Indonesia

This article is about the country. For other uses, see Indonesia (disambiguation).

Republic of Indonesia Republik Indonesia (Indonesian)
Flag Emblem
Motto: Bhinneka Tunggal Ika (Old Javanese) "Unity in Diversity"
Anthem: Indonesia Raya "Great Indonesia"
National ideology and philosophy: Pancasila (Sanskrit) "The Five Principles"
Location of Indonesia (green) in Southeast Asia and Oceania
Capital and largest city	Jakarta 6°10′S 106°49′E
Official languages	Indonesian
Indigenous languages	718 languages
Writing system	Latin (predominantly) Regional Balinese Batak Javanese Jawi-Pegon Lontara Sundanese Ulu
Ethnic groups (2010)	41.0% Javanese 17.4% Sundanese 3.7% Malay 3.6% Batak 3.0% Madurese 31.3% others (600+ ethnic groups)
Religion (2024)	87.1% Islam 10.45% Christianity 7.38% Protestantism 3.07% Catholicism 1.7% Hinduism 0.8% Buddhism, Folk, Confucianism, and others
Demonym	Indonesian
Government	Unitary presidential republic
• President	Prabowo Subianto
• Vice President	Gibran Rakabuming Raka
• House Speaker	Puan Maharani
• Chief Justice of the Supreme Court	Sunarto
• Chief Justice of the Constitutional Court	Suhartoyo
Legislature	People's Consultative Assembly (MPR)
• Upper house	Regional Representative Council (DPD)
• Lower house	House of Representatives (DPR)
Independence  from the Netherlands
• Proclamation	17 August 1945
• Recognition	27 December 1949
Area
• Total	1,904,569 km2 (735,358 sq mi) (14th)
• Water (%)	4.85
Population
• 2025 estimate	288,315,089 (4th)
• 2020 census	270,203,917
• Density	143/km2 (370.4/sq mi) (88th)
GDP (PPP)	2026 estimate
• Total	$5.449 trillion (7th)
• Per capita	$18,973 (103rd)
GDP (nominal)	2026 estimate
• Total	$1.540 trillion (17th)
• Per capita	$5,362 (116th)
Gini (2024)	37.9 medium inequality
HDI (2023)	0.728 high (113th)
Currency	Indonesian rupiah (Rp) (IDR)
Time zone	UTC+7, +8, +9 (WIB, WITA, WIT)
Date format	DD/MM/YYYY
Calling code	+62
ISO 3166 code	ID
Internet TLD	.id

Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania, between the Indian and Pacific oceans. Comprising over 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo and New Guinea, Indonesia is the world's largest archipelagic state and the 14th-largest country by area, at 1,904,569 square kilometres (735,358 square miles). Indonesia has significant areas of wilderness that support one of the world's highest levels of biodiversity. It shares land borders with Papua New Guinea, Timor-Leste, and Malaysia, as well as maritime borders with seven other countries, including Australia, Singapore, and the Philippines.

The Indonesian archipelago has been inhabited since prehistoric times, with early human presence evidenced by fossils of Homo erectus and Homo sapiens, and megalithic sites. By the early second millennium, it had become a crossroads for international trade linking East and South Asia. Over the centuries, external influences—including Hinduism, Buddhism and later Islam—were absorbed into local societies, which introduced lasting cultural and religious influences. European powers later competed to monopolise trade in the Spice Islands of Maluku during the Age of Discovery, followed by three and a half centuries of Dutch colonial rule, before Indonesia proclaimed its independence in the aftermath of World War II.

Since independence, Indonesia has grappled with numerous challenges including separatism, corruption, political upheaval and natural disasters, alongside democratisation and rapid economic growth. The country today is a presidential republic with an elected legislature and consists of 38 provinces, some of which enjoy greater autonomy than others. Home to over 280 million people, Indonesia ranks fourth in the world by population and has the largest Muslim population of any country. More than half of Indonesians live on Java, the most heavily populated island in the world, while the capital Jakarta is the world's most populous city.

Indonesian society comprises hundreds of ethnic and linguistic groups, with Javanese forming the largest. National identity is unified under the motto Bhinneka Tunggal Ika, reflected by a national language alongside cultural and religious pluralism. A newly industrialised country, Indonesia has the largest national economy in Southeast Asia by GDP. The country plays an active role in regional and global affairs as a middle power and is a member of major multilateral organisations, including the United Nations, G20, the Non-Aligned Movement, ASEAN, and the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation.

Etymology

Main article: Names of Indonesia

The name Indonesia is usually explained as a compound of the Greek words Indos (Ἰνδός) and nesos (νῆσος), together meaning 'Indian islands'. The term dates to the 19th century, well before the formation of independent Indonesia. In 1850, George Windsor Earl, an English ethnologist, proposed the terms Indunesians—and his preferred term, Malayunesians—for the inhabitants of the "Indian Archipelago or Malay Archipelago". In the same publication, James Richardson Logan used Indonesia as a geographical term for the Indian Archipelago. Dutch academics writing in East Indies publications were reluctant to adopt Indonesia. They preferred Malay Archipelago (Dutch: Maleische Archipel); the Netherlands East Indies (Nederlandsch Oost Indië), popularly Indië; the East (de Oost); and Insulinde.

After 1900, Indonesia became more common in academic circles outside the Netherlands, and native nationalist groups adopted it for political expression. Adolf Bastian of the University of Berlin popularised the name through his book Indonesien oder die Inseln des Malayischen Archipels, 1884–1894. Among indigenous figures, Soewardi Soerjaningrat was an early promoter of the name; in November 1918, he established the Indonesisch Persbureau in The Hague, a press bureau that used Indonesia in its name.

History

Main article: History of Indonesia

Early history

Main article: Prehistoric Indonesia

One of the oldest known figurative paintings, a depiction of a bull, was discovered in the Lubang Jeriji Saléh cave and dated to between 40,000 and 44,000 years ago.

The Indonesian archipelago has been inhabited since prehistoric times. Fossils of Homo erectus ("Java Man") date back between 2 million and 500,000 BCE, while Homo sapiens arrived around 50,000 BCE. Archaeological discoveries include cave paintings in Sulawesi, where narrative rock art has been dated to at least 51,200 years ago. Later megalithic traditions appeared in several regions, including Java, Sumatra, Sulawesi, Sumba, Flores, and Nias, where stone monuments were used for burial, ancestor veneration, commemoration, and ritual life.

Beginning several millennia BCE, peoples of the Austronesian language group migrated from Taiwan into island Southeast Asia, leaving a lasting linguistic imprint across much of the archipelago. Rice cultivation and village life developed unevenly across the islands, while early trade in the last centuries BCE and the early centuries CE connected parts of the archipelago with South and East Asia. These contacts brought foreign goods, technologies, writing systems, and religious ideas into local societies, and helped some coastal settlements grow into centres of commerce and political authority.

From the 7th century, maritime kingdoms such as Srivijaya rose to prominence through trade and adopted Hindu and Buddhist influences. Between the 8th and 10th centuries, the Sailendra and Mataram dynasties created major architectural works, including Borobudur and Prambanan. Following a failed Mongol invasion of Java, the Majapahit empire emerged in the late 13th century and became a leading maritime power in the archipelago’s trade networks. These kingdoms and empires linked courts, ports, and religious communities across parts of the archipelago, although their authority varied by region and period.

Within the maritime trading world of the Indian Ocean and the Strait of Malacca, Islam began to take root in northern Sumatra by the late 13th century, and spread further through Java and Sumatra over the following centuries. Historians have associated its expansion with maritime trade, the rise of coastal sultanates, and the work of Islamic teachers and missionaries, including the Wali Sanga. In Java, Islamisation also involved accommodation with older Javanese cultural forms, giving Javanese Islam a style distinct from that of Malaya and Sumatra.

Colonial era

Main articles: Dutch East India Company in Indonesia and Dutch East Indies

An 1835 painting illustrating the submission of Prince Diponegoro to General De Kock at the end of the Java War in 1830

European involvement in the archipelago began in the early 16th century, when Portuguese expeditions entered the Asian spice trade. Dutch voyages followed later in the century, and in 1602 competing Dutch trading companies were merged into the Dutch East India Company (Verenigde Oostindische Compagnie, VOC). The VOC's activities increasingly extended beyond commerce into treaties, fortifications, warfare, and territorial control before it was dissolved in 1800, after which its possessions passed to the Dutch state as the Dutch East Indies.

Dutch control developed unevenly and was repeatedly contested, including in Java, Sumatra, Bali, and Aceh. Dutch authority expanded across several outer-island regions during the late 19th and early 20th centuries, leaving most of the territory later claimed by Indonesia under colonial rule. In western New Guinea, an early Dutch outpost was abandoned in the 1830s, and sustained Dutch administration developed much later, mainly after the turn of the 20th century. The resulting colony was governed from Batavia through a centralised administration that overlaid many local societies and political traditions.

The Japanese invasion and occupation during World War II ended Dutch colonial rule and gave Indonesian nationalist leaders new room to act as Japan's position collapsed. On 17 August 1945, shortly after Japan's surrender, Sukarno and Mohammad Hatta issued the Proclamation of Indonesian Independence; Sukarno later became the country's first president and Hatta its first vice-president. The Netherlands then attempted to restore colonial rule, prompting the Indonesian National Revolution. The conflict ended in 1949, when the Netherlands accepted a transfer of sovereignty after Indonesian resistance and pressure from abroad, particularly through the United Nations and the United States.

Post-World War II

Sukarno (left) and Mohammad Hatta (right), Indonesia's founding fathers and the first president and vice president respectively

Sukarno replaced parliamentary democracy with "Guided Democracy", concentrating authority around the presidency while managing competing pressures from political Islam, the military, and the Communist Party of Indonesia (PKI). After the attempted coup in 1965, the military blamed the PKI and, with allied civilian groups, carried out a widespread and violent anti-communist campaign. The PKI was destroyed, Sukarno's authority collapsed, and Major General Suharto assumed the presidency in 1968, establishing the authoritarian New Order regime. The regime was supported by Western governments during the Cold War, reopened Indonesia to foreign investment, and presided over sustained economic growth for three decades.

Indonesia's invasion of East Timor in 1975 and the occupation that followed drew international condemnation, and the Santa Cruz massacre in 1991 brought greater international attention to Indonesia's human rights record. The Asian financial crisis of 1997 exposed the regime's economic and political fragility, contributing to wider unrest and Suharto's resignation in May 1998. In 1999, East Timor voted to secede after nearly a quarter-century under Indonesian rule, whose violence and death toll have been examined in scholarship on genocide and occupation.

In the post-Suharto era, Indonesia introduced democratic reforms, including regional autonomy and the first direct presidential election. The early years of reform also saw political instability, terrorism, and ethnic and religious conflict in several regions. A political settlement to the separatist insurgency in Aceh was reached in 2005, in part due to the impact of the Indian Ocean tsunami in the previous year. Since the mid-2000s, Indonesia has seen broadly steady economic growth alongside persistent corruption, democratic consolidation, and concerns over authoritarian practices.

Geography

Main articles: Geography of Indonesia and List of islands of Indonesia

Mount Semeru and Mount Bromo in East Java. Indonesia's seismic and volcanic activity is among the world's highest.

Indonesia's physical geography is shaped by its archipelagic scale, equatorial position, and varied terrain. It lies between latitudes 11°S and 6°N and longitudes 95°E and 141°E, and is the world's largest archipelagic state, stretching 5,120 kilometres (3,181 mi) from east to west and 1,760 kilometres (1,094 mi) from north to south. Several of the archipelago's straits, including Malacca, Sunda, and Lombok, are major maritime routes between the Indian and Pacific Oceans, giving Indonesia a strategic position in regional and global trade.

The exact number of Indonesia's islands varies by source, usually ranging from 13,000 to 17,000, with around 922 permanently inhabited. Its five main islands are Sumatra, Java, Borneo (shared with Brunei and Malaysia), Sulawesi, and New Guinea (shared with Papua New Guinea). Java, although it accounts for less than 7% of Indonesia's land area, is the country's most densely settled island and has highly intensive land use. Forest cover and land use vary sharply across the archipelago, with Papua and Maluku retaining much larger forested areas than Java and Bali.

The country has a varied topography of mountains, lakes, rivers, and coastal plains. At 4,884 metres (16,024 ft), Puncak Jaya in New Guinea is Indonesia's highest peak, while Lake Toba in Sumatra is its largest lake. Major rivers include the Kapuas, Barito, and Mahakam in Kalimantan, which have long served riverine settlements and inland transport. These physical features are closely tied to Indonesia's rainfall patterns, geological hazards, biodiversity, and environmental pressures.

Climate

Main articles: Climate of Indonesia and Climate change in Indonesia

Köppen-Geiger climate classification map of Indonesia

Indonesia's climate is shaped by its equatorial position and monsoon circulation. Conditions are generally warm and humid throughout the year, with temperature differences influenced more by elevation than by season. Much of the country has a tropical rainforest climate, while monsoonal and savanna climates occur in some regions and cooler conditions are found in higher terrain. Indonesia is described as having a dry season from May to October and a wet season from November to April, although local timing and intensity vary. These seasonal patterns affect rice agriculture and the timing of droughts, floods, and fires.

Rainfall varies considerably across the archipelago. Western Sumatra, Java, and the interiors of Kalimantan and Papua are among the wetter areas, while regions closer to Australia, including Nusa Tenggara, are generally drier. These patterns are shaped by the combined influence of surrounding oceans, island geography, monsoons, and topography. In drier regions, El Niño events can reduce rainfall and lengthen dry spells, increasing pressure on water supplies and crops.

Indonesia is highly vulnerable to climate change, including projected changes in temperature, rainfall, sea level, and extreme events. These changes are expected to affect agriculture, water security, public health, coastal settlements, and wildfire risk. Rising sea levels are a particular concern for coastal areas, where much of Indonesia's population and infrastructure is concentrated. Poorer households and communities with weaker infrastructure are expected to have fewer resources for adaptation.

Geology

Main article: Geology of Indonesia

See also: List of volcanoes in Indonesia

Lake Toba in North Sumatra, the world's largest known Cenozoic caldera.

Indonesia's geology is shaped by its position along the Pacific Ring of Fire, where major tectonic plates meet in a complex system of subduction zones and active faults. This setting gives the archipelago some of the world's highest levels of volcanic and seismic activity. Volcanism has produced extensive ash-derived soils in parts of the country, but it also exposes nearby communities to eruptions, lahars, ash fall, and related hazards.

Around 130 volcanoes are classified as active, with active volcanism occurring along the Sunda, Banda, and Halmahera volcanic arcs. Volcanic ash can damage crops and settlements in the short term, but weathered ash is also an important source of fertile soils in volcanic regions, including parts of Java and Bali. Studies of Indonesian volcanic regions frame volcanism in terms of both agricultural productivity and environmental risk. The risk dimension is particularly prominent in studies of major eruptions.

The archipelago has experienced several large eruptions with effects beyond their immediate surroundings. A super-eruption at present-day Lake Toba occurred around 74,000 years ago and remains central to debates about volcanic impacts on climate and ancient human populations. The eruption of Mount Tambora in 1815 had global climatic effects and contributed to the Year Without a Summer in 1816 across parts of the Northern Hemisphere. The eruption of Krakatoa in 1883 caused severe regional destruction and became one of the best-known volcanic events in modern scientific literature.

Seismic hazards are also a recurring feature of Indonesia's geology, especially along offshore subduction zones and active faults that cross the archipelago. Offshore earthquakes can generate destructive tsunamis, while shallow inland and near-coastal earthquakes can cause severe damage in populated areas. Notable recent events include the 2004 earthquake and tsunami near northern Sumatra, the 2006 Yogyakarta earthquake, and the 2018 Sulawesi earthquake and tsunami.

Biodiversity

Main articles: Fauna of Indonesia and Flora of Indonesia

The Komodo dragon (Varanus komodoensis) is one of Indonesia's officially designated national animals under a presidential decree

Indonesia is recognised by Conservation International as one of 17 megadiverse countries. Its insular setting, complex geological history, and tropical habitats have produced highly diverse flora and fauna, with many endemic species. The separation of many islands by deep-water barriers has also contributed to patterns of local endemism and speciation.

Indonesia's flora and fauna reflect both Asian and Australasian influences. The Sunda Shelf islands have stronger Asian faunal affinities due to past land connections with mainland Asia during periods of lower sea level. Farther east, the Wallacea region forms a major transition zone between Asian and Australasian fauna and is one of the world's major centres of endemism. In western New Guinea, geological history has also been linked to patterns of diversification in some animal groups.

Indonesia has 54,716 kilometres (33,999 miles) of coastline, with extensive coastal and marine ecosystems, including coral reefs, mangroves, and seagrass beds. Its coral reefs form part of the Coral Triangle, a global centre of marine biodiversity. Indonesia also contains most of Southeast Asia's old-growth forest. Major conservation pressures include deforestation, forest fragmentation, habitat loss, and reef degradation from land-based pollution and destructive fishing practices.

Environment and conservation

Main articles: Environment of Indonesia and Conservation in Indonesia

See also: Protected areas of Indonesia, List of national parks of Indonesia, and List of biosphere reserves of Indonesia

Bunaken National Park in the Coral Triangle, one of Indonesia's over 100 marine protected areas

Indonesia faces major environmental pressures from peatland degradation, deforestation, and resource extraction linked to logging, plantation agriculture, and mining. Peat swamp forests are especially important for conservation because they store large amounts of carbon and support distinctive biodiversity, but they are vulnerable to logging, fire, drainage, and land conversion.

Habitat loss, degradation, and illegal exploitation affect many threatened species, including the critically endangered Bali myna, Sumatran orangutan, and Javan rhinoceros. Broader reviews also identify forest fragmentation and land-use change as continuing threats to biodiversity and ecosystem integrity. Indonesia has a conservation framework that includes protected areas, species protection, and broader biodiversity-management programmes.

As of 2024, Indonesia has designated 27 million hectares, or 14% of its land area, as protected areas, alongside an extensive network of marine reserves and 54 national parks. Protected-area studies report recurring pressures such as illegal logging and settlement, while national biodiversity reporting identifies several challenges including limited local capacity and coordination. Conservation policy also intersects with local rights and livelihoods, and one study has described a trade-off between poverty reduction and environmental-quality improvement in Indonesia.

Government and politics

Main article: Politics of Indonesia

See also: Government of Indonesia

A presidential inauguration by the MPR in the Parliament Complex Jakarta, 2014

Indonesia is a presidential republic governed under the 1945 Constitution. Pancasila is the state ideology and a central subject of civic education, where it is presented as a philosophical basis for Indonesian citizenship and national identity. The country's present institutional structure took shape after the fall of the New Order in 1998, when constitutional amendments restructured the executive, legislative, and judicial branches. These reforms kept Indonesia as a unitary state while expanding powers assigned to regional governments.

The president serves as both head of state and head of government, as well as commander-in-chief of the Indonesian National Armed Forces, and may serve up to two consecutive five-year terms. National representative institutions are organised through the People's Consultative Assembly (Majelis Permusyawaratan Rakyat, MPR), which consists of the People's Representative Council (Dewan Perwakilan Rakyat, DPR) and the Regional Representative Council (Dewan Perwakilan Daerah, DPD). The MPR amends the constitution and inaugurates or impeaches the president under procedures set out in the constitution. The DPR exercises legislative, budgetary, and oversight functions, while the DPD represents regional interests but has more limited authority within the national legislature. Since 1998, reforms have strengthened the DPR's role in governance.

Judicial authority is exercised through several institutions. The Supreme Court (Mahkamah Agung) is the highest court for most civil and criminal matters and handles final appeals and case reviews. The Constitutional Court (Mahkamah Konstitusi) reviews constitutional questions and resolves certain political and electoral disputes. The Religious Court (Pengadilan Agama) hears Islamic personal-law cases for Muslims. The Judicial Commission (Komisi Yudisial) has a supporting role in the judicial system, including oversight related to judicial conduct.

Parties and elections

Main articles: List of political parties in Indonesia and Elections in Indonesia

Prabowo Subianto
President

Gibran Rakabuming Raka
Vice President

Since 1999, electoral politics in Indonesia have been characterised by a competitive multi-party system in which no party has secured an outright majority of seats in legislative elections. Presidents have generally governed through broad coalitions, making power-sharing a recurring feature of national politics.

Political parties are often grouped into secular-nationalist and Islamic-oriented currents, but governing coalitions have often crossed these boundaries. Studies of Indonesian party politics describe a system shaped by coalition-building, patronage, and weak programmatic differentiation, while also noting ideological differences on religious issues. Governing coalitions are often oversized, and opposition parties have at times been incorporated into presidential power-sharing arrangements.

Indonesia held its first general election in 1955, and since 2004 has directly elected both its president and legislature for five-year terms. Members of the DPR are elected through party-based contests, while members of the DPD are elected on a non-partisan basis to represent provincial constituencies. Indonesia's archipelagic geography, dispersed population, and remote communities create logistical challenges for national elections, including the distribution of ballots and electoral materials across difficult terrain.

Administrative divisions

Main article: Subdivisions of Indonesia

Indonesia is a unitary state with a multi-tiered system of regional government extending from provinces to villages. At the highest subnational level are provinces, each governed by an elected governor (gubernur) and a provincial legislature (Dewan Perwakilan Rakyat Daerah, DPRD). Provinces are subdivided into regencies (kabupaten) and cities (kota), which are headed by elected regents (bupati) and mayors (wali kota) and supported by local legislatures (DPRD Kabupaten/Kota).

Since the implementation of regional autonomy after 1998, substantial authority has been devolved to local governments, especially at the regency and city level. Below regencies and cities are districts (kecamatan), which are subdivided into villages. These include self-governing rural villages (desa) and administratively subordinate urban villages (kelurahan).

Several provinces have special or asymmetric status, with arrangements that vary by province. Aceh has authority to implement aspects of Islamic law; Jakarta has a distinct status linked to its role as the national capital; and Yogyakarta retains a hereditary sultanate within the republican system. In Papua, special autonomy includes institutions for indigenous representation, notably the Papuan People's Assembly.

Aceh

North
Sumatra

West
Sumatra

Riau

Riau
Islands

Bangka
Belitung

Jambi

South
Sumatra

Bengkulu

Lampung

Banten

Jakarta
↓

West
Java

Central
Java

↑
Yogyakarta

East
Java

Bali

West
Nusa
Tenggara

East Nusa
Tenggara

West
Kalimantan

Central
Kalimantan

North
Kalimantan

East
Kalimantan

South
Kalimantan

North
Sulawesi

North
Maluku

Central
Sulawesi

Gorontalo
↓

West
Sulawesi

South
Sulawesi

Southeast
Sulawesi

Maluku

Southwest
Papua

West
Papua

Central
Papua

Papua

Highland
Papua

South
Papua

Foreign relations

Main article: Foreign relations of Indonesia

Jakarta hosts the headquarters of ASEAN.

Indonesia follows an "independent and active" (bebas aktif) foreign policy, a doctrine associated with Mohammad Hatta's 1948 formulation. The doctrine has been interpreted as a flexible approach to great-power politics, centred on national interest, external autonomy, and active diplomacy rather than formal alignment. Scholars commonly describe Indonesia as a middle power, with diplomacy shaped by regional leadership, multilateral engagement, and concern for autonomy in international politics.

As the largest country in Southeast Asia and a founding member of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), Indonesia treats the organisation as the cornerstone of its foreign policy and a main platform for regional diplomacy. Its wider diplomacy includes longstanding support for Palestine and the absence of formal diplomatic relations with Israel, although informal contacts and trade links have existed. Indonesia has also sought to manage competition between China and the United States, with analysts describing its approach in terms of hedging, strategic autonomy, and a preference for avoiding great-power conflict.

Indonesia has been a member of the United Nations since 1950, apart from a brief period of non-participation in 1965–1966. It participates in major multilateral forums, including the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM), the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), and the East Asia Summit. After decades as a major recipient of foreign aid, Indonesia has also developed a role as a provider of development assistance, establishing its own foreign aid agency in 2019. Since 1957, it has contributed military and police personnel to UN peacekeeping missions, including Lebanon, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Mali.

Military

Main articles: Indonesian National Armed Forces and Military history of Indonesia

Indonesian Military Academy cadets

The Indonesian National Armed Forces (TNI) consists of the Army (TNI-AD), Navy (TNI-AL) (including the Marine Corps), and Air Force (TNI-AU), with active personnel numbering approximately 300,400 in the Army, 65,000 in the Navy, and 30,100 in the Air Force. The army emerged from the Indonesian National Revolution with claims to revolutionary legitimacy and a contested relationship with civilian control. The TNI later developed a territorial command structure extending across the country, giving it a role in both defence and internal security.

During the New Order, the military exercised a formal political role under a doctrine known as "dual function" (dwifungsi). Post-1998 reforms ended the military's formal parliamentary representation and reduced its overt role in politics, but studies of civil-military relations have continued to note the TNI's institutional influence and incomplete reform. Military business interests have also remained a recurring concern in discussions of reform. Defence spending has remained below 1% of GDP since 2007, while analysts have linked Indonesia's procurement difficulties to the gap between capability ambitions and budgetary limits.

Since independence, Indonesia has faced separatist movements and insurgencies, notably in Aceh and Papua. The insurgency in Aceh ended in 2005, while Papua has remained a conflict area in which special autonomy and security policy have been central issues. Human rights organisations and UN mechanisms have reported abuses in Papua, including extrajudicial killings, forced disappearances and restrictions on freedom of expression.

Law enforcement and human rights

Main articles: Indonesian National Police and Human rights in Indonesia

Riots on the streets of Jakarta on 14 May 1998, part of a wave of civil unrest that involved attacks on property and individuals associated with the ethnic Chinese community.

Law enforcement in Indonesia is primarily carried out by the Indonesian National Police (POLRI), which operates under the direct authority of the President. Its responsibilities include maintaining public order and security, enforcing criminal law, and supervising civil-servant investigators and specialised policing functions.

Major themes in scholarly and human-rights reporting include communal violence, minority discrimination, and the accountability of state institutions. Studies have documented anti-Chinese racism and Papuan experiences of racism and political mobilisation, while post-Suharto communal violence has affected several regions. Research has also linked the transmigration program to ethnic and religious tensions in parts of Kalimantan and Maluku. Religious minorities and LGBTQ individuals have also faced discriminatory regulations and social hostility, including what scholars have described as anti-LGBT moral-panic discourse.

The National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM), established in 1993, is Indonesia's primary independent body for monitoring and investigating human-rights abuses. Although its mandate makes it an important part of the rights-protection framework, observers have noted limits arising from internal problems and the refusal of some state bodies to cooperate with it.

Economy

Main articles: Economy of Indonesia, Agriculture in Indonesia, and Poverty in Indonesia

Palm oil plantation in Kampar Regency, Riau. Indonesia is the world's largest producer of palm oil.

Morowali Industrial Park hosting primarily nickel-related industries in Morowali Regency, Central Sulawesi. Indonesia is the world's largest producer of nickel.

Indonesia operates a mixed economy in which the private sector and the government both have substantial roles. It is the only G20 member state in Southeast Asia, has the region's largest economy by GDP, ranking among the top 20 in nominal terms and the top 10 by purchasing power parity, and is classified as a newly industrialised country. Services and industry account for the largest shares of gross domestic product, while agriculture remains a major source of employment.

The structure of the economy has changed considerably since independence. It was initially predominantly agrarian before industrialisation and urbanisation accelerated from the late 1960s. Manufacturing and non-oil exports expanded in the 1980s and 1990s, during a period of rapid growth and falling poverty. The Asian financial crisis caused a severe contraction, followed by a recovery shaped by post-crisis reforms in banking, fiscal policy, and exchange-rate management.

The domestic market is an important source of demand, supported by Indonesia's large population and consumer base. It has helped Indonesia withstand global shocks, including the 2008 financial crisis and the post-COVID-19 pandemic recovery. At the same time, the economy includes a large informal sector, productivity constraints, uneven access to development gains, and governance challenges.

Several sectors illustrate the economy's wider structure beyond aggregate output and trade. Tourism is an important service industry and source of foreign-currency earnings, though international tourism remains concentrated in Bali and other major gateways. Scientific and technological capability has developed partly through state-backed strategic industries, including aircraft manufacturing and shipbuilding. Transport infrastructure is shaped by the need to connect major corridors, islands, and more remote regions, while energy policy spans fossil-fuel production, electricity provision, and the transition toward renewables.

Indonesia's archipelagic geography affects the spatial distribution of economic activity and the movement of goods across the country. The need to connect thousands of islands raises transport and logistics costs, influences where production and investment are located, and complicates the integration of regional markets. Economic activity is heavily concentrated on Java, while many outer regions have weaker infrastructure and less diversified local economies.

Natural resources remain economically important. Recent industrial policy has sought to use resource endowments, especially minerals such as nickel, to expand downstream processing. Extractive industries produce commodities such as coal, petroleum, and natural gas, while agricultural exports include palm oil, coffee, and spices. The country also imports refined petroleum products and industrial inputs, and its major trade partners are primarily in Asia, alongside the United States.

The country's external economic ties are reinforced through regional and global frameworks, including ASEAN economic cooperation and APEC. Studies of trade liberalisation in Indonesia have linked tariff reductions to firm productivity, labour-market outcomes, and poverty effects.

Tourism

Main article: Tourism in Indonesia

Borobudur in Central Java, part of the Borobudur Temple Compounds World Heritage Site.

Tourism is an important service industry and one of Indonesia's main sources of foreign-currency earnings. In 2023, the sector generated about US$14 billion in foreign-exchange earnings and recorded 11.6 million international visitor arrivals. The sector supports employment and enterprise across services such as accommodation, food, transport, and related activities. International tourism remains concentrated in Bali and other major gateways, while domestic tourism accounts for most tourism expenditure. Efforts to expand tourism beyond established destinations have been linked to infrastructure, skills, business-climate, and sustainability challenges.

Indonesia's tourism assets include natural, cultural, and historical sites across the archipelago. Its UNESCO World Heritage Sites include Komodo National Park and the Cosmological Axis of Yogyakarta, while sites on the tentative list include Bunaken National Park and the Raja Ampat Islands. Within this wider range, Bali remains the country's principal destination for foreign tourists. Historical and urban heritage tourism also includes Dutch colonial heritage in Jakarta and Semarang.

Science and technology

Main article: Science and technology in Indonesia

The Palapa satellite system, first launched in 1976 with U.S. assistance, expanded domestic communications across the archipelago.

Research and development expenditure in Indonesia has historically remained a small share of GDP. Reviews of Indonesian research and innovation policy have identified limited financing, fragmented policy structures, and uneven technology adoption as constraints on scientific and technological development.

Indonesia has pursued technological capability partly through state-backed strategic industries. Aircraft manufacturing and shipbuilding are recurring examples: Indonesian Aerospace and PAL Indonesia have developed capabilities through technology transfer, licensed production, and international collaboration, while studies of both sectors note continuing constraints in competitiveness, design capability, components, and scale.

Indonesia established the National Institute of Aeronautics and Space (LAPAN) in 1963. Satellite programmes have supported domestic communications, remote sensing, and maritime monitoring, including the use of Automatic Identification System data from LAPAN-A2 and LAPAN-A3 satellites. LAPAN also conducted suborbital rocket and propellant research in support of longer-term launcher development.

Infrastructure

See also: List of main infrastructure projects in Indonesia

Transport

Main article: Transport in Indonesia

Opened in 2023, Whoosh links Jakarta and Bandung and is the first high-speed railway in Southeast Asia.

Indonesia's transport system is shaped by its archipelagic geography and uneven settlement pattern. Transport assessments identify connectivity, logistics costs, and regional access as recurring challenges in moving people and goods across the country. Networks are most extensive on Java, while sea, river, and air transport remain important for many inter-island and remote-area links. Studies have linked port connectivity and logistics performance to internal trade, food-price disparities, and national logistics costs.

Land transport is most developed along the country's main population and economic corridors, especially on Java. In cities, formal public transport often coexists with informal and semi-formal modes, including rickshaws such as bajaj and becak, shared taxis such as angkot, minibuses, and motorcycle taxis. Limited public-transport capacity and quality have contributed to reliance on private vehicles, especially motorcycles and cars, while ride-hailing services have become part of urban mobility.

Rail transport is concentrated on Java and Sumatra, with recent expansion into South Sulawesi. In the most densely populated urban regions, commuter and rapid-transit systems, including the Greater Jakarta commuter network, Jakarta MRT, and Palembang LRT, have become part of public-transport development. In 2023, Indonesia opened its first high-speed rail line, Whoosh, linking Jakarta and Bandung through a project developed in collaboration with China.

Maritime and air transport provide long-distance links beyond the main land corridors. Air transport supports domestic and international connectivity, with Soekarno–Hatta International Airport serving as the country's main international gateway and Ngurah Rai and Juanda International Airport among other major airports. Maritime transport remains important to inter-island trade and logistics, with the Port of Tanjung Priok serving as the country's principal port and handling over half of Indonesia's trans-shipment cargo traffic.

Energy

Main article: Energy in Indonesia

Sidrap wind farm, Indonesia's first wind power plant, in Sidrap Regency, South Sulawesi

Indonesia is a major energy producer and consumer. Industry and transport account for large shares of final energy consumption, while electricity provision is centred on the state-owned State Electricity Company (Perusahaan Listrik Negara, PLN), whose role has been central to debates over power-sector reform and the energy transition. Indonesia's geography and uneven settlement pattern also affect electrification, off-grid power options, and supply reliability in some regions.

Total installed power generation capacity in 2023 was 70.8 gigawatts (GW). Coal is the largest source of electricity, and the wider energy mix remains dominated by fossil fuels, including natural gas and oil. Renewables account for a smaller share of supply, although Indonesia has significant hydropower, solar, and geothermal potential. It is also among the world's major geothermal producers.

Indonesia exports energy commodities, including coal and liquefied natural gas, while also importing refined petroleum products. Although historically a leading LNG supplier, Indonesia has increasingly sought to use more domestic natural gas and expand gas infrastructure. Domestic energy policy therefore spans both resource production and the provision of reliable, affordable energy across the archipelago.

Energy-transition policy and research have focused on increasing the share of renewables and reducing emissions, but studies identify continuing constraints from coal dependence, investment conditions, regulatory uncertainty, PLN's financial position, grid infrastructure, and remote-area electrification.

Demographics

Main articles: Demographics of Indonesia and Indonesians

See also: List of Indonesian cities by population and List of metropolitan areas in Indonesia

A map of districts (kecamatan) coloured by population density as measured by person per square kilometres

Indonesia has a large and unevenly distributed population. With a population of 270.2 million according to the 2020 census, Indonesia ranks as the world's fourth most populous country behind India, China and the United States. Its population size provides important context for the country's economy, urban growth, and public-service needs.

Population density varies sharply across the archipelago, from dense metropolitan areas to sparsely populated regions. Java is home to 56% of the population, making it the country's demographic centre. Its population density is far above the national average, reaching 1,171 people per square kilometre (3,030 people/mi²).

Indonesia maintains a relatively young demographic profile, with a median age of 31.5 years as of 2024. This age structure has been discussed in relation to long-term economic potential, while urban growth has placed pressure on infrastructure and city governance. In the same year, approximately 59% of Indonesians lived in urban areas. Jakarta is the country's primate city and, based on United Nations estimates, the world's most populous city, with nearly 42 million inhabitants. Studies of Indonesian urbanisation link urban growth to migration, economic concentration, and the expansion of metropolitan regions, especially on Java.

About 8 million Indonesians reside overseas, with large communities in Malaysia, the Netherlands, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, and Taiwan. Relative to the country's large population, few Indonesians have expressed a desire to emigrate permanently, with a 2022 OECD report citing a figure of less than 3%, the lowest in ASEAN. The OECD links this pattern to the predominance of temporary labour migration and movement to nearby or culturally and religiously familiar destinations, including Malaysia and Saudi Arabia.

Largest cities in Indonesia 2023 BPS estimate
Rank	Name	Province	Pop.	Rank	Name	Province	Pop.
1	Jakarta	Special Capital Region	11,135,191	11	South Tangerang	Banten	1,429,529
2	Surabaya	East Java	3,017,382	12	Batam	Riau Islands	1,294,548
3	Bandung	West Java	2,579,837	13	Pekanbaru	Riau	1,138,530
4	Medan	North Sumatra	2,539,829	14	Bogor	West Java	1,137,018
5	Bekasi	West Java	2,526,133	15	Bandar Lampung	Lampung	1,073,451
6	Depok	West Java	1,967,831	16	Padang	West Sumatra	939,851
7	Tangerang	Banten	1,927,815	17	Malang	East Java	885,271
8	Palembang	South Sumatra	1,781,672	18	Samarinda	East Kalimantan	868,499
9	Semarang	Central Java	1,699,585	19	Tasikmalaya	West Java	761,080
10	Makassar	South Sulawesi	1,477,861	20	Denpasar	Bali	670,210

Ethnic groups and languages

Main articles: Ethnic groups in Indonesia, Native Indonesians, and Languages of Indonesia

A map of ethnic groups in Indonesia

Indonesia is home to around 600 distinct native ethnic groups. Most are associated with Austronesian-speaking populations, whose languages spread across the archipelago through a long process of migration, adaptation, and contact with existing communities. Melanesian and Papuan populations are concentrated mainly in eastern Indonesia. Indonesia's ethnic diversity has been a central subject in scholarship on national identity, multiculturalism, and nation-building.

The Javanese, making up about 40% of the population, are the largest ethnic group. They have held a prominent position in government, the military, and national politics, although scholars have noted a decline in their relative demographic dominance. Early Indonesian nationalism, however, did not define the nation through a single ethnic tradition, instead seeking to accommodate ethnic difference within a shared national framework. Other major groups include the Sundanese, Malay, Batak, Madurese, Betawi, Minangkabau, and Bugis.

The official language, Indonesian, is a standardized variety of Malay based on the prestige dialect of the Riau-Johor region. Malay had long served as a lingua franca in the archipelago before Indonesian nationalists promoted it in the 1920s through the Youth Pledge and it gained official status in 1945 under the name Bahasa Indonesia. Written in the Latin script, Indonesian has since been widely adopted through education, media, business, and governance, and serves as a common language across ethnic and regional boundaries.

Indonesia is also one of the world's most linguistically diverse countries, with more than 700 languages spoken across the archipelago. Most local languages belong to the Austronesian family, while eastern Indonesia includes more than 150 Papuan languages. Javanese is the most widely spoken local language and has official regional status in Yogyakarta. Several local languages also retain or have historically used distinct writing traditions. Local languages remain important to regional identity and cultural transmission, even as Indonesian dominates national public life.

Colonial-era European-descended communities were comparatively small. The Dutch and other European-descended populations, including the Indos, numbered around 200,000 in 1930. Dutch also left a limited linguistic legacy: Malay was already widely used as a lingua franca, and colonial policy promoted Malay while restricting Dutch-language education largely to Europeans and a small indigenous elite. Dutch fluency today is limited, although the language remains relevant to some civil and commercial codes whose official versions remain in Dutch.

Religion

Main article: Religion in Indonesia

A map of districts (kecamatan) coloured by plurality/majority religious affiliation and what percentage of citizens it represents

Baiturrahman Grand Mosque in Banda Aceh, Aceh

A Hindu prayer ceremony at Besakih Temple in Bali, the only province where Hinduism is the predominant religion

Indonesia officially recognises six religions: Islam, Protestantism, Roman Catholicism, Hinduism, Buddhism, and Confucianism, while acknowledging religious freedom in the constitution. As of 2024, 87.1% of the population (244 million Indonesians) are Muslims, making Indonesia the world's most populous Muslim-majority country, with Sunnis constituting 99% of the Muslim population. Christians, comprising 10% of the population, form majorities in several eastern provinces, while Hinduism is concentrated in Bali and Buddhism has long been associated with Chinese Indonesian communities.

The state's approach to religion combines constitutional protection, official recognition, and public regulation of religious life. Pancasila places belief in one God within the state ideology and is often invoked in official discussions of religious harmony. At the same time, observers have noted continuing religious intolerance and discrimination, including against religious minorities and followers of indigenous religions, officially known as aliran kepercayaan or cultural belief systems.

Before the arrival of major world religions, many communities in the archipelago practised local belief systems centred on ancestral spirits and supernatural forces associated with the natural landscape. Traditions such as Sunda Wiwitan, Kejawèn, and Kaharingan have continued within or alongside the recognised religions. The interaction between local traditions and world religions has produced varied religious practices, especially in Java and Bali.

Hinduism and Buddhism were the first major world religions to take root in the archipelago, spreading through early kingdoms and later polities such as Srivijaya and Majapahit. Muslim traders were present along the shores of the archipelago from at least the 8th century, and local Muslim communities and sultanates later developed from the 13th and 14th centuries onward. Islamisation spread through overlapping commercial, political, and religious networks, including trade, religious teachers, and the growth of Islamic sultanates. Traditions surrounding the Wali Sanga remain especially important in Javanese accounts of Islamisation.

Christianity expanded through Catholic and Protestant missionary activity under European colonial rule, with its development varying across regions and denominations. It became most deeply rooted in parts of eastern Indonesia, while remaining a minority religion nationally. Small Jewish communities also existed in the archipelago, but their numbers have remained negligible since Indonesian independence.

Education

Main article: Education in Indonesia

University of Indonesia is one of Indonesia's leading public universities.

Indonesia has one of the largest education systems in the world, with over 50 million students and more than 250,000 schools. The system is overseen across ministries responsible for school education, higher education, and religious education, and follows a 6-3-3-4 structure: six years of elementary school, three years each of junior and senior secondary school, and four years of tertiary education.

Since independence, education has also served as a means of national integration through a shared curriculum, the use of Indonesian, and civic instruction. Providing schools, teachers, and learning resources remains difficult across Indonesia's unevenly developed regions, especially given its scale and archipelagic geography. Enrolment is highest at the primary level and lower at the secondary and tertiary levels.

Government spending on education accounted for approximately 1.3% of GDP in 2023. In 2022, there were 4,481 higher education institutions in the country, including universities, Islamic institutions, service colleges, and open universities. The University of Indonesia, Gadjah Mada University, and the Bandung Institute of Technology are among the country's most prominent public universities. Higher education is linked to skilled-workforce development and research capacity, but access and quality remain uneven.

Common challenges include unequal access, uneven infrastructure, teacher shortages in some rural areas, and weak learning outcomes relative to the expansion of schooling. These disparities are tied to broader regional and socioeconomic inequalities, with educational access and outcomes generally stronger in more developed, urban, and western parts of the country than in many rural and eastern areas. International assessments have also pointed to low proficiency levels in reading, mathematics, and science among many Indonesian students.

Healthcare

Main article: Healthcare in Indonesia

Dr. Cipto Mangunkusumo Hospital in Jakarta

Indonesia's healthcare system has expanded substantially since independence. In 1945, healthcare services were limited by shortages of doctors, hospitals, and infrastructure. Later expansion increased the reach of public health facilities, although the country's scale, archipelagic geography, and uneven development have left disparities in access, quality, and facilities.

Beginning in the late 1960s, the government expanded basic healthcare through community health centres (puskesmas) in rural areas. Immunisation programmes introduced with support from the World Health Organization in the 1970s and 1980s became part of Indonesia's disease-control efforts, including the polio-eradication programme. A major institutional change came in 2014 with the launch of Jaminan Kesehatan Nasional (JKN), a universal health care system managed by the Social Security Agency on Health (BPJS Kesehatan). JKN is one of the world's largest single-payer health-insurance systems, covering over 98% of the population by 2024, but service quality, infrastructure, referral systems, and specialist care remain uneven.

Current health expenditure accounted for 2.69% of GDP in 2022. Health services are delivered through puskesmas, hospitals, and private providers. Indonesia has achieved major public-health gains, including an increase in life expectancy from 54.9 years in 1973 to 71.1 years in 2023, a decline in child mortality from 15.5 deaths per 100 live births in 1972 to 2.1 deaths in 2022, and polio-eradication certification in 2014, though sustaining immunisation has remained a continuing concern.

Alongside these gains, Indonesia faces a changing burden of disease. Chronic non-communicable diseases have become increasingly important, while air pollution and climate-sensitive vector-borne diseases remain public-health concerns. Other major issues include child stunting, which affected 21.6% of children under five according to 2022 data, and maternal health, with Indonesia's maternal mortality rate remaining high by regional standards.

Culture

Main article: Culture of Indonesia

See also: National Intangible Cultural Heritage of Indonesia and Public holidays in Indonesia

Cultural traditions in the Indonesian archipelago have developed through long interaction between local societies and outside influences. They draw on Austronesian and Melanesian heritage, as well as contact with the Indian subcontinent, China, the Middle East, and Europe through trade, migration, religion, and colonial rule.

Historically, Indonesia has been marked less by a single uniform culture than by related regional traditions tied to language, ethnicity, religion, and local history. These traditions include varied forms of performance, visual art, ritual, and social practice, many of which remain closely connected to regional identity. Modern popular culture has also developed through mass media, commercial entertainment, and transnational cultural exchange. Indonesia currently has 16 items recognised by UNESCO as Intangible Cultural Heritage, including wayang puppet theatre, batik, angklung, the saman dance, and pencak silat, with recent joint nominations adding pantun, kebaya, and kolintang to the list.

Art and architecture

Main articles: Indonesian art and Architecture of Indonesia

Further information: Indonesian painting

The Arrest of Pangeran Diponegoro (1857) by Raden Saleh

Indonesian visual arts include a wide range of traditional and contemporary forms shaped by regional traditions and historical exchange. Traditional forms are often connected to ritual, court culture, religious practice, social status, and local identity.

Among regional traditions, Balinese painting includes classical Kamasan and Wayang-style narrative forms. Architecture is similarly varied, with vernacular houses often carrying social, ritual, ancestral, and symbolic meanings. Regional house forms (rumah adat) include Toraja's Tongkonan, Minangkabau's Rumah Gadang, Java's Pendopo, and Dayak longhouses.

Sculptural traditions include megalithic sites in parts of Sumatra, Sulawesi, and eastern Indonesia, as well as woodcarving traditions associated with communities such as the Ngaju Dayak and Asmat. In Java, Hindu-Buddhist courts and religious communities produced major works of stone sculpture and temple architecture between roughly the 8th and 15th centuries. Borobudur and Prambanan are among the most prominent surviving examples of this architectural heritage.

Music, dance and clothing

Main articles: Music of Indonesia, Dance in Indonesia, and National costume of Indonesia

An Indonesian batik

Indonesian music and dance include court, folk, ritual, and popular forms. Older regional ensemble traditions include gamelan and angklung, while other local traditions use drums, gongs, lutes, singing, and dance-accompaniment music across the archipelago. Later genres show outside influences, including Islamic devotional and Middle Eastern-derived forms such as the gambus and qasida, keroncong, and dangdut, which combines Malay, Indian, Arabic, and Western elements.

Dance traditions vary by region and function. Some are associated with ritual and trance, including Hudoq and other mask or shamanic performances, while others developed in courtly, theatrical, and local performance settings in Java, Bali, Dayak communities, and other regions. Contemporary dance scenes also include locally adapted global forms, including K-pop cover dance in Bali and hip-hop communities in Yogyakarta.

Clothing traditions vary widely across the archipelago and are closely associated with regional identity, ceremony, and formal social life. Batik and kebaya are among the most widely recognised dress forms associated with national and formal occasions, with strong roots in Javanese culture. Other regional textiles and clothing traditions include the Batak ulos, Malay and Minangkabau songket, and Sasak ikat, often worn or displayed in ceremonies, weddings, and formal events.

Theatre and cinema

Main articles: Cinema of Indonesia and Theatre of Indonesia

Further information: List of highest-grossing films in Indonesia

The Pandavas and Krishna in an act of the Wayang Wong performance

Traditional Indonesian theatre includes performance forms that combine storytelling, music, movement, and visual art. Wayang shadow puppetry is among the best-known forms, often drawing on Hindu epics such as the Ramayana and Mahabharata in performances led by a dalang and accompanied by music. Wayang performances have carried moral, ritual, comic, and political meanings in different settings.

Other theatrical traditions include Ludruk, Ketoprak, Sandiwara, and Lenong. Regional forms include the Minangkabau Randai, which combines music, dance, drama, and martial arts (silat) in performances of legends and historical narratives. Balinese masked dance theatre, including topeng, has also been adapted for modern stories and contemporary performance. In the modern period, theatre groups such as Teater Koma used satire and stage performance to address social and political themes, especially during the late New Order period.

Indonesian cinema began during the Dutch colonial period with Loetoeng Kasaroeng (1926), and post-independence filmmaking developed through figures such as Usmar Ismail. During the Sukarno era, film was drawn into nationalism and anti-colonial politics, while New Order cinema operated under censorship and state regulation. Film production remained active in the 1980s but declined sharply in the 1990s.

After 1998, Indonesian filmmaking revived through independent productions and later mainstream growth. Films such as Kuldesak (1999) and Ada Apa dengan Cinta? (2002) are often discussed as part of this post-Suharto renewal. Filmmakers addressed themes that had been difficult under New Order censorship, including sexuality, religion, ethnicity, corruption, and political violence, although censorship and self-censorship continued to affect the industry. The Indonesian Film Festival (Festival Film Indonesia), first held in 1955, has served as the country's main national film-awards event.

Literature and mass media

Main articles: Indonesian literature and Mass media in Indonesia

Pramoedya Ananta Toer

Indonesian literature includes oral narrative, court and religious writing, and modern works in Indonesian and regional languages. Early literary traditions ranged from Sanskrit inscriptions and oral storytelling to written forms such as syair, pantun, hikayat, and babad. Notable works in these traditions include Hikayat Hang Tuah and Babad Tanah Jawi.

Modern Indonesian writing began to develop in the early 20th century, closely associated with print culture, the spread of Malay/Indonesian, and the colonial publishing house Balai Pustaka. Early modern literature included a prominent Sumatran and Minangkabau presence, while later writers such as Chairil Anwar, Pramoedya Ananta Toer, and Ayu Utami became associated with different phases of modern Indonesian literature.

Indonesian media has been shaped by state regulation, commercial ownership, and technological change. During the New Order, print and broadcast media operated under licensing, censorship, and official efforts to promote national culture. After 1998, press freedom expanded, although legal and political pressures on journalism persisted. Internet use began in the early 1990s, grew rapidly after 2000, and reshaped mainstream media through digital news consumption, platform convergence, and shorter online formats. By 2023, Indonesia had more than 210 million internet users, with mobile phones as the primary point of access.

Cuisine

Main article: Indonesian cuisine

Nasi Padang with rendang, gulai, and vegetables is one of the Minangkabau cuisines.

Indonesian cuisine varies across the archipelago and is linked to regional identity, local agriculture, trade, and everyday social life. Its food traditions have incorporated indigenous practices as well as ingredients and techniques introduced through contact with India, China, the Middle East, Portugal, the Netherlands, and other regions.

Rice is the main staple food across much of the archipelago and is typically served with side dishes of meat, vegetables, or fish. Common ingredients and seasonings include chilli, coconut milk, shrimp paste, peanuts, garlic, shallots, tamarind, fish, and chicken. Soy-based foods such as tempeh and tahu are also widely used, especially in Java and Bali.

Some popular dishes, such as nasi goreng, gado-gado, mie, and sate, are widely consumed throughout the country. Regional cuisines remain strongly associated with local origins, including Minangkabau dishes such as rendang. Tumpeng, a Javanese ceremonial rice dish, has been described as an icon of Indonesian traditional cuisine.

Sports

Main articles: Sports in Indonesia and Indonesian martial arts

A demonstration of pencak silat, a form of martial arts

Sports in Indonesia include international team and individual disciplines as well as regional games and martial traditions. Association football draws wide public interest and has a large spectator following. Indonesia was the first Asian representative to appear at the FIFA World Cup, taking part in the 1938 tournament as the Dutch East Indies.

Badminton has been one of Indonesia's most successful international sports. The country is among the few to have won both the Thomas and Uber Cups, the world team championships of men's and women's badminton. Together with weightlifting, badminton has contributed much of Indonesia's Olympic medal success. Basketball also has a long organised history in the country, having appeared at the first National Sports Week in 1948 before the national basketball association was founded in 1951.

Some traditional sports and games are closely associated with local ceremony, prestige, and regional identity. Examples include sepak takraw, bull racing (karapan sapi) in Madura, and ritual combat traditions such as caci in Flores and pasola in Sumba. Pencak silat is an Indonesian martial art and was included as an official event at the 2018 Asian Games, where Indonesia won most of the sport's gold medals.

See also

• List of Indonesia-related topics
• Outline of Indonesia

References

Bibliography

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• Whitten, T.; Soeriaatmadja, R.E.; Suraya, A.A. (1996). The Ecology of Java and Bali. Hong Kong: Periplus Editions.

Further reading

• Cribb, R. (2013). Historical atlas of Indonesia. Routledge.
• Fossati, D.; Hui, Y-F. (2017). The Indonesia national survey project: Economy, society and politics. ISEAS Publishing.

External links

• Key Development Forecasts for Indonesia from International Futures

Government

• Government Archived 12 May 2025 at the Wayback Machine – Official website of the Government of Indonesia
• Presidency – official website of the president of Indonesia
• Vice President – official website of the vice president of Indonesia
• People's Consultative Assembly – official website of People's Consultative Assembly of the Republic of Indobesia
• Regional Representative Council Archived 3 December 2016 at the Wayback Machine – official website of Indonesia Regional Representative Council
• House of Representatives Archived 4 February 2012 at the Wayback Machine – official website of Indonesia House of Representatives
• Supreme Court – official website of the Supreme Court of Indonesia
• Constitutional Court – official website of the Constitutional Court of Indonesia
• Statistics – official website of Statistics Indonesia

History

• "History" – Indonesian history at Repositori Institusi

Tourism

• Wonderful Indonesia Archived 27 April 2025 at the Wayback Machine – Indonesia's official tourism portal

Maps

• Wikimedia Atlas of Indonesia
• Geographic data related to Indonesia at OpenStreetMap