Indonesia Economy

PEOPLE OF INDONESIA

The Arab, Chinese and the Indian immigrants are known to have settled in Indonesia especially in the coastal cities. The local dialect spoken by Indonesian is Bahasa Indonesia (official), English, and Dutch.

The major ethnic groups surviving here are:

•  Minangkabaunese,

•  Malay,

•  Javanese,

•  Sundanese,

•  Maduranese, and

•  Ambonnese.

The chief religions thriving in this place includes Islam, Protestantism, Catholicism, Hinduism, Buddhism and Confucianism. Indonesia is covered with majority of Muslim population which covers about 86% of the area while the 11% thriving in the sector are Christian where two third of its portion are Protestants in nature, while 2% of the population are constituted with Hindus, and the rest 1% are Buddhist.

ARTS, CULTURE AND MUSIC OF INDONESIA

Art : The art of applying wax polish and tie dying on a cloth, prevalently known as Batik, is quite widespread in the area of Yogyakarta within the Java district. The crafts that the local natives resort to are ikat, the local weaving style, Songket, golden thread designed on a silk cloth and kris, jewel-adorned artwork.

Culture: Watch out for mock battles in the area of Sumba that relates to the disastrous warfare of the ancient times that usually occur in the month of February and March. It is usually the day before Balinese Caka New Year that is celebrated in the month of March-April, were temple shrines are carried to the sea and dipped in holy waters along with the drummers who wade away evil spirits from it. The Balinese festival is quite famous in the region of Galungan, where gods supposedly reside to the earth and participate in the carousing. Several other festivals are held here like the Easter parade that are held in the Larantuka Island, the Torajan festival which is a major funeral feast function that takes place in the area of central Sulawesi. The Indonesian cuisines are manipulated by Chinese flavors, where the local dishes include delicacies like Nasi goring, while sate; gado-gado and seafood, that add spice to life.

Music: The Javanese wayang (the popular puppet shows) and gamelan, is a spellbinding music accompanied with drums, are quite renowned in this region. Kecapi suling is based on instrumental composition that links well with the tembang sunda, which is usually heard in the region of Java. The most accepted Indonesian music can be referred to the gamelan music, which is escorted with instruments like metallophones, drums, gongs, spike fiddles and bamboo flutes. The Pop Music exists here in the form of Pop Sunda, Pop Minang, Pop Batak and much more assorted ranges. Some of the major dance music of the area includes Tapanuli ogong, Gambus, Jaipongan, Dangdut, and Kroncong.

The native's resort to several theatrical performances and celebrations, which includes the renowned wayang kulit shadow theatre, wayang orang, unmasked dance, and wayang topeng masked dance. These plays are based on mythological aspects and episodes relating to the several ancient epics of the old times like the Ramayana and the Mahabharata.

Wayang topeng is a popular based masked dance, which is performed at the eastern Javanese courts, that has close links with the prehistoric animistic dance witnessed in the Pacific islands.

Wayang orang is a Java based impressive kind of dance-drama, which was mainly participated by the female members of the 9th-century.

Do indulge in Ketoprak and ludruk performances that are celebrated by a group of 150 to 200 proficient troupes.

There are two kinds of Sundanese arts celebrated in the form of Reog, which is executed in the local streets of Jakarta, while Wayang golek that well relates with wayang kulit is accomplished with puppets dolls.

FLAG OF INDONESIA

The flag of Indonesia was officially accepted in the month of August 17, 1945. It is designed subsequent to the 13 th century Indonesian Empire banner, wherein the flag is separated into two parallel halves with about 2:3 ratio where the topmost band is colored in red and the bottommost in white. The color red represents the basic body with the symbol of bravery while the white stands for the presence of soul within the region.

The flag is even called as the "Sang Merah Putih" in their native language and belongs to the Majapahit Empire. The flag was hoisted during the Independence Day, which is celebrated in the month of August 17, 1945. The flag can be related to the Poland flag and matches well with the flag of Monaco except in the case of ratio.

ECONOMY OF INDONESIA

The economy of Indonesia is totally dependant on the market as the government relatively possesses 164 state-owned enterprises and looks into various factors like defining the commodity prices of fuel, rice, and electricity. It was during the mid 1997, the country faced severe financial setback whereby the province had to undertake a portion of the private sector properties through the loans provided by the non-performing banks with the help of debt restructuring plans.

Indonesia stands as a sole Asian member of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) that imports oil within the region. The state possesses petroleum and mineral rights, whereby the foreign firms contribute in the production and working contracts that are made and shared with the region.

Oil and gas service provider sponsors for the production costs, which they retrieve during the exploration, and development costs that is derived while the industry is functional.

Indonesia is recognized as a region having the largest tin market in the world. The minerals that are produced here are bauxite, silver, copper, nickel, gold, and coal that are generally exported out of the region.

The country's fuel production has turned down drastically as the oil fields of the region have aged due to lack of investment done over it from a long period of time. So, though it exports crude oil from the region it still has to import oil to keep the economy stable.

If was during the end of 1980, the government undertook revised regulatory policies just to promote the economic growth within the country, which was funded by the foreign and domestic private investment groups. These groups took over the oil, gas and the mining sectors. The foreign investors belonged from the region of Japan, UK, Taiwan, Singapore, the Netherlands, Hong Kong, and South Korea

Though Indonesia had a strong labor force and was bountiful with huge natural resources and up to date infrastructure and filled with several private investment projects that was impeded during the disaster period.

• The goods that are exported from here include construction equipment, machinery, aviation parts, chemicals, and agricultural products.

• The goods imported from the region are clothing, machinery, transportation equipment, petroleum, natural rubber, and footwear.

The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) has assisted the region with food aid facilities along with rehabilitation of the infrastructure, health care, and training.

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