Indonesia  in the past has long been a trading country. During the early 7 th century, Indonesia  in its older nature being Sri Vijaya Empire has formed bilateral trade with superpowers like China . During those times, the governing religion of Hinduism was strong enough. Only in later centuries did Islam came into the country and thereby establishing a foothold among the locals.
Today, a majority of population in Indonesia are muslims although there is no such thing as an official religion. Indonesia gained its independence after the Second World War through the Dutch who was colonising the country then.
Very much alike Malaysia , Indonesia is integrated via its multi lingual and multi ethnicity. Hosting their own national motto called ‘Bhinneka Tunggal Ika’ which means Unity in Diversity, Indonesia ‘s most dominant ethinc group, the Javanese live in harmony among the other races like Chinese and Indians.

Indonesia comes from the word Indus, a Latin word describing India combined with the Greek word Nesos which means island. The name was introduced during the 18 th Century when an English ethnologist George Earl used the word Indunesians to depict the people who lived here.
Indonesia practices a presidential system, utilising a unitary stte where the Federal Government has sole power over legislation and country laws.
In terms of Geographical Administration, Indonesia is made up of 33 provinces. Out of these 33, five units are give aspecial status. They are Aceh, Jakarta , Yogyakarta , Papua anjd Wet Papua. This means that these provinces enjoy greater privileges from the federal government.
Very much like a United States structure, each province hosts its own legal systems and a governing governor. In each province, further divisions of regencies which will be further divided into sub-districts. Most of these sub-districts are made up of certain villages.
Of all the islands found around Indonesia , there are 7 different groupings. Sumatra, located at the South West of Peninsular Malaysia include its own provinces that include Aceh, North Sumatra, West Sumatra, Riau- Pekanbaru, Raiu Islands, Jambi-Jambi, South Sumatra, Banka-Belitung, Pangkal Pinang, Bengkulu-Bengkulu and Lampung-Bandar Lampung.
Kalimantan, the biggest group of them all includes West Kalimantan, Pontianak , Central Kalimantan, Palangkaraya, South Kalimantan, Banjarmasin , Easht Kalimantan and Samarinda.
Java houses the capital of Indonesia , Jakarat, Banten-Serang, West Java, Central Java, Yogtakarta and East Java . Sulawesi, located near Phillipines consists of North Sulawesi, Gorontalo-Gorontalo, Central Sulawesi, West Sulawesi , South East Sulawesi and Kendari.
The Maluku Islands include Maluku-Ambon and North Maluku . Papua hosts West Papua and Papua Jayapura provinces while the Lesser Sunda Islands include Bali-Denpasar, West Nusa Tenggara and East Nusa Tenggara.
One should note that geographically and administratively, Indonesia is more or less the same. 6000 of the 17,508 islands in Indonesia is inhabited. Java, Sumatra, Kalimantan , New Guinea and Sulawesi are the bigger islands, Indonesia is the 16 th biggest country in the world.
The weather in Indonesia is dominantly tropical, very much like the neighbours Singapore , Malaysia and Thailand . Therefore it can get very hot at times while rainfall would occasionally cause flash floods. Of late, the Tsunami tragedy has brought about much damage to Indonesia ‘s economy where thousands were left homeless due to its exposure at the South China Sea .
Indonesia is renowned for its services sector that make up the largest portion of their GDP. In terms of employment, Indonesia ‘s Agriculture sector makes up almost 50% of the 95 million workforce. The country are very much dependent on their agricultural products like palm oil, tea, spices and rubber which are widely exported to first world countries like Japan, US and China.
Although many deemed Indonesia to be unstable in terms of politics and natural disasters, it still command a wide sense of tourist attractions, bringing in millions of tourists every year. As such, riding on the success of neighbouring country initiatives like Visit Malaysia Year 2007, Indonesia has launched its own Visit Indonesia Year 2008.
On top of its currently superior services sector and the already established destinations like Bali and Jakarta , they will further improve their basic infrastructure.
In 2008, there will be more a lot of events that will help invite tourists to the country. This is vital as over the last few years, tourist numbers has further deteriorated due to the bombings in Bali numerous times. The Government has endorsed various cultural events and international shows in order to attract more visitors during this year. The last time Indonesia held an event of this scale was in 1992. The Visit Indonesia Year 1992 observed about 3.1 million visitors that year. For 2008, they are targeting to double this figure at least.
There are an estimated 222 million in population in Indonesia where more than half of them reside in Java Island . It is believed that Indonesia habitants descended from the Austronesian speaking colonies said to be from Taiwan . There are more then 300 different native ethnics in the country commanding about 750 different languages. The majority ethnic group in Indonesia are the Javanese which make up about 40% of the total population here. Other ethnics like Sundanese, Madurese and the Malays are some of the other groups.
The language spoken here are officially Indonesian, very much like the Bahasa Melayu of Malaysia . Some school of thoughts believe that the Malay language actually originates from here, thereby the similarities.
Indonesia , although does not have an official religion (unlike Malaysia , whose official religion is Islam), it is the world’s most populous Muslim-majority country. At least 80% of the total population here are muslims while others are further divided among the many officially recognized religions, Hinduism, Buddhism, Confucianism, Roman Catholicism and Protestantism. While there are a diverse choices in religions, one should take note that each of these religions will hosts its own unique celebration and occasions. From Christmas to the Waisak days, it would be a great time to be here when the locals are celebrating specific occasions. The tourist should however take note that the fasting month of the Ramadhan might not be the best time to visit as basically the economy comes to an almost standstill including after working hours as most of the muslims are breaking fast and resting.
Hosting more than 300 different ethnic groups, Indonesia ‘s common culture can be said to be highly influenced and fused among the various influences of Chinese, European, Arabic and Malay roots. Lately there has been a debate of the origins of cultural shows like the Wayang Kulit, the Batik and their architecture. While the cultural origins of their traditions can be traced back to a long time back, so are other countries like Brunei and Malaysia who host similar languages, Indonesia has its own set of song and dance known as the Dangdut.
Indonesia is very much alike their neighbouring country Malaysia . to say the least, they both have similar culture and food. More so that their languages are somewhat familiar. In fact, it is also historically told that the Sultanate heritage in Malaysia actually originates from the descendants of Palembang , of the Sumatra Island .
Indonesia offers the tourists a vast variety of choices in terms of holiday destinations and resorts. Hillside resorts, island resorts are common places for the tourists to go. Accommodating international visitors to domestic travels from neighbouring countries and inter-island trips, Indonesia is gearing up for 2008 when they will welcome a targeted 6 million tourists to savour the local delights and experiencing the scenic landscapes and destinations of the country.
With so many islands to choose from and a vast list of tourist spots one can enjoy, it is essentially a great place to unwind, where locals are more than accommodating to the throngs of people coming in.