sight in cities, as these emigrants set up shop and opened restaurants known as ''Rumah Makan Padang''. A Minang delicacy, rendang, made headlines when a 2011 [[UsefulNotes/NewsNetworks CNN]] survey voted it the world's most delicious dish. Another result is that Minang people have made disproportionate gains in politics and entertainment relative to their size. A particularly famous Minang politician is one of the country's founding fathers, Vice-President Mohammad Hatta. During the 15th century, waves of Minang emigrants settled the Malay peninsula under the protection of the Malacca Sultanate, and their descendants formed Negeri Sembilan, a federal monarchy that elected rulers (''Yang di-Pertuan Besar'') on a periodical, rotational basis. Their form of government later inspired Tunku Abdul Rahman, the first Prime Minister of Malaysia, to institute Malaysia's current kingship system, which elects a supreme monarch (''Yang di-Pertuan Agong'') on a rotational basis.\\\

Meanwhile, Borneo is home to a related group of tribal people called the Dayaks. They live along the riverine and highly forested terrain of interior Borneo, and follow an animist religion, although some have converted to Christianity and Islam. The Dayaks are the first settlers of Borneo, but their position as the dominant people have been sidelined by ethnic groups that came later, such as the Malays, the Banjarese (another quasi-Malay ethnic group much like the Minang, they used to rule over a sultanate covering swathes of southern Borneo), the Chinese (they set up many {{company town}}s in West Kalimantan during the colonial period, called ''kongsi''), and, most recently, the Javanese. Central Kalimantan is the only province where the Dayaks constitute a plurality.\\\

Beginning with Sulawesi to the east, large monolithic ethnic groups give way to hundreds of smaller ones. Sulawesi alone has over 100 languages spoken, compared to Java's less than half a dozen, while half of Indonesia's 700 languages are concentrated in New Guinea, the most linguistically diverse area in the world. Among notable ethnic groups in Sulawesi include the Bugis and Makassarese (they are often conflated with each other, but their languages are mutually unintelligible), the Torajas, and the Minahasans. The Makassarese established Gowa, the most powerful precolonial state in Sulawesi, while the Bugis produced the only Indonesian president to be born and raised outside Java, B.J. Habibie (who was not actually an ethnic Bugis, though he was raised as one).\\\

Indonesia also has a large community of ethnic Chinese (known officially as ''Tionghoa Indonesia'', and colloquially as ''Cina Indonesia''[[note]]''Cina'' is the older name, but its association with the New Order's policy of assimilation towards ethnic Chinese, coupled with its frequent usage as part of racial slurs, have led the current government to discourage its use. This extends to other words that incorporate ''Cina''; the official Indonesian name for the People's Republic of China is ''Republik Rakyat Tiongkok'', not ''Republik Rakyat Cina''.[[/note]]), with estimates of their population ranging from 2.8 to up to 8 million people. They are stereotyped as being talented in business and good with money, which is, to an extent, TruthInTelevision; according to a 2022 survey, [[https://www.cnbcindonesia.com/market/20221217074006-17-397702/daftar-terbaru-10-orang-terkaya-di-indonesia-siapa-saja seven of the ten richest Indonesians came from the Chinese community]], including the first one (Robert Budi Hartono, co-owner of Indonesian cigarette conglomerate Djarum). Their ancestors mostly came from Fujian and Guangdong; according to a census conducted during the 1980s, Southern Min (e.g., Hokkien and Teochew) was the most widely spoken Chinese language in Indonesia, followed by Hakka and Cantonese. However, the majority of Chinese Indonesians in Java no longer speak Chinese, instead using either fluent Betawi, Javanese, or Sundanese (depending on where they live) in their daily lives. During the New Order period, Soeharto instituted a state-sponsored policy of discrimination against Chinese Indonesians, because he was deeply suspicious of their economic connections to Communist Mainland China. Chinese Indonesians were forbidden from speaking in their native tongues and also had to adopt one of the five official religions at the time, not including Confucianism (which wouldn't be recognized until 2000). Most ethnic Chinese in Java had been Confucian (or rather, folk religions that include Confucianism) at the time, and hundreds of thousands ended up converting to Christianity en masse. Although Chinese Indonesians in Java are predominantly Christian today, the majority outside Java have been Buddhists. Due to Soeharto's policy being targeted more towards people near the capital, non-Javanese Chinese Indonesians also tend to retain their mother languages, and to some respects they are culturally similar to Malaysian and Singaporean Chinese, who are largely Buddhist and Chinese-speaking. In addition, Chinese Indonesians outside Java are much more likely to use their Chinese names openly, whereas those inside Java have largely Indonesianized their names. The discriminatory policy was repealed after the fall of Soeharto's regime, but the legacy still lingers. While Christians in general are overrepresented in the military and police force due to Dutch preferential recruitment, there are barely any Chinese Indonesians due to Soeharto-era prohibition. The prohibition extended to all government employee positions, as well, which drove them to the business world that made them economically affluent in the first place.\\\

Like Malaysia and UsefulNotes/{{Myanmar}} but unlike elsewhere in Southeast Asia, surname is a custom that has not caught on in Indonesia. It is also not unheard of for a person to [[OnlyOneName have just one name]] (e.g., Soekarno, Soeharto), though this is becoming less common these days, and is officially discouraged (but not banned) by the government.[[note]]Reasons for the discouragement include difficulty in disambiguation, as well as potential problems it may cause when that person travels overseas.[[/note]] A typical Indonesian will have either two or three names, all being given ones. A major exception to this rule is the Bataks, who use surnames (called ''marga'' in the Batak language) in much the same way as Koreans do.[[note]]It is forbidden for people with the same surname to marry. Also, surnames are kept from birth to death, so there's no such thing as a maiden name, although children usually inherit their father's surname.[[/note]] Aside from Bataks, surnames can be found in parts of Eastern Indonesia, as well as among foreigners and their descendants, such as the Chinese and Europeans.

As a postscript, Dutch has all but died out and this is not considered an official language, nor in its Indonesian form[[note]]linguists in TheThirties and TheForties had observed signs that the form of language spoken here was diverging from the parent tongue, and speculated that given another fifty years or so, it might mutate into something like [[UsefulNotes/SouthAfrica Afrikaans]]. Speaking of Afrikaans, contact between Dutch colonies in the East Indies and the African Cape brought the word ''baie'' to Afrikaans, meaning "much" or "very".[[/note]] as a threatened minority language worthy of preservation. Only a vanishingly small minority of older people, who learned it during the colonial period, would still use or understand it. That said, the spelling of the Indonesian language is still influenced by Dutch, and it used to be even more Dutch-like prior to reforms in 1947 and 1972.[[note]]If you're wondering whether the correct way to refer to the first president is "Soekarno" or "Sukarno", that's because "u" was written as "oe" before 1947, following Dutch rules. A later reform in 1972 made obsolete the usage of "j", "tj", and "dj" to write "y", "c", and "j", respectively.[[/note]]

Islam, as the dominant religion, is practiced all along the archipelago. It is the majority religion in all provinces except for Bali, North Sulawesi, East Nusa Tenggara, and the six Papuan provinces. Explaining Islam in Indonesia can take up pages upon pages showing how different it is to the "orthodox" Islam practiced elsewhere. General consensus is that it is very, very ''lax'' compared to those practiced in the Middle East and South Asia, because the religion was spread in Indonesia through Indian merchants, who mostly practiced Sufism. This made the religion open to acculturation with other religions, such as Hinduism and Buddhism; it's often said that had the Arab merchants were the ones who preached Islam in Indonesia, it wouldn't be accepted that easily. That said, Muslim Indonesians generally follow basic Islamic teachings like praying and not eating pork, drinking alcohol, or having sex outside marriage. Hijab is observed by an increasing number of women, when it was rather rare during the New Order period (mostly because Soeharto restricted hijab-wearing women from working in government, so it came to be seen as a symbol of defiance against his authority). In the mid 2000s, there's a surge of cultural movement called 'Hijrah', where people choose to become more religious in Islam and has sudden drastic changes in the lifestyle, such as dressing more modestly, and studying and preaching Islam harder. There's always a TokenReligiousTeammate in a group of people. The phenomenon has also led to many media to highlight this, such as ''Ayat-Ayat Cinta'' and ''Ketika Cinta Bertasbih''. Music is an even hotter asset, where every year in Ramadan, artists release a "religious song", even when the artists have controversial reputations, with the modest fashion and all. Commerce is no exception, the rise of halal demand made many products want the halal label slapped to them, even for non-edible foods such as clothes and even halal fridge (no, [[https://www.vice.com/en/article/bjpwwm/indonesia-just-got-its-first-halal-fridge-heres-a-list-of-everything-else-that-needs-a-stamp really]]), theres also [[https://evermos.com/ Halal e-commerce]] specifically to cater them.\\\

Christianity is the largest minority religion in Indonesia, and is dominant in North Sulawesi, East Nusa Tenggara, and Papua. Many provinces like North Sumatra (which actually has the largest Christian population in the country at 4.9 million people), Maluku, and West Kalimantan also have substantial Christian populations. Christianity was brought into Indonesia by the Europeans, and the faith was accepted by natives who formerly practiced tribal religions. Since the Protestant Dutch were the colonial power, Protestantism is considered the "default" Christian branch. When you hear Indonesians say about "Kristen", they're referring to Protestants (Catholics, by contrast, are referred to as "Katolik"). Interestingly, Indonesian Christians will sometimes call their God "Allah", similar to some Arab Christians. The tradition of Indonesian Christians calling God "Allah" is rooted in historical Malay translations of the Bible, which tend to utilize Arabic to translate phrases that were seen as being close enough to Muslim concepts (as Malays are traditionally Muslims, and Christian Malays are mostly descended from ex-Muslims). Indonesia actually has a couple of different ways to call God; other than "Allah", they have the Austronesian-rooted "Tuhan" (basically the native synonym of the monotheistic God), as well as "Dewa/Dewi", a term that may refer to the universal God but mostly used to refer to polytheistic gods or spirits (the term is derived from the Sanskrit word ''deva/devi''). Aside from Allah, Christians also use Arabic phrases like "Alkitab" (the Bible), "Injil" (the Gospel) and "khutbah" (sermons). Usage of "Alkitab" and "Injil" outside their original context can be confusing for those not knowing that Christianity and Islam use them to refer to very different sets of books. As the most prominent non-Muslims, Christians and Muslims are usually the opposing parties in modern interreligious violence and disputes such as in Maluku and Kalimantan, though for the most part, the two get along, especially in the most cosmopolitan areas.\\\

Hinduism is Indonesia's oldest foreign religion, and today chiefly practiced by the Balinese. Although the Balinese are nominally Hindu, their faith is best described as a syncretic religion that mixes Indian Hinduism with Balinese folk beliefs. Hindus traditionally believe in the existence of many gods who are aspects of the same essence, something that does not mix well with Indonesia's constitution, as it includes belief in one God as part of its principles. Hinduism also derives its diversity from having little in the way of common doctrine amongst its adherents beyond a belief in dharma, which doesn't sit well with a government overwhelmingly dominated by adherents of Abrahamic faiths with clear corpi of religious texts as such is hard to regulate. As a compromise with Indonesia's founding fathers, Balinese Hindus agreed to be recognized as citizens in exchange for "Acintya" (the Incomprehensible), also known as "Sang Hyang Widhi Wasa" (the Divine Order), being upgraded from merely an already novel blend of the Indian Hindu Brahman (universal principle) with the Javanese-Balinese monolatric entity "Hyang" to being the sole God, of which all other deities are merely a manifestation. Other than the Balinese, ''Orang Hindu'' is used as a catch-all term for people who adopt folk religions that do not fit the more rigid concepts of Islam, Christianity, and Buddhism. These include the Tenggerese (a remnant of Hindu Javanese who hold onto their beliefs after Majapahit was destroyed), the Baduy (the Sundanese equivalent of the Tenggerese, though they are more well-known for being [[HiddenElfVillage isolationists who reject modern conveniences]], akin to the Amish), and the Dayaks.\\\

Buddhism, alongside Hinduism, is one of Indonesia's first foreign religions. Buddhism was the religion of the Malay archipelago's first superpower, Srivijaya, and many Buddhist terms survive in local languages long after the religion itself declined (e.g., ''[[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saṃsāra sengsara]]'', ''[[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Duḥkha duka]]'', ''[[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Āgama_(Buddhism) agama]]'', ''[[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Upaya upaya]]''). Unlike Hinduism, Buddhism went extinct when Indonesia became Muslim, and would not be reintroduced to the country until the colonial period, with the arrival of Chinese immigrants. The consequence of this is that, despite the role it played in Indonesia's past, it is seen as a "foreign" religion, in the same vein as Confucianism; this is much like how Christianity was viewed in China after the Church of the East lost its relevance and Jesuit missionaries reintroduced it. Buddhism thus winds up sharing a role with Confucianism as a catch-all for all religions chiefly practiced by the Chinese, like Taoism or simply Chinese folk traditions. As with Hindus, Indonesian Buddhists experienced the same problem while trying to fit their theology to Indonesia's constitution, only this time, rather than believing in too many gods, Buddhists believe in too few; Buddhists are, religiously speaking, atheists, as they either do not believe in a supreme God, or indeed any god, responsible for the creation of the universe or simply find the concept of "gods" irrelevant; the faith instead emphasizes on the achievement of human self-awakening and enlightenment. Buddhists made a similar compromise to get themselves recognized as citizens by including belief in "Sang Hyang Adi Buddha", the seed of Buddhahood that exists in every living being.\\\

Television reached Indonesia in the 1960s; the oldest established television network in Indonesia, the state-owned TVRI (''Televisi Rakyat Indonesia''), began broadcasting in 1962, in conjunction with the 1962 Asian Games held in Jakarta. For most of the New Order era, TVRI was the country's only television network, and was used to air propaganda related to the regime. In 1987, however, Soeharto's government approved a five-year plan to allow commercial television networks and programming. The country's second, and first privately-owned, television network, RCTI (''Rajawali Citra Televisi Indonesia''), started airing in 1989, followed by SCTV (''Surya Citra Televisi'') in 1990, MNCTV (''Media Nusantara Citra Televisi'') in 1991, and ANTV (''Andalas TV'') in 1993. Since TVRI was still sponsored by the government, these networks initially had to operate under a set of rules restricting their broadcast coverage,[[note]]SCTV originally stood for ''Surabaya Central Televisi'', because it was initially broadcast solely in the Surabaya metropolitan region, and it's only when it began airing nationally that it acquired its present name. RCTI, too, was originally only available in the Jakarta metropolitan region, and was premium TV (you need to pay if you want to watch) until people started clamoring for it to become free. "Andalas", meanwhile, is an old name for Sumatra, signifying ANTV's origins as a local Sumatran TV network. MNCTV, previously TPI (''Televisi Pendidikan Indonesia'', "Indonesian Educational Television"), was allowed to air nationally from the very beginning, because its educational programming was deemed non-threatening to TVRI's dominance, though it eventually experienced a NetworkDecay that led to its renaming.[[/note]] and were forbidden from airing news, which was deemed TVRI's right. With the advent of Reformation, these restrictions were clipped away, and more and more television networks have popped up, while TVRI's popularity has faded away, now being regarded as a niche channel providing highbrow and educational shows. Aside from RCTI, SCTV, MNCTV, and ANTV, the entertainment television scene is now dominated by Indosiar, GTV (''Global Televisi''), Trans TV, and Trans 7, while the news broadcasting scene is dominated by [=tvOne=] and Metro TV.\\\

Aside from tempe and tahu, traditional snacks popular in Indonesia include fried banana (Indonesians don't really differentiate between bananas and plantains, so anything goes), bakwan (basically a fried lump of dough mixed with sliced cabbage, spring onions, carrot, and sometimes shrimp), keripik (chips of all sorts, including those made of fruits like apples, bananas, and jackfruits), martabak (which comes in two totally-different varieties: savory ''martabak telur'', a direct derivative of the Arabian ''mutabbaq'' that is basically an omelette inside folded thin dough, and sweet ''[[IHaveManyNames martabak manis, aka terang bulan, kue bandung, hok lo pan or apam balik]]'', depending on location, which is made from two layers of fried dough with the sweet topping of your choice in-between[[note]]While savory martabak is considered a part of Arab Indonesian cuisine, sweet martabak is Chinese Indonesian; it has its origins in Southern Min cuisine, and was said to have been invented by a Qing military leader in the 19th century. In Malaysia and Singapore, the latter is called ''apam balik'' ("turnover pancake") or simply ''terang bulan'' ("moonlight", because its shape resembles the full moon), and is not considered a kind of martabak[[/note]]), and pempek (fried fish cakes in a dough, served with a mix of salty soy sauce and vinegars that can also give a hot taste, plus cucumbers and a small portion of noodles, it originates from the Chinese community of Palembang; legends have it that the cook who brought it from China was called "Pek-Apek", slang for 'old man' in Indonesian Chinese, which then evolved into "Empek-empek" and then shortened to "Pempek").\\\

Western fast food joints like KFC, UsefulNotes/McDonalds, Burger King, Wendy's, and A&W are quite popular. Interestingly, Western fast food joints in Indonesia are guaranteed to sell a fried chicken-and-rice combo, despite how uncommon said combination is in [[UsefulNotes/UnitedStates their home country]]. [=McDonald's=] is actually more well-known among Indonesians for selling fried chickens, and it's almost a ComingOfAgeStory for Indonesians who travel overseas only to learn, to their shock, that the Golden Arches' real specialty is hamburgers. Jokes have it that KFC, whose specialty actually ''is'' fried chicken, is a candidate for the country's seventh religion, and there are countless [[ShoddyKnockoffProduct knockoffs]] that sell similar-tasted, and in some cases even [[BlandNameProduct similar-named]], fried chickens with much more affordable prices. The most popular of these "KFC alternatives" is [[https://www.cfcindonesia.com/home California Fried Chicken]] (CFC), which, oddly enough, began its life as a franchisee of a Western fast food joint, specifically, [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pioneer_Chicken Pioneer Chicken]] (its founders were Indonesians who fell in love with the joint while studying abroad in California, and wanted to bring it back home). CFC cut its ties with Pioneer Chicken in 1989, however, and evolved into something of an Indonesian [[UsefulNotes/{{Philippines}} Jollibee]], successfully opening hundreds of stores on its own. It is noted that burgers are generally more expensive than chickens, thus limiting their appeal to the lower-middle class that Indonesians mostly belong to, while many western restaurants add rice to their menu because it's a surefire way to have customers, since the majority of Indonesians have rice as a staple of their diet. Burger King, however, had a story where they just simply vanished from Indonesian stores (sometime before the Trisakti Incident, although the incident had nothing to do with the vanishing), only for it to reopen years later and has since reclaimed its place as one of Indonesia's most popular fast food joints.\\\

In regions with religious minorities, large schools either arrange all minority students in one class to simplify the schedule or have the entire year attend their religious class outside the regular hour (they effectively have a free period during the normal religious class). The first option means some of the local majority might grow up utterly unfamiliar with other religions since they never even share the same classes, and the second option means those from different religious branches still have a chance to familiarize themselves with the others' peculiarities. The difference can be notable when politician or celebrities demonstrate their knowledge (or lack of) about minority religions or non-mainstream branches and how the population responds.\\\

[[SchoolUniformsAreTheNewBlack School uniforms are the norm]] in Indonesia, with public schools requiring students to wear at least two different uniforms each week, and if their budget allows, one additional school-specific uniform. The standard uniform for elementary to senior high consists of a white shirt and either red, dark blue, or grey pants/skirt for elementary, junior high, and senior/vocational high schools, respectively. On two specific days of the week (never Monday, as it's considered the ceremonial flag-raising day and thus the standard school uniform is required to be worn), students wear the predominantly brown-colored Scouting uniform to honor the country's strong Scouting culture (Indonesia has the world's largest Scout membership). The school-specific uniform is usually a custom batik-inspired uniform, which ''really'' comes in handy when students from different schools mass together in big events like sporting matches or academic competitions.

Indonesia's major religion is Islam -- it is in fact the world's largest Muslim-majority country, and has the world's second-largest Muslim population.[[note]]For decades, it was the country with the highest number of Muslims. However, as of 2024, UsefulNotes/{{Pakistan}} officially has more Muslims despite having less population overall compared to Indonesia.[[/note]] However, it is not the sole religion: Christianity, Buddhism and Hinduism are significant minorities in the country. Interestingly enough, Indonesian Islam (outside Aceh, which prides itself on being the "veranda of Mecca" as the westernmost province and therefore the closest part of Indonesia to Arabia) is almost a religion unto itself -- while Indonesian Muslims make the Hajj and pray facing Mecca, they also often combine their faith with indigenous traditions. The ''Literature/{{Ramayana}}'' is performed by Muslim ''wayang'' puppeteers, women and men pray in the same room (though not the same row), and a vast number of Indonesians believe in ghosts and spirits from their ethnic folklore. Indonesia's penchant for cultural and religious syncretism is such that rather than being called fundamentalists or reactionaries, Indonesian Muslim clerics advocating for a return to orthodox Islam are known as "modernists", because putting its own, synthetic spin on things is just ''that'' integral to Indonesian identity.

Despite Srivijaya being one of the biggest empires in the archipelago of the date, and many ancient people knowing its influence, it sadly didn't have the time to invest in cultural preservation, which was why it wasn't considered the golden age of the ancient Indonesian history. That fell to Singhasari-Majapahit, which actually went out to preserve their arts and culture (especially under Majapahit's Hayam Wuruk) to make sure that they live on in the minds of the future generations. Very little of the remains of the Srivijaya got into the future, especially when its island (Sumatra) eventually became where Islam started expanding its influence.

Indonesia's major religion is Islam -- it is in fact the largest Muslim-majority country in the world. However, it is not the sole religion: Christianity, Buddhism and Hinduism are significant minorities in the country. Interestingly enough, Indonesian Islam (outside Aceh, which prides itself on being the "veranda of Mecca" as the westernmost province and therefore the closest part of Indonesia to Arabia) is almost a religion unto itself -- while Indonesian Muslims make the Hajj and pray facing Mecca, they also often combine their faith with indigenous traditions. The ''Literature/{{Ramayana}}'' is performed by Muslim ''wayang'' puppeteers, women and men pray in the same room (though not the same row), and a vast number of Indonesians believe in ghosts and spirits from their ethnic folklore. Indonesia's penchant for cultural and religious syncretism is such that rather than being called fundamentalists or reactionaries, Indonesian Muslim clerics advocating for a return to orthodox Islam are known as "modernists", because putting its own, synthetic spin on things is just ''that'' integral to Indonesian identity.

* '''Area:''' 1,904,569 km
(735,358 sq mi) (14th)

But this belies its history and geographical significance. Ever heard of Bali? It's one of Indonesia's many islands, and probably the only ''fairly'' popular one. You've also heard of the Komodo dragons and orangutans, both of which live in Indonesia. History buffs know about the Spice Islands, the source of cloves and other spices for which 16th-century explorers set sail -- today they are known as the Maluku Islands. Krakatoa, the great volcano that erupted in 1883 and (theoretically) caused a near-extinction event long before that? In Indonesia. Java, source of the English slang for coffee (and [[UsefulNotes/{{Java}} a programming language]])? An island in Indonesia. Indonesia's obscurity in most of the West is partly because, until after UsefulNotes/WorldWarII, the area was known as the East Indies (to be precise, Indonesia was the Dutch East Indies, UsefulNotes/{{Malaysia}} the [[UsefulNotes/{{Britain}} British]] East Indies, the UsefulNotes/{{Philippines}} the [[UsefulNotes/{{Spain}} Spanish]] East Indies, etc.). So "Indonesia" basically seemed to appear out of nowhere.[[note]]Of course, it actually didn't. In 1850, English ethnologist George Windsor Earl proposed, in his scientific paper "On The Leading Characteristics of the Papuan, Australian and Malay-Polynesian Nations", the terms ''Indunesians'' and ''Malayunesians'' to name the "inhabitants of the 'Indian [as in, East Indies] Archipelago or Malayan Archipelago'" while co-author and Earl's student James Richardson Logan used ''Indonesia'' as a synonym for "Indian Archipelago". The names became popular for the region after 1900, especially in academic circles, however not to the Dutch, who used their own names. Indonesian nationalists found a way to bash the Dutch and adopted this name for their nation as a way of affirming themselves politically.[[/note]]

It was mostly believed that the Dutch held grip of Indonesia for 342 years. However, newer history discoveries stated that this was not the case. The Dutch actually spent about 317 years to fight off the defending Indonesian kingdoms, since the archipelago was big enough that they couldn't finish the process when [[BoringButPractical the most effective tool they had]] was their DivideAndConquer strategy. After those years, the pacification and colonization the whole archipelago was finally completed and the Dutch only managed to govern 'Indonesia' for good for about 25 years (in those times, the name 'Indonesia' hasn't even been thought of, as far as the archipelago dwellers knew, it's just their own kingdoms, and as far as the rest of the world knew, it's 'Dutch East Indies').\\\

* One episode of ''Manga/{{Jormungand}}'' takes place in Indonesian capital city of Jakarta as part of the SR Squad arc. [[spoiler: At the end of series, it revealed that the entire country had been plunged into massive unrests, including riots in Jakarta targeting Chinese ethnicities that eerily familiar to the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/May_1998_riots_of_Indonesia 1998 May riots]], that led to addition of one new Province, [[BalkanizeMe but the secession of three others]]]].

* One episode of ''Manga/{{Jormungand}}'' takes place in Jakarta as part of the SR Squad arc.

Western fast food joints like KFC, UsefulNotes/McDonalds, Burger King, Wendy's, and A&W are quite popular. Interestingly, Western fast food joints in Indonesia are guaranteed to sell a fried chicken-and-rice combo, no matter how uncommon said combination is in [[UsefulNotes/UnitedStates their home country]]. [=McDonald's=] is actually more well-known among Indonesians for selling fried chickens, and it's almost a ComingOfAgeStory for Indonesians who travel overseas only to learn, to their shock, that the Golden Arches' real specialty is hamburgers. Jokes have it that KFC, whose specialty actually ''is'' fried chicken, is a candidate for the country's seventh religion, and there are countless [[ShoddyKnockoffProduct knockoffs]] that sell similar-tasted, and in some cases even [[BlandNameProduct similar-named]], fried chickens with much more affordable prices. The most popular of these "KFC alternatives" is [[https://www.cfcindonesia.com/home California Fried Chicken]] (CFC), which, oddly enough, began its life as a franchisee of a Western fast food joint, specifically, [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pioneer_Chicken Pioneer Chicken]] (its founders were Indonesians who fell in love with the joint while studying abroad in California, and wanted to bring it back home). CFC cut its ties with Pioneer Chicken in 1989, however, and evolved into something of an Indonesian [[UsefulNotes/{{Philippines}} Jollibee]], successfully opening hundreds of stores on its own. It is noted that burgers are generally more expensive than chickens, thus limiting their appeal to the lower-middle class that Indonesians mostly belong to, while many western restaurants add rice to their menu because it's a surefire way to have customers, since the majority of Indonesians have rice as a staple of their diet. Burger King, however, had a story where they just simply vanished from Indonesian stores (sometime before the Trisakti Incident, although the incident had nothing to do with the vanishing), only for it to reopen years later and has since reclaimed its place as one of Indonesia's most popular fast food joints.\\\

Western fast food joints like KFC, UsefulNotes/McDonalds, Burger King, Wendy's, and A&W are quite popular. Interestingly, Western fast food joints in Indonesia are guaranteed to sell a fried chicken-and-rice combo, no matter how nonsensical the idea sounds in their original country. [=McDonald's=] is actually more well-known among Indonesians for selling fried chickens, and it's almost a ComingOfAgeStory for Indonesians who travel overseas only to learn, to their shock, that the Golden Arches' real specialty is hamburgers. Jokes have it that KFC, whose specialty actually ''is'' fried chicken, is a candidate for the country's seventh religion, and there are countless [[ShoddyKnockoffProduct knockoffs]] that sell similar-tasted, and in some cases even [[BlandNameProduct similar-named]], fried chickens with much more affordable prices. The most popular of these "KFC alternatives" is [[https://www.cfcindonesia.com/home California Fried Chicken]] (CFC), which, oddly enough, began its life as a franchisee of a Western fast food joint, specifically, [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pioneer_Chicken Pioneer Chicken]] (its founders were Indonesians who fell in love with the joint while studying abroad in California, and wanted to bring it back home). CFC cut its ties with Pioneer Chicken in 1989, however, and evolved into something of an Indonesian [[UsefulNotes/{{Philippines}} Jollibee]], successfully opening hundreds of stores on its own. It is noted that burgers are generally more expensive than chickens, thus limiting their appeal to the lower-middle class that Indonesians mostly belong to, while many western restaurants add rice to their menu because it's a surefire way to have customers, since the majority of Indonesians have rice as a staple of their diet. Burger King, however, had a story where they just simply vanished from Indonesian stores (sometime before the Trisakti Incident, although the incident had nothing to do with the vanishing), only for it to reopen years later and has since reclaimed its place as one of Indonesia's most popular fast food joints.\\\

Aside from tempe and tahu, traditional snacks popular in Indonesia include fried banana (Indonesians don't really differentiate between bananas and plantains, so anything goes), bakwan (basically a fried lump of dough mixed with sliced cabbage, spring onions, carrot, and sometimes shrimp), keripik (chips of all sorts, including those made of fruits like apples, bananas, and jackfruits), martabak (which comes in two totally-different varieties: savory ''martabak telur'', a direct derivative of the Arabian ''mutabbaq'' that is basically an omelette inside folded thin dough, and sweet ''[[IHaveManyNames martabak manis / terang bulan / kue bandung / hok lo pan / apam balik]]'', made from two layers of fried dough with the sweet topping of your choice in-between[[note]]While savory martabak is considered a part of Arab Indonesian cuisine, sweet martabak is Chinese Indonesian; it has its origins in Southern Min cuisine, and was said to have been invented by a Qing military leader in the 19th century. In Malaysia and Singapore, the latter is called ''apam balik'' ("turnover pancake") or simply ''terang bulan'' ("moonlight", because its shape resembles the full moon), and is not considered a kind of martabak[[/note]]), and pempek (fried fish cakes in a dough, served with a mix of salty soy sauce and vinegars that can also give a hot taste, plus cucumbers and a small portion of noodles, it originates from the Chinese community of Palembang; legends have it that the cook who brought it from China was called "Pek-Apek", slang for 'old man' in Indonesian Chinese, which then evolved into "Empek-empek" and then shortened to "Pempek").\\\

Aside from tempe and tahu, traditional snacks popular in Indonesia include fried banana (Indonesians don't really differentiate between bananas and plantains, so anything goes), bakwan (basically a fried lump of dough mixed with sliced cabbage, spring onions, carrot, and sometimes shrimp), keripik (chips of all sorts, including those made of fruits like apples, bananas, and jackfruits), martabak (which comes in two totally-different varieties: savory ''martabak telur'', a direct derivative of the Arabian ''mutabbaq'' that is basically an omelette inside folded thin dough, and sweet [[IHaveManyNames ''martabak manis / terang bulan / kue bandung / hok lo pan / apam balik'']], made from two layers of fried dough with the sweet topping of your choice in-between[[note]]While savory martabak is considered a part of Arab Indonesian cuisine, sweet martabak is Chinese Indonesian; it has its origins in Southern Min cuisine, and was said to have been invented by a Qing military leader in the 19th century. In Malaysia and Singapore, the latter is called ''apam balik'' ("turnover pancake") or simply ''terang bulan'' ("moonlight", because its shape resembles the full moon), and is not considered a kind of martabak[[/note]]), and pempek (fried fish cakes in a dough, served with a mix of salty soy sauce and vinegars that can also give a hot taste, plus cucumbers and a small portion of noodles, it originates from the Chinese community of Palembang; legends have it that the cook who brought it from China was called "Pek-Apek", slang for 'old man' in Indonesian Chinese, which then evolved into "Empek-empek" and then shortened to "Pempek").\\\

Aside from tempe and tahu, traditional snacks popular in Indonesia include fried banana (Indonesians don't really differentiate between bananas and plantains, so anything goes), bakwan (basically a fried lump of dough mixed with sliced cabbage, spring onions, carrot, and sometimes shrimp), keripik (chips of all sorts, including those made of fruits like apples, bananas, and jackfruits), martabak (which comes in two totally-different varieties: savory ''martabak telur'', a direct derivative of the Arabian ''mutabbaq'' that is basically an omelette inside folded thin dough, and sweet ''martabak terang bulan'', made from two layers of fried dough with the sweet topping of your choice in-between[[note]]While savory martabak is considered a part of Arab Indonesian cuisine, sweet martabak is Chinese Indonesian; it has its origins in Southern Min cuisine, and was said to have been invented by a Qing military leader in the 19th century. In Malaysia and Singapore, the latter is called ''apam balik'' ("turnover pancake") or simply ''terang bulan'' ("moonlight", because its shape resembles the full moon), and is not considered a kind of martabak[[/note]]), and pempek (fried fish cakes in a dough, served with a mix of salty soy sauce and vinegars that can also give a hot taste, plus cucumbers and a small portion of noodles, it originates from the Chinese community of Palembang; legends have it that the cook who brought it from China was called "Pek-Apek", slang for 'old man' in Indonesian Chinese, which then evolved into "Empek-empek" and then shortened to "Pempek").\\\

Two unique Indonesian foods made from soy are tempe, tahu (tofu). Tempe is made by boiling soy several times over, seeding it with a particular kind of mold [[note]]of the genus ''Rhizopus''[[/note]] (which is SeriousBusiness on its own since if you used the wrong fungi, you can end up ''fatally poisoning people'', though thankfully, fatal cases are more or less a thing of the past), and fermenting it. It's often used as a substitute for meat in poorer areas, but as of late it has also attracted foreign following given it's supposedly rich protein content. Tempe is also well known for being soft by nature, which led to a particular Indonesian derogatory phrase known as 'Mental Tempe', AKA having the mentality as soft as a tempe's, in other words, referring someone as being [[DirtyCoward a gutless coward.]] While thicker slices of tempe are usually served with rice, thinly-sliced tempe are fried and served as snacks, and come in two distinct varieties: typical 'dried' tempe, and mendoan, which is softer-textured and not cooked as long as the 'dried' version. Meanwhile, tahu is usually firmer than Chinese or Japanese tofu, and served by frying. Like tempe, it comes in two distinct varieties: filled and/or coated with dough, or plain, often called Sumedang-style fried tofu.\\\

Three unique Indonesian foods made from soy are tempe, tahu (tofu). Tempe is made by boiling soy several times over, seeding it with a particular kind of mold [[note]]of the genus ''Rhizopus''[[/note]] (which is SeriousBusiness on its own since if you used the wrong fungi, you can end up ''fatally poisoning people'', though thankfully, fatal cases are more or less a thing of the past), and fermenting it. It's often used as a substitute for meat in poorer areas, but as of late it has also attracted foreign following given it's supposedly rich protein content. Tempe is also well known for being soft by nature, which led to a particular Indonesian derogatory phrase known as 'Mental Tempe', AKA having the mentality as soft as a tempe's, in other words, referring someone as being [[DirtyCoward a gutless coward.]] While thicker slices of tempe are usually served with rice, thinly-sliced tempe are fried and served as snacks, and come in two distinct varieties: typical 'dried' tempe, and mendoan, which is softer-textured and not cooked as long as the 'dried' version. Meanwhile, tahu is usually firmer than Chinese or Japanese tofu, and served by frying. Like tempe, it comes in two distinct varieties: filled and/or coated with dough, or plain, often called Sumedang-style fried tofu.\\\

Bahasa Indonesia (lit. ''Indonesian language'', which means calling it ''Indonesian'' is more accurate than ''Bahasa'') is a standardized version of Malay language used as the [[CommonTongue lingua franca]] of the country, influenced by other languages due to historical ties. Indonesian have a lot of loanwords standardized into the standard dialect (''bahasa baku'') from the former colonizers of the islands (Dutch, Portuguese, English) and trade partners and religious sources (Hindi, Chinese, Arabic). It can be said that Indonesian is mostly Dutch-influenced Malay, while Malay used in the neighboring Malaysia, Singapore, and UsefulNotes/{{Brunei}} is mostly English-influenced. Some of Indonesian also made their way as loanwords in English, like ''paddy''[[note]]padi = rice[[/note]], ''gong''[[note]]the big brass percussion[[/note]],''orangutan''[[note]]the great ape; more accurately pronounced as "oh-raang-OO-tan" instead of the uh-RANG-oo-tan more familitar to Westerners[[/note]], as well as ''amok''[[note]]from the word ''amuk'' (= to rage)[[/note]].\\\

Two unique Indonesian foods made from soy are tempe and tahu (tofu). Tempe is made by boiling soy several times over, seeding it with a particular kind of yeast (which is SeriousBusiness on its own since if you used the wrong fungi, you can end up ''fatally poisoning people'', though thankfully, fatal cases are more or less a thing of the past), and fermenting it. It's often used as a substitute for meat in poorer areas, but as of late it has also attracted foreign following given it's supposedly rich protein content. Tempe is also well known for being soft by nature, which led to a particular Indonesian derogatory phrase known as 'Mental Tempe', AKA having the mentality as soft as a tempe's, in other words, referring someone as being [[DirtyCoward a gutless coward.]] While thicker slices of tempe are usually served with rice, thinly-sliced tempe are fried and served as snacks, and come in two distinct varieties: typical 'dried' tempe, and mendoan, which is softer-textured and not cooked as long as the 'dried' version. Meanwhile, tahu is usually firmer than Chinese or Japanese tofu, and served by frying. Like tempe, it comes in two distinct varieties: filled and/or coated with dough, or plain, often called Sumedang-style fried tofu.\\\

A part of the Pacific Ring of Fire, Indonesia has hundreds of volcanoes, many of which are extremely active and make headlines when they spectacularly erupt. A few volcanoes are noted internationally for their historical eruptions, like Krakatoa (whose 1883 eruption produced the loudest noise ''ever'', and might have inspired Creator/EdvardMunch to paint ''Art/TheScream''), Tambora (whose 1815 eruption was the cause for the European Year Without Summer), and Toba (root cause of the so-called Toba catastrophe theory, which posited that [[TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt an apocalyptic eruption]] of the volcano caused a population bottleneck that reduced humanity to a few thousand people). Volcanoes are both a curse and a blessing; while millions of people live at the mercy of volcanoes, they are also what make the soil fertile in the first place. Indonesia is also infamous for its earthquakes, due to its location at the borders of the Australian, Indian, and Sunda Plates. There is at least one major earthquake each year, and some very large ones cause a tsunami on top of that. Earthquakes were the culprit for Indonesia's deadliest modern-day disasters, like the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami that killed over 160,000 people, and the 2006 Yogyakarta earthquake that killed over 5,000.\\\

* '''Capital and largest city:''' Jakarta
** Nusantara officially becomes the new capital on August 17, 2024. Jakarta will remain the largest city.

* '''Area:''' 1,904,569 km
(735,358 sq mi) (14th)

* ''VideoGame/SplinterCellPandoraTomorrow'''s plot focuses on a fictional conflict between Indonesia and [[UsefulNotes/TimorLeste East Timor]], roughly conflating [[RippedFromTheHeadlines the latter's vote for independence in 1999]] (something that B.J. Habibie supported and helped bring about, but was subject to violent pushback in the form of harassment and intimidation campaigns from pro-integration militant groups and nationalistic elements within the Indonesian military) with aspects of [[UsefulNotes/TheWarOnTerror America's then-recent military intervention in Afghanistan]]. The main baddies are one such militia group, a [[FarEastAsianTerrorists terrorist gang]] called Darah Dan Doa ("Blood and Prayer"), that want to drive out the U.S. military presence stationed in East Timor so the country can be re-annexed by Indonesia and, [[spoiler:with the help of the obligatory CIA RogueAgent]], nearly achieve this by essentially holding America hostage through bioterrorism. Among the locations Sam Fisher travels to in defusing this threat include DDD's guerilla bases in the jungles of "Kundang"[[labelnote:*]][[https://www.reddit.com/r/Splintercell/comments/pluc0t/update_on_the_nonexistent_kundang_indonesia_issue/?rdt=49216 They presumably meant]] [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kupang_Regency Kupang]], which would be the logical place for DDD to be based out of and is referred to correctly in an offhand news report; "Kundang" is either a location in ''Malaysia'' or [[AsLongAsItSoundsForeign nonexistant]].[[/labelnote]] and Komodo, and a DDD-occupied TV station in downtown Jakarta.

* ''VideoGame/SplinterCellPandoraTomorrow'''s plot focuses on a fictional conflict between Indonesia and [[UsefulNotes/TimorLeste East Timor]] roughly conflating [[RippedFromTheHeadlines the latter's vote for independence in 1999]] (something that B.J. Habibie supported and helped bring about, but was subject to violent pushback in the form of harassment and intimidation campaigns from pro-integration militant groups and nationalistic elements within the Indonesian military) with aspects of [[UsefulNotes/TheWarOnTerror America's then-recent military intervention in Afghanistan]]. The main baddies are one such militia group, a [[FarEastAsianTerrorists terrorist gang]] called Darah Dan Doa ("Blood and Prayer"), that want to drive out the U.S. military presence stationed in East Timor so the country can be re-annexed by Indonesia and, [[spoiler:with the help of the obligatory CIA RogueAgent]], nearly achieve this by essentially holding America hostage through bioterrorism. Among the locations Sam Fisher travels to in defusing this threat include DDD's guerilla bases in the jungles of "Kundang"[[labelnote:*]][[https://www.reddit.com/r/Splintercell/comments/pluc0t/update_on_the_nonexistent_kundang_indonesia_issue/?rdt=49216 They presumably meant]] [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kupang_Regency Kupang]], which would be the logical place for DDD to be based out of and is referred to correctly in an offhand news report; "Kundang" is either a location in ''Malaysia'' or [[AsLongAsItSoundsForeign nonexistant]].[[/labelnote]] and Komodo, and a DDD-occupied TV station in downtown Jakarta.

* ''VideoGame/SplinterCellPandoraTomorrow'''s plot focuses on a fictional conflict between Indonesia and [[UsefulNotes/TimorLeste East Timor]] roughly conflating [[RippedFromTheHeadlines the latter's vote for independence in 1999]] (something that B.J. Habibie supported and helped bring about, but was subject to violent pushback in the form of harassments and intimidation campaigns from pro-integration militant groups and nationalistic elements within the Indonesian military) with aspects of [[UsefulNotes/TheWarOnTerror America's then-recent military intervention in Afghanistan]]. The main baddies are one such militia group, a [[FarEastAsianTerrorists terrorist gang]] called Darah Dan Doa ("Blood and Prayer"), that want to drive out the U.S. military presence stationed in East Timor so the country can be re-annexed by Indonesia and, [[spoiler:with the help of the obligatory CIA RogueAgent]], nearly achieve this by essentially holding America hostage through bioterrorism. Among the locations Sam Fisher travels to in defusing this threat include DDD's guerilla bases in the jungles of "Kundang"[[labelnote:*]][[https://www.reddit.com/r/Splintercell/comments/pluc0t/update_on_the_nonexistent_kundang_indonesia_issue/?rdt=49216 They presumably meant]] [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kupang_Regency Kupang]], which would be the logical place for DDD to be based out of and is referred to correctly in an offhand news report; "Kundang" is either a location in ''Malaysia'' or [[AsLongAsItSoundsForeign nonexistant]].[[/labelnote]] and Komodo, and a DDD-occupied TV station in downtown Jakarta.

* The story of ''VideoGame/SplinterCellPandoraTomorrow'' focuses on a fictional conflict between Indonesia and [[UsefulNotes/TimorLeste East Timor]] conflating [[RippedFromTheHeadlines the latter's vote for independence in 1999]] (something that B.J. Habibie supported and helped bring about, but was subject to violent pushback in the form of harassments and intimidation campaigns from pro-integration militant groups and nationalistic elements within the Indonesian military) with aspects of [[UsefulNotes/TheWarOnTerror America's then-recent military intervention in Afghanistan]]. The main baddies are one such militia group, a [[FarEastAsianTerrorists terrorist gang]] called Darah Dan Doa ("Blood and Prayer"), that want to drive out the U.S. military presence stationed in East Timor so the country can be re-annexed by Indonesia and, [[spoiler:with the help of the obligatory CIA RogueAgent]], nearly achieve this by essentially holding America hostage through bioterrorism. Among the locations Sam Fisher travels to in defusing this threat include DDD's guerilla bases in the jungles of "Kundang"[[labelnote:*]][[https://www.reddit.com/r/Splintercell/comments/pluc0t/update_on_the_nonexistent_kundang_indonesia_issue/?rdt=49216 They presumably meant]] [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kupang_Regency Kupang]], which would be the logical place for DDD to be based out of and is referred to correctly in an offhand news report; "Kundang" is either a location in ''Malaysia'' or [[AsLongAsItSoundsForeign nonexistant]].[[/labelnote]] and Komodo, and a DDD-occupied TV station in downtown Jakarta.

* The story of ''VideoGame/SplinterCellPandoraTomorrow'' focuses on a fictional conflict between Indonesia and [[UsefulNotes/TimorLeste East Timor]] conflating [[RippedFromTheHeadlines the latter's vote for independence in 1999]] (something that B.J. Habibie, Soeharto's democratic successor, supported and helped bring about, but received violent pushback in the form of harassments and intimidation campaigns from pro-integration militant groups and nationalistic subsets within the Indonesian military) with elements of [[UsefulNotes/TheWarOnTerror America's then-recent military intervention in Afghanistan]]. The main baddies are one such militia group, a formerly-CIA-backed [[FarEastAsianTerrorists terrorist gang]] called Darah Dan Doa ("Blood and Prayer"), who want to drive out the U.S. military presence stationed in East Timor so the country can be re-annexed by Indonesia and, [[spoiler:with the help of the obligatory CIA RogueAgent]], nearly achieve this by essentially holding America hostage through bioterrorism. Among the locations Sam Fisher travels to in defusing this threat include two guerilla bases in the jungles of "Kundang"[[labelnote:*]][[https://www.reddit.com/r/Splintercell/comments/pluc0t/update_on_the_nonexistent_kundang_indonesia_issue/?rdt=49216 They presumably meant]] [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kupang_Regency Kupang]], which would be a logical place for DDD to be based out of and is referred to correctly in an offhand news report; "Kundang" is either a location in ''Malaysia'' or [[AsLongAsItSoundsForeign nonexistant]].[[/labelnote]] and Komodo, and a DDD-occupied TV station in downtown Jakarta.

* The story of ''VideoGame/SplinterCellPandoraTomorrow'' focuses on a fictional conflict between Indonesia and [[UsefulNotes/TimorLeste East Timor]] conflating [[RippedFromTheHeadlines the latter's vote for independence in 1999]] (something that B.J. Habibie, Soeharto's democratic successor, supported and helped bring about, but received violent pushback in the form of harassments and intimidation campaigns from pro-integration militant groups and nationalistic subsets within the Indonesian military) with elements of [[UsefulNotes/TheWarOnTerror America's then-recent military intervention in Afghanistan]]. The main baddies are one such militia group, a formerly-CIA-backed [[FarEastAsianTerrorists terrorist gang]] called Darah Dan Doa ("Blood and Prayer"), who want to drive out the U.S. military presence stationed in East Timor so the country can be re-annexed by Indonesia and, [[spoiler:with the help of the obligatory CIA RogueAgent]], nearly achieve this by essentially holding America hostage through bioterrorism. Among the locations Sam Fisher travels to in defusing this threat include two guerilla bases in the jungles of "Kundang"[[labelnote:*]]Supposedly [[https://www.reddit.com/r/Splintercell/comments/pluc0t/update_on_the_nonexistent_kundang_indonesia_issue/?rdt=49216 they meant Kupang]] in West Timor, which would be a logical place for DDD to be based out of and the script refers to correctly once; "Kundang" is either a location in ''Malaysia'' or [[AsLongAsItSoundsForeign nonexistant]].[[/labelnote]] and Komodo, and a DDD-occupied TV station in downtown Jakarta.

* The story of ''VideoGame/SplinterCellPandoraTomorrow'' focuses on a fictional conflict between Indonesia and [[UsefulNotes/TimorLeste East Timor]] conflating [[RippedFromTheHeadlines the latter's vote for independence in 1999]] (something that B.J. Habibie, Soeharto's democratic successor, supported and helped bring about, but received violent pushback in the form of harassments and intimidation campaigns from pro-integration militant groups and nationalistic subsets within the Indonesian military) with elements of [[UsefulNotes/TheWarOnTerror America's then-recent military intervention in Afghanistan]]. The main baddies are one such militia group, a formerly-CIA-backed [[FarEastAsianTerrorists terrorist gang]] called Darah Dan Doa ("Blood and Prayer"), who want to drive out the U.S. military presence stationed in East Timor so the country can be re-annexed by Indonesia and, [[spoiler:with the help of the obligatory CIA RogueAgent]], nearly achieve this by essentially holding America hostage through bioterrorism. Among the locations Sam Fisher travels to in defusing this threat include two guerilla bases in the jungles of "Kundang"[[labelnote:*]]Supposedly they meant Kupang in West Timor, which would be a logical place for DDD to be based out of and the script refers to correctly once; "Kundang" is either a location in Malaysi', or ''[[AsLongAsItSoundsForeign nonexistant]]''.[[/labelnote]] and Komodo, and a DDD-occupied TV station in downtown Jakarta.

* The story of ''VideoGame/SplinterCellPandoraTomorrow'' (released in 2004) focuses on a fictional [[TwentyMinutesIntoTheFuture '06]] conflict between Indonesia and [[UsefulNotes/TimorLeste East Timor]], roughly conflating [[RippedFromTheHeadlines the latter's push for independence from Indonesia in 1999]] with America's [[UsefulNotes/TheWarOnTerror then-recent spate of military interventionism in the Middle East]]. The primary baddies are a pro-Indonesia [[FarEastAsianTerrorists terrorist militia]] called Darah Dan Doa ("Blood and Prayer"), who want to drive the U.S. military presence out of East Timor so the country can be reintegrated with Indonesia and, [[spoiler:with the help of the obligatory CIA RogueAgent]], nearly succeed in forcing the U.S.to retreat by essentially holding America hostage through bioterrorism. Of course, several levels are set in Indonesia, specifically guerilla bases in the jungles of Kundang and Komodo and a DDD-occupied TV station in downtown Jakarta.