Wonderful Indonesia

For those of you living in Indonesia, we have to admit that this is a beautiful country, with stretches of islands and rich culture. Who doesn't love white sand beaches and blue waters to dive in? But of course, Indonesia is not only strips of beaches. It is also bustling cities with its complex dilemma.

With more than 270 million population - according to detik.com, Indonesia is number #4 most populated country in the world, containing 18.34% of the world population! No wonder it offers diversity and wide opportunities. In here, you can run your imagination wild from opening a street cafe to a restaurant owner, from being a motorbike taxi driver to an owner of an IT business.

Indonesia is not just beautiful.. as the headline says: its wonderful!

Indonesian Archipelago

Indonesia is a whopping 1,904,569 square kilometres. There are 17,504 islands in Indonesia 9,634 of which are yet to be named. It has 5 major islands called Sumatra, Kalimantan (co-own with Malaysia and Brunei Darussalam), Java, Sulawesi and Papua (co-own with Papua New Guinea). If you are feeling adventurous, you can travel on land for 5.307,32 km and sea on for 3.206,9 km. This is a big country to travel, the longest flight is from Aceh (North Sumatra) to Jayapura (Papua) - around 11,5 hours. I don't have to mention how long it takes to travel by land or sea, it's a lot of hours! Oh ya.. for those who are just now learning about Indonesia, you are probably more familiar with Bali, Komodo Islands and Raja Ampat. Yes, they are part of Indonesia. Those are just a few from many beautiful islands that Indonesia can offer. I'm actually quite surprised that some people only know those islands..

There are still so many places to explore and experience so many places to introduce to the world...

For those who are keen to explore Indonesia, we do have partners who provide these trips. You may contact us for more info.

History & Culture

The history of this country goes back to 1,5 to 1,6 million years ago where the archaeologist found evidence of humans in this country. But let's not talk about prehistoric time, why don't we start where things become relevant to current culture? Let's start with Sumatra and Java where evidently many kingdoms once were, one of them was Tarumanegara (400 BCE) - one of the earliest Hindu kingdom in Indonesia, producing numerous inscriptions and marking the beginning of the historical period in Java.

Surprisingly, many early kingdoms in Kalimantan and Java has been influenced by Indian culture. The evidence showed itself in 200 BCE near the Mahakam river known as Mulavarman Inscription, believed to be one of the earliest sanskrit inscription. The plinths were written in Sanskrit language using the Pallava script of India.

But why influenced by Indian Culture?.. well..It turned out that starting from 300 BCE, many Indian dynasties such as Pallava, Pala, Gupta & Chola succeeded in Asia and introduced the region to Hinduism. Since then, many kingdoms like Srivijaya 700-1200 CE, Medang 800-1000 CE, Mataram 750-850 CE and Majapahit 1300-1500 CE thrived in Sumatra and Java.

Until now, we can see Hindus vast influence in a few regions in Indonesia, for example: Bali, Nusa Tenggara Barat and Lampung. They managed to preserve the tradition and belief that is now part of their culture. We can also see many historic temples visible across Indonesia, most notably Borobudur and Prambanan in Central Java (build by kingdom of Mataram). You have to try visiting these places, it's magnificent!

Another noteworthy mention is the Islam influence that came with some of the merchants in 13.000 CE around Sumatra. Why Sumatra? Well..first of all, the Islamic merchants who were mostly from Turkey was traveling to Malacca for trading and was traveling alongside the Sumatra island. That is why we can see the similarities in culture between Malaysia and some areas in Sumatra. Interesting fact is, that we can find some of Sumatra's kingdom stories mentioned in Malacca's city history within the Malacca museum of history. This actually validates the connection between Malaysia and Indonesia.

Anyways, the eminent Islamic kingdoms in Indonesian history are Mataram 1500-1600 CE and Banten 1500 -1800 CE where the tale of "Sunan" emerged from across Java.

Government

At the beginning of year 1600 is what the Indonesians called "Colonial Era". This is when the Dutch came to Indonesia, even though the Portuguese, French and British were also here, the Dutch were the ones who made a great impact to the country. They were here for 350 years!

The dutch occupied and united the country by colonising Sumatra, Java, Kalimantan, Sulawesi and Papua. This is why Indonesia's territory is so wide. Thanks to the Dutch.

But hey.. no thanks.. why? The Indonesians didn't like them. Well... who could blame them? The Dutch colonised with fear and terror. Nobody likes being owned by others. You can find many stories related to this era and won't like it. In fact, the Dutch king Willem-Alexander apologised to the people and government of Indonesia in his recent visit in 2020 with a promise to help re-building or developing the country.

More Dutch contributions can be found in the school system, organisation and government structure. For example: they made the trade association called V.O.C ( Dutch East India Company) in 1700s which developed to what we now call the Indonesian Trade. The military was marked with KNIL (Koninklijke Nederlands(ch)-Indische Leger) in 1800s which is now TNI ("Tentara Nasional Indonesia").

From the architecture side, we can see many beautiful buildings across Jakarta, such as in "Kota" or "Pelabuhan" areas. Give those areas a visit and you will be mesmerised by its rich history.

The Japanese came in 1940s. Their occupancy was short, but it was the most cruel. Why? They literally treat the people like garbage with murder, prostitution, kidnapping, etc., Sad right?

But the good news is, after the 1st Political movement by the local "Bumiputera", the Japanese helped Indonesia reach independence in 1945 which was marked by the 1st President Soekarno's speech.

Indonesia NOW

With such a long and rich history, you can see why Indonesia is full of diversity. The government growth since independence are quite significant. We can see that they are constantly improving by creating better government systems every year.

During the Revolution, the government mostly focused on transitioning from being colonised to being an independent country. Registering in the UN (United Nation) and advertising as an independent nation. Within this era, many ideologies are formed; "Pancasila","UUD 45", National Symbol, National song, national flag, Government System, and so on...

During New order, many political organisations were formed. Unfortunately, it was marked with dark times. The "G-30 SPKI" kidnapped and killed many government officials and tried to revoke the government.

In 1999, Indonesia had some democratic movement with democratic elections from smaller districts to Presidential. In these times, Indonesian government was well knows as "KKN" (Corruption, Collision and Nepotism), which probably had something to do with the long president residency of Soeharto, so from then on presidency was limited to 2 terms (1 term is 5 years).

Now (as in 2021) with Jokowi as President, I must say that things are getting much better. For a start, Public transportation! Jakarta was knows as one of the most congested city for the past few years but not anymore. Thanks to a much more comfortable Busway, LRT, MRT and KRL system in Jakarta, people are enjoying public transportation and gladly leaving their vehicles at home.

Anyways, I can go on for hours and several more pages, but I should probably stop here. For Expats who are living here, although much hassle is still visible in public service, it is improving..

My suggestion to make your life easier is - find local friends! The Indonesians are famous for its lifestyle, hospitality, and willing-to-help attitude (if its free or paid is a totally different story ;)..