Indonesia

Indonesia is a country in Southeast Asia, composed of over 10,000 islands in the Pacific Ocean. The main business center in Indonesia is the island of Java, upon which lies the capital, Jakarta, and also the city of Yogyakarta. Formerly colonized by the Netherlands for centuries, Indonesia does not have a homogeneous culture; there are multiple differences in culture between islands. Melanesian culture persists in West Papua, in the Eastern part of the country, while much of Austronesian culture exists in the Western and Central parts of the country. Geographically, the largest island is Sumatra. Gamelan, a style of percussive music that uses xylophones and metallophones, was created by Indonesians (Javanese, Balinese, and other people in the Sunda islands) hundreds of years ago, before the modern Republic of Indonesia came into existence.

Much of Indonesia follows the Islamic religion, and most Indonesians are Muslims. It is one of the most populous nations in the world, and is famous for being the country with the largest Muslim population in the world. A popular tourist destination in Indonesia is Bali, which is the only island that has a majority Hindu population. Javanese people traditionally did not have last names, and many still do not have them, but instead have single names, often preceded by "Su" (good). For over thirty years, Indonesia was ruled by a fervently anti-communist dictator, Suharto, and the country was drawn to foreign investors. Over 1 million people were killed, and the nation of East Timor, now independent, was occupied under Suharto. In 1998, Suharto fell, and Indonesia became a US-style democracy.

While Indonesia is indeed an island nation, it is not borderless; the great majority of Indonesia is composed of Indonesian islands, but two islands are partly controlled by Indonesia and border other nations. One of these islands, New Guinea, is divided between Indonesia (the west) and Papua New Guinea, which was formerly part of Australia and Germany, governing the Eastern half. East Timor, a Portuguese colony for over three centuries, was occupied by Suharto's Indonesia, but after a 24-year struggle, gained independence. West Timor, however, is still run by Indonesia, and Bahasa Indonesia (along with local indigenous languages) is spoken. Additionally, Indonesia has a border with Malaysia on the island of Borneo.

Though there is a Javanese language and alphabet, and it is spoken often in rural Java, the national language is Bahasa Indonesia, a variant of Malay. This was chosen under the first president, Sukarno, so as not to discriminate against the non-Javanese population.

There are many sweatshops in Jakarta, in which textiles are produced for export to Western nations. GAP and Nike are infamous for using these Indonesian factories, which universally pay low wages, to manufacture their products.