Spread across a chain of thousands of islands between Asia and Australia, Indonesia has the world’s largest Muslim population and Southeast Asia’s largest economy. It is also a country of great tourist appeal, due to the beautiful landscapes of places like the island of Bali.
Ethnically, it is a highly diverse country with over 300 local languages. The population ranges from groups living by hunting in rural areas to a modern urban elite.
Sophisticated kingdoms existed before the arrival of the Dutch, who colonized the archipelago but eventually left the country after a struggle for independence in 1949.
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Indonesia is the largest Muslim nation in the world and one of the largest economies in Asia, with great tourist appeal.
In 1966, a military coup put the country in the hands of General Suharto, who ruled with an iron fist until the 1990s. In 1975, the Suharto regime invaded East Timor, a former Portuguese colony whose independence Jakarta feared it might encourage. independence movements in parts of Indonesia.
Suharto’s fall came in 1998, after street protests encouraged by the serious economic crisis the region was going through. Indonesia has become one of the world’s largest emerging economies, but it continues to face demands for independence from several provinces, as well as attacks from Islamist armed groups. In 2004, the country was the most affected by the worst natural disaster recorded so far, the Indian Ocean tsunami, with 130,000 deaths.
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Capital: Jakarta
Population261 million
Area1.9 million square kilometers
main languagesIndonesia, 300 regional languages
main religionislam
Life expectancy67 years old (male), 71 years old (female)
CoinRupee
Source: UN, World Bank
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President Joko Widodo is part of a new generation of politicians in the country, which only experienced democracy in 1998
Joko “Jokowi” Widodo won the July 2014 elections as part of a new generation of politicians from the young Indonesian democracy. The election was a tight race with the old guard that dominated the country during decades of autocratic rule.
Widodo is seen by many as a politician relatively disconnected from the country’s endemic corruption and close to ordinary Indonesians. His humble background – he was a furniture maker and his father a wood merchant – contributes to this positive perception by the population.
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The media in Indonesia is developed and marked by the advancement of the internet and social networks
Television is Indonesia’s main means of communication, but online media is catching up. Facebook is extremely popular, and Indonesians are among the most active Twitter users worldwide.
Reporters Without Borders says that in Indonesia many journalists self-censor due to laws regarding blasphemy and internet content.
Brazil and Indonesia established diplomatic relations in 1953. Six years later, President Sukarno became the first Asian head of state to make an official visit to Brazil.
The invasion and occupation of the former Portuguese colony East Timor by Jakarta prevented a greater rapprochement, since Brazil defended the principle of self-determination of former colonies. After remaining relatively neutral on the subject, after its re-democratization in the 1980s, Brazil became more engaged in the Timorese issue as a mediator.
With the end of the Suharto dictatorship in 1998, the two countries became closer – the Indonesian occupation of East Timor ended in 1999. In 2000, one year after his indirect election, President Abdurrahman Wahid visited Brazil.
Cooperations increased in several areas, including defense. According to the Brazilian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Indonesia is “one of the world’s largest operators of Embraer Super Tucano aircraft”. In 2018, bilateral trade totaled US$ 2.8 billion.
Important dates in Indonesian history:
1670-1900 – Dutch settlers unite all of Indonesia under a single government, like the Dutch East Indies.
1942 – Japan occupies the Dutch East Indies.
1949 – The Netherlands recognizes Indonesia’s independence after four years of conflict against local guerrillas. Sukarno becomes president.
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Sukarno was the first president of independent Indonesia and ruled for nearly two decades.
1966 – Sukarno transfers power to General Suharto after a coup.
1975 – Indonesia invades East Timor and incorporates the territory as an Indonesian province.
1998 – In the midst of the economic crisis that spread across Asia in the previous year, protests and violence in the streets lead to the overthrow of Suharto and the end of his dictatorship.
1999 – East Timor passes into the hands of a provisional government of the United Nations, before becoming independent.
2004 – Holding of the first direct elections in Indonesia.
2004 – In December, the country is most affected by the Indian Ocean tsunami. More than 130,000 Indonesians die in the tragedy.
2012 – Indonesia was also hit by strong earthquakes in 2005, 2007 and 2012, which together caused more than 1,300 deaths.
2022 – With around 130 active volcanoes, Indonesia has been the scene of natural tragedies in addition to tsunamis and earthquakes. With two eruptions (2021 and 2022), Mount Semero, in the province of East Java, caused the death of more than 100 people in addition to the displacement of tens of thousands who had to leave their homes.