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Volcanoes The country counts over 400 volcanoes from which are more then 100 still active. Several mountains reaching over 3,000 meters as shown in the table. Mountains over 3,000 m Sumatra m. Java m. Sulawesi m. Irian Jaya m. Mt.Leuser 3,404 Mt.Pangrago 3,019 Mt.Sonjol 3,000 Mt.Jaya 5,030 Mt.Kerinci 3,800 Mt.Ceremai 3,078 Mt.Waukara 3,127 Mt.Antares 4,170 Mt.Dempo 3,159 Mt.Slamet 3,418 Mt.Gandadiwati 3,074 Mt.Madala 4,700 Mt.Kemiri 3,314 Mt.Sundoro 3,136 Mt.Rantemario 3,440 Mt.Yamin 4,595 Mt.Sumbing 3,371 Mt.Baleasa 3,016 Mt.Trikora 4,730 Bali m. Mt.Lawu 3,265 Mt.Leonard-Darwin 4,234 Mt.Agung 3,142 Mt.Welirang 3,156 Mt.Angemuk 3,962 Mt.Arjuna 3,339 Mt.Godma 3,154 Lombok m. Mt.Semeru 3,676 Mt.Yaramaniapuka 3,370 Mt.Rinjani 3,726 Mt.Argopuro 3,088 Mt.Raung 3,332 Mt.Merbabu 3,142 As said there are about 100 still active volcanoes in the country. Most of the eruptions are minor ones but some eruption threat the land and the population. The two most well known eruption are the one of the Krakatau, west of Java, and the Tambora on Sumbawa. The Krakatau is located in the strait between Sumatra and Java and was know as a nautical landmark for maritime traffic. Since 1680 the volcano was dormant but from May to early August 1883 ships reported moderate activity. By 26 August the explosions became more violent. But the 'big bang' came on 27 August 10 am. The explosion was so heavy that a police chief on Rodriguez, more than 4600 km to the southwest, reported 'booming of heavy guns from eastward'. Krakatau sent up an ash column to 80km high and 18 cubic km of rock was thrown into the air. An area of 150 sq km was covered by darkness for two days and ash fell even on Singapore 840 km to the north. For two years long the ash in the atmosphere caused spectacular sunsets all over the world. But far more destructive were the waves triggered by the collapse of the Krakatau's cone into its empty belly. Giant tsunamis of more then 40 m high reached the coasts of Java and Sumatra and there were 165 villages destroyed while 35,000 people get killed. Coastal villages like Merak and Anyer on Java were completely fade away. The waves even reached the English Channel 36 hours later. The original Krakatau were three islands, pulau Sertung, pulau Lang or Rakata Kecil and the volcano island pulau Rakata. From pulau Rakata which had three mountains, the Perbunan, the Danan and Rakata, 75% disappeared. Now only remains the mountain Rakata which is about 300 m high while the northern side looks like it is cut of with a knife. The two other islands Sertung and Rakata kecil almost have their original shape. The area was a great subject for scientific studies. After the eruption there was not found a single plant on the island. But now more then 100 years later it seems the flora was never disturbed. But the islands are still bereft from fauna except for some birds and snakes. In 1928 there was a first message of a new island rising from the sea on the spot where first the crater of the Perbuhan was located. Since then the island with the name Anak Krakatau (Child of Krakatau) is grown to a height of 150m above sea level and still has volcanic activity. The other major eruption was the Tambora on Sumbawa. According to the 'Guiness of world records' this was the biggest volcanic eruption of mankind. The volcano was already active for a several years but on 5 April 1815 the big explosion came. 36 cubic km of rock was blown away. For the next 20 days the volcano was very active. The greatest magnitude was between 10 and 12 April. In this time in total 100 cubic km of debris was blown into the sky and a big part of Sumbawa was covered under 5 cm of ash. Ash from the Tambora was found over an area of 2.5 million sq km. Rocks as big as a fist were catapulted 40 km away and from the nearly 4,000 m high Tambora left only the 2,851 m we still can see today. Two states Sangar and Pekat which were on the slopes of the Tambora were fade away and directly 10,000 people were killed. Another 60,000 people, two-third of the Sumbawa population, were killed by starvation, disease or fled of the land in the next year after the eruption. Agricultural land was wrecked and most of the crops and livestocks were destroyed. People even sold their children for 3 kg of rise to survive. Some people moved two the higher land because this was less effected by the results of the eruption. By the middle of the 19th century immigrants from other island were brought to Sumbawa to help repopulate the island. That's why we still can see the population of Sumbawa is a mix of different Indonesian ethnic divisions. But the consequences of the eruption were still perceptible many years later. In 1945 a Dutch geologist reported he still found areas covered by 50 cm of debris. From the active volcanoes the table below shows the most recent eruptions. Recent major volcanic eruptions Sumatra Java Sulawesi Maluku Dempo 1973/1974 Bromo 1972 Lokon 1978/79/91 Dukono 1978 Merapi 1978 Merapi 1972/76/95 Siau-Karengetang 1978/1979 Gamala-Kie-Besi 1987 Sorik-Merapi 1989 Raung 1978 Colo 1983 Banda-Api 1988 Kerinci 1990 Semeru 1978/1979 Soputan 1989 Krakatau 1978/1979 Butak-Petarangan 1979 Paluweh-Rokatenda 1978 Nusa-Tenggara Galungung 1982 Lewotobi-laki-laki 1990 Slamet 1988 Kelud 1990

People The people of Indonesia are a mix of the native people and the people who came there in the Neolithic Period (3000-2000 BC). These people came from the Asia mainland. Now Indonesia is the fifth most populated country in the world. The nationality of the inhabitants of Indonesia is known as Indonesian(s) since 17 August 1945 when Indonesia got its independence. On the 17th birthday people reach their suffrage age while universal and married persons are regardless of age. Indonesia is an Islamic country where 88% of the religious is Muslim. 5% is Protestant, 3% Roman Catholic, 2% Hindu, 1% Buddhist and 1% has a different religion. The official language is Bahassa Indonesia (a modified form of of Malay). At school all students learn English and on the street a lot of people speak a little bit English. Still some people (mostly older people) speak Dutch. Further there are a lot of local languages. From the total population 83.8% can read and write.

Population In July 2001 the population of Indonesia was 228,437,870. 30.26% had the age between 0 and 14 years, 65.11% were between 15 and 64 years old and 4.63% were 65 years or older. The population growth rate in 2001 was 1.6%. Even Indonesia is a large country with more then 200 million people it gives an average population density of about 100 inhabitants /sq km. The birth rate is declining drasticly now and is 22.26 per 1,000 people (2001) while the death rate is 6.3 per 1,000 people(2001). The death rate is slowly going down due to improved health service and a rising living standard. The same considerates for the infant mortality rate which is 40.9 death per 1,000 live birth (2001). The average live expectancy at birth is 68.27 years from which the male will get 65.9 years old and the female 70.75 years old. Average every woman will give birth to 2.58 children (2001). There are a lot of ethnic divisions in Indonesia mostly split up by the separated islands but due to migration projects the ethnic groups are found al over the nation. From the total population 45% is Javanese, 14% is Sundanese, 7.5% is Madurese, 7.5% is coastal Malays and 26% belongs to an other ethnic group. The labor force consists of 99 million people from which 45% has an agriculture occupation, 16% works in industry and 39% has a service job. Many people, particular in the major cities, are unemployed. To these people are also counted the people with unregistered jobs.

Government The names of Indonesia are as follows; The conventional long form is Republic if Indonesia The conventional short form is Indonesia The local long form is Republik Indonesia The local short form is Indonesia The Former names are Netherlands East Indies or Dutch East Indies Indonesia is a republic with as capital Jakarta. The country is split up in 24 provinces (propinsi-propinsi) which are Bali, Bengkulu, Irian Jaya, Jambi, Jawa Barat, Jawa Tengah, Jawah Timur, Kalimantan Barat, Kalimantan Selatan, Kalimantan Tengah, Kalimantan Timur, Riau, Sulawesi Selatan, Sulawesi Tengah, Sulawesi Tenggara, Sulawesi Utara, Sumatra Barat, Sumatra Selatan, Sumatra Utara and Timor Timur. There are two special regions (daerah-daerah istimewa) Aceh and Yogyakarta and there is one special capital city district (daerah khusus ibukota) which is named Jakarta Raya. Indonesia got its independence on 17 August 1945 and on 27 December 1949 Indonesia became legally independent from The Netherlands. Therefore 17 August now is the national holiday. There is now only one international dispute. The sovereignty over Timor Timur (East Timor Province) disputed width Portugal is handed over to an independent government in 2002. There are two small islands in dispute with Malaysia. Megawati Sukarnoputri, President of Indonesia Since July 23, 2001 Indonesia has a new president, Megawati Sukarnoputri . Megawati is the daughter of the former president Sukarno. The vice president is Hamzah HAZ and is elected with about 60% of the votes. Megawati is a modern woman, who believes in her country and the people. She said the Cabinet would have representation from all of Indonesia's three parties, the armed forces and other groups. Still a heavy task remains for Megawati to get the trust of the nation and to create a stable economic situation after a turbulent time between 1998 and 2001. Slowly the economy gets more stable again and the people begin to trust the government. Former President Gen. Soeharto was the president of the republic Indonesia since 27 March 1968 until 21 May 1998. At the elections of 10 March 1998 Soeharto was chosen as president for the seventh time. He said it would be his last term and he would step down at the next elections of 2005. But the people of Indonesia were not satisfied also due to the economic crisis in their country .On April 16, 1998 thousands of students hold campus protests, calling Soeharto the "cause of all disasters". On May 12, 1998 the situation escalated when six students were shot and killed during clashes with police in Jakarta, the first students to die in three-months of peaceful demonstrations. Under the pressure of national as well as international leaders, President Soeharto resigned May 21 1998 at 9 a.m. LT (0200 GMT), bringing 32 years of authoritarian rule to a sudden and dramatic end. "I believe that it has become extremely difficult for me to continue the leadership of this country and to cultivate the development of our country," Soeharto said, announcing what he termed his "withdrawal" from the presidency in an address to the nation. Vice President Bucharuddin Jusuf Habibie was immediately sworn in as president of the fourth most-populous country in the world. Soeharto said Habibie would not be a caretaker but would finish the rest of his presidential term, which lasts until 2003. Soeharto, former president of Indonesia The house of representatives (Dewan Perwakilan Rakyat or DPR) has 500 seats from which 400 are elected members and 100 are appointed military representatives. There are three political parties. The biggest is GOLKAR which has 68% of the seats. PPP has 17% of the seats and PDI 15%. Elections are held every five years (the last ones on 8 June 1992) to elect the president and the vice president and, theoretically, to determine the national policy. The legal system is based on Roman-Dutch laws, substantially modified by new concepts and new criminal procedures codes.

The National Flag, Coat of arms and National Anthem The Indonesian flag contents two horizontal bands. One red at the top and white at the bottom. It is a similar flag to the flag of Monaco which is shorter, and also similar to the flag of Poland which has white at the top and red at the bottom. The coat of arms of Indonesia is based on the Pancasila (the five principals) expounded by Soekarno in 1945. The Indonesian state is based on this five principals which you can find back in the coat of arms. Faith in one supreme God. The faith in God (or Allah, Vishnu, Buddha etc.) is symbolised by the star. Civilized Humanity. Symbolised by the chain which represents the unbroken unity of humankind. Nationalism. Symbolised by the head of a buffalo. Democracy. Symbolised by the banyantree. Social Justice. Symbolised by the sprays of rice which means that in a prosperous society there is food and cloths for everyone. The national anthem of Indonesia is 'Indonesia Raya' . To hear a sample click the play button next here.

Economy Indonesia has a intricated economy with interest of the government and also a lot of private enterprises. Although Indonesia has many natural resources, the country remains rather poor, also caused by the rapidly increasing population. The GDP was U$654 billion in 2000. The average GDP growth in 2000 was 4.8% which is quite impressive but not sufficient to slash the underemployment and absorb the 2.3 million people who enter the labor force every year. The agriculture is an important sector in Indonesia. 45 % of the labor force is working in this sector which is accounting for 21% of the GDP. Still remains an underemployment rate of 20% (3%official). Once Indonesia was the largest rice importer in the world but now the country is almost self-sufficient, due to several transmigration projects of the government. Many plantation crops like rubber, cocoa, cotton and palm-oil are being used for export and job generation. Other major agriculture products are cassava, peanuts, tea, coffee, copra, poultry, beef, pork and eggs. The industrial output is accounting for 42% of the GDP and is mainly based on the natural resources like crude oil, natural gas, timber and metals. The industrial production growth rate is 8.4% annually Foreign investment has boosted this industrial output the last years. Large American companies, like Freeport mining, on Irian Jaya employs a lot of people and produces a lot of ore, both for export as well as for the Indonesian market. On the other hand there is a lot of international and local critic on the interference of these large projects in Indonesia. Mainly the economy is based on the export of non oil products and the government is promoting the export to improve to economy. In 1996 the export accounts U$64.7 billion. The most important customer for the Indonesian market remains Japan (21%), followed by the US (14%) and Singapore (10%). Also for the imports Japan is the most important partner (12%) followed by the US (12%) and Singapore(10%). After the rapid money growth in 1989-1990 Jakarta forced the private sector to go to foreign banks for investment financing. But still the real interest rates remain above 10% and the offshore debt growth. Therefore Jakarta prompted to limit the foreign borrowing in 1991. This policy lead to an annual GDP growth of 5%. The national budget is U$ 26 billion. The national currency is the Indonesian Rupiah which is divided into 100 sen, but the sen is no longer used. The exchange rate is about 10,000 Rp per 1U$ on 1 January 2001. This was 1,843 Rupiah per U$ in 1990. Indonesia has an electricity capacity of 73,167,000 kWh and a production of 78.674 billion kWh. Many houses still don't have a connection for electricity and most of the roads are completely dark at night.

Climate Because Indonesia is situated around the equator the climate is characterized by two seasons. The climate is tropical, hot and humid and is more moderate in the highlands. Temperatures are almost constant the whole year although there is a 'warm' and 'cold' season which in general means the temperatures at night can drop more in the 'cold-season' then in the 'warm-season'. This effect is the most noticeable in the 'deep-south' of Indonesia about 10° below the equator. In the coastal areas the average temperature is about 28°C but these temperatures drops dramatically in the highlands. In the highlands of Irian Jaya temperatures at night can drop till about 7°C while at daytime the temperature is about 22°C . Also on the mountain tops the temperatures can drop till around 0°C. The two seasons are commonly known as the wet and the dry season. The wet season mostly means it will rain from noon till in the evening but in some areas it will rain only more often then normal, very heavy showers for about two hours and then it can be dry for an hour again. Most parts of Indonesia will have its wet season between October and April. But some parts like the Maluku islands will have a wet season between March and August. At this time it can rain all day in the Malukus. The dry season doesn't mean it will be dry for half a year or so. It is very well possible there will be a tropical shower in the afternoon. The average precipitation for Indonesia is 150mm a month.

Transportation Transportation in Indonesia is conform the 'Asian way'. Busses and trains are always full but run frequently (special busses). Because of the size of the country the best way to travel large distances is by air. There is a variety of airlines and a bizarre collection of aircraft but most parts of the country can be reached by air. In total the country counts 453 airports. 95 of them have paved runways between 914 and 3,047 m, while 37 of them have paved runways under 914 m, and 317 airports still have unpaved runways between 914 and 1,524 m. The major airlines are the national pride Garuda, which also has many international connection, Merpati, Mandala and Boraq. Beside these airlines a lot of uncommon places often can be reached by private airlines. In Indonesia you can almost go everywhere by bus. Because busses aren't to expensive many people use them for local as well as for interlocal transportation. Many companies run services between islands. One of the longest journeys can be made by bus from Medan on Sumatra till Den Pasar on Bali which is over 3,000 km and will take about five or six days. There is about 342,700 km highway in Indonesia although most parts don't look like a western highway and in some parts of the country the highway is just big enough for a bus or a truck. Traffic from the opposite direction has a problem if they meet. Indonesia still has 6,458 km of railroad. 5,961 km of it is the standard 1.067 m gauge from which 101 km is electrified and double track. 497 km is 0.75 m gauge and 78 km is 0.6 m gauge. All railroads are found on Sumatra and Java and constructed when Indonesia was under Dutch control. About twenty-five years ago it was possible to travel long distances on Sumatra by train but now there is only left a small part of railroad at the west coast of Sumatra near Padang. The best connections can be found on Java where the tracks connect Jakarta with the east coast. There is a northern route as well as a southern route. Indonesia counts a lot of ports. The major ones are Jakarta, Cilacap, Cirebon, Kupang, Palembang, Semarang, Surabaya and Udjungpandang. Several ferries connecting the islands and are used for human as well as cargo transportation. On the main islands the inland waterways are also used for transportation. In total Indonesia has 21,579 km of inland waterways. The Indonesian merchant marine consists of 609 ships but there are many unregistered private ships. For the local transport there are many kinds available. One of it is the bemo also known as mikrolet, opelets or colts. This kind of transportation was originally made from a pickup truck with two rows of seats on the back but now they have been replaced by small mini busses. Taxis can be found in all major cities. Not all taxies are metered jet which means there have to be bargained about the price but the metered taxis are becoming more common now. In many cities the bajaj still can be found. It is a three-wheeled vehicle with a small motorbike engine and the driver sits in the front. There is place for two passengers in the back. The becak is a well known way of transportation. It is a three-wheeled cycle-rickshaw. The driver sits in the back and the two passengers in the front. This differences from the versions found in India where the driver sits in the front or the Filipino version where the driver sits at the site. Also still found is the dokar, a small horse-drawn cart with place for maximum four people. The bigger version, mostly equipped with four wheels and carrying up to six people, is found on Java and called andong or delman. In parts of the country, where the roads are very bad and often unpaved, trucks are used as a public way of transport.

Communication Indonesia has a fast growing telephone network . Public telephones are still hard to find but in most cities a telephone office can be found where local and international calls can be made. Indonesia has a government-run telecommunication system with there own offices but there is also a private company running many telecommunication services. Home-country-direct telephones are also found near the telephone offices. At these offices it is also possible to send faxes, telex, telegraphs. Some connections are made by a HF net but most telephone connections over long distances will use one of Indonesias communication satellites. Indonesia also offers a GSM-network for cellular telephones. There are several operators and most of the major islans now is covered although some whitespots occure in the covered areas. Post offices are found almost in every city or town and are mostly well equipped. On the main islands sending mail will take about three or four days but in other parts it can take longer depending on flight schedules or boats visiting the islands.

Languages There are official 583 languages and dialects spoken in Indonesia. Most of the languages belong to the different ethnic groups in the archipelago. Javanese is the most spoken with 42% followed by the Sundanese with 15%. Other local languages are Acehnese, Batak, Sasak, Tetum, Dayak, Minahasa, Toraja, Buginese, Halmahera, Ambonese, Ceramese, Malay, Madurese, Minangkabau, Balinese Chinese and several Irianese languages. All these languages on their turn have their own dialects. On the island of Alor alone there are about 70 dialects and on Sulawesi 62 languages were identified. Still to be explored is Irian Jaya where till now more then 300 languages were found. Some languages are spoken only by two people and are as good as died out. Several scientists are now searching for unknown languages in order to registrate them and trying to get anything of it on paper. Bahassa Indonesia or Indonesian is the official national language now. Originally it was the Malay language spoken on the Riau islands near Sumatra. The language was introduced in 1927 first as a political tool with the cry 'One Nation, One Country, One Language', but now spoken in most parts of the country. Every part of Indonesia uses its own dialects or variations on the language like the Sundanese speak it in a singing way while the Javanese speak it very monotonously. In some parts of the country like on Irian Jaya the people speak an old form of the language taught them by the missionaries but because of their isolation they couldn't communicate with other people from the nation to update their vocabulary. But after all, all forms are intelligible to each other. The language is still developing and many foreign words are integrated in the language also due to the long history of contacts with other cultures. Many words are Portugese, Sanskrit, Dutch or today even English. A new phenomenon is the development of Bahassa Prokem. It is a dialect used by the rebellious young generation and mostly used in Jakarta since 1980. The dialect is not intelligible to the older generation. Because Prokem is not used yet to write political papers or novels the dialect is not forbidden yet by the government.

To get the most valuable information on this page the following sources were consulted to evaluate our own databases; Indonesia 1997 An Official Handbook, The World Factbook 2001, Lonely Planet Travel Survival Kit of Indonesia, Bill Dalton's Indonesia Handbook, Nelles Maps, Periplus Editions.