5.3 Indonesia: an overview

Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia is a country in ‎Southeast Asia and Oceania. Indonesia is an archipelago comprising ‎approximately 17,508 islands It has 33 provinces with over 238 ‎million people, and is the world's fourth most populous country. ‎Indonesia is a republic, with an elected legislature and president. The ‎nation's capital city is Jakarta. The country shares land borders with ‎Papua New Guinea, East Timor, and Malaysia. Other neighboring ‎countries include Singapore, Philippines, Australia, and the Indian ‎territory of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. Indonesia is a founding ‎member of ASEAN and a member of the G-20 major economies. The ‎Indonesian economy is the world's sixteenth largest by nominal GDP ‎and fifteenth largest by purchasing power parity.

Indonesia: key issues

1)	Natural Disasters Ravage Indonesia

Indonesia is known for it recurrent natural disasters. The following are the major ones in the modern history

of the country:

On Dec. 26, 2004, a magnitude 9.0 earthquake, whose epicenter was ‎off the west coast of the Indonesian

island of Sumatra, caused a ‎tremendously powerful tsunami in the Indian Ocean that devastated ‎‎12 Asian

countries. At least 225,000 people died in the disaster, and ‎millions were left homeless. Indonesia was the

heaviest hit, with more ‎than 150,000 casualties. Many of the deaths occurred in the war-torn ‎province

of Aceh.‎

5.3 Indonesia: an overview

On May 26, 2006, more than 6,200 people were killed in a 6.3 ‎magnitude earthquake on Java. About

130,000 were left homeless. ‎Just two months later, on July 17, an earthquake and tsunami struck ‎Java,

killing more than 500 people. It was the fourth major ‎earthquake to strike the country in 19 months.

2.	Conflicts confronting Indonesia

Following major conflicts confront Indonesia:‎

Several causes of tension remain: perceived slow implementation of ‎the Special Autonomy law;

communal tensions linked to shifting ‎demographics between the indigenous and non-indigenous

‎population; lack of equal access to natural resource wealth; heavy-‎handed response by security forces;

stalled dialogue on Papuan ‎cultural and political expression; and lasting scars left by military ‎abuses

during Suharto era. Distrust between Papuans and the ‎government continue despite efforts for dialogue

on both sides. Central Sulawesi: Street battles between Christian and Muslim gangs, ‎often supporting

different competing political parties, December 1998 ‎escalated into sectarian violence between

the two communities in ‎Central Sulawesi in 1999. Poso was one of the worst affected areas ‎peaking in

mid-2000 after a massacre of over 100 Muslims by ‎Christians. Malino Accords signed December 2001

between warring ‎factions diminished conflict although attacks continued until 2006 by ‎radical groups such

as Mujahidin KOMPAK and Jemaah Islamiyah ‎‎(JI).