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Extensible Markup Language | 1995-06-15 | 6KB | 19 lines

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8" ?> <!DOCTYPE card PUBLIC "-//Apple, Inc.//DTD card V 2.0//EN" "" > <card> <id>23419</id> <filler1>0</filler1> <cantDelete> <false /> </cantDelete> <showPict> <true /> </showPict> <dontSearch> <false /> </dontSearch> <owner>5472</owner> <link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="stylesheet_3106.css" /> <content> <layer>background</layer> <id>31</id> <text>INDONESIAOfficial name: Republik Indonesia (Republic of Indonesia)Member of: UN, ASEAN, OPEC, ApecArea: 1919317 km2 (741052 sq mi) ΓÇô including East Timor which has an area of 14874 km2 (5743 sq mi) ΓÇô or 1904443 km2 (735309 sq mi) excluding East TimorPopulation: 188216000 (1993 est) ΓÇô including East Timor which has a population of 748 000 (1990 census)Capital: Jakarta 7836000 (including suburbs; 1985 est)Other major cities: Surabaya 2421000, Bandung 2027000, Medan 1686000, Semarang 1005000 (all including suburbs; 1985 est)Languages: Bahasa Indonesia (official), Javanese (34%), Sundanese (14%); Madurese (6%), about 26 other main languagesReligions: Sunni Islam (80%), Roman Catholic (3%), other Christians (7%), Hindu (2%)GOVERNMENTEvery five years elections are held by universal adult suffrage for 400 members of the House of Representatives; 100 additional members are chosen by the President. The PeopleΓÇÖs Consultative Assembly ΓÇô which comprises the House of Representatives plus 500 representatives of provincial governments, occupational and special interests ΓÇô meets every five years to oversee principles of state policy and to elect the President, who appoints a Cabinet.GEOGRAPHYIndonesia consists of nearly 3700 islands of which about 3000 are inhabited. The southern chain of mountainous, volcanic islands comprises Sumatra, Java with Madura, Bali and the Lesser Sunda Islands. Java and its smaller neighbor Madura are fertile and densely populated, containing nearly 65% of Indonesians. The northern chain comprises Kalimantan (the Indonesian sector of Borneo), the irregular mountainous island of Sulawesi (Celebes), the Moluccas group and Irian Jaya (western New Guinea), that contains the highest peak Ngga Pulu (or Carstenz Pyramid) at 5030 m (16503 ft). Over two thirds of the country is covered by tropical rain forests. Climate: The climate is tropical with heavy rainfall throughout the year.ECONOMYIndonesia has great mineral wealth ΓÇô petroleum, natural gas, tin, nickel and bauxite ΓÇô but is relatively poor because of its great population. Over 50% of Indonesians are subsistence farmers with rice being the major crop, but both estate and peasant farmers produce important quantities of rubber, tea, coffee and spices for export. Industry ΓÇô largely concerned with processing mineral and agricultural products ΓÇô is expanding and Indonesia achieved high economic growth rates in the 1980s and early 1990s. Currency: Rupiah.HISTORYIndian traders brought Hinduism to the East Indies (as Indonesia was formerly known) and by the 3rd century ad, Hindu kingdoms had been established in Java and Sumatra. Monks brought Buddhism from India, and both Hindu and Buddhist states flourished in the islands. The powerful Buddhist kingdom of Sri Vijaya on Sumatra (7thΓÇô13th centuries) was eclipsed by the Javan Hindu kingdom of Majapahit (13thΓÇô15th centuries). Arab traders brought Islam, which took the place of both established religions by the 16th century, while at the same time European incursions began. The struggle between the Portuguese, Dutch, Spanish and British for the rich spice trade ended in Dutch ascendancy in the 1620s. The East Indies became the major and most profitable part of the Dutch Empire.Except for a brief period of British occupation (1811ΓÇô14) and occasional local risings, the Netherlands retained control until 1942, when the Japanese invaded and were welcomed by most Indonesians as liberators from colonial rule. Upon JapanΓÇÖs surrender in 1945, Achmed Sukarno (1901ΓÇô70) ΓÇô the founder of the nationalist party in 1927 ΓÇô declared the Dutch East Indies to be the independent republic of Indonesia. Under international pressure, the Dutch accepted Indonesian independence (1949) after four years of intermittent but brutal fighting. SukarnoΓÇÖs rule became increasingly authoritarian and the country sank into economic chaos. In 1962 he seized Netherlands New Guinea, which was formally annexed as Irian Jaya in 1969, although a separatist movement persists. Between 1963 and 1966 Sukarno tried to destabilize the newly created Federation of Malaysia by armed incursions into North Borneo. General T.N.I. SuhartoΓÇÖs suppression of a Communist uprising in 1965ΓÇô66 enabled him to reverse SukarnoΓÇÖs anti-Americanism and eventually to displace him with the support of both the students and the army. Around 80000 members of the Communist Party were killed in this period. The annexation of Portuguese East Timor by Indonesia in 1976 is unrecognized by the international community, and guerrilla action by local nationalists continues. International protests followed the killing of unarmed Timorese demonstrators by Indonesian troops in 1991. An ambitious program of resettlement has been attempted to relieve overcrowded Java, but the Javanese settlers have been resented in the outlying, underdeveloped islands.</text> </content> <name>Indonesia</name> <script></script> </card>