Indonesia History : Indonesia  

Indonesia History - Travel guide

Indonesia

History

The history of Indonesia begins with the early Kingdoms (500-1377) and the rise of the Islamic kingdoms (1290-1682). Then, presence of European in 1511 started by Portuguese explorers captured the port of Malacca, erected a fort there and settled in. In 1602, the Dutch East India Company (VOC) started to develop its trade power. England also entered the spice trade and Japan occupied for 3.5 years. On August, 17, 1945, Soekarno-Hatta declared Indonesian independence and attempted to build national character. Unfortunately, in 1965, Indonesian Communist Party tried to change the power. Then, Soeharto took over the power and begun to build economic development as New Order Era The history of Indonesia ends in 1998, with Suharto's resignation on May 21 and the appointment of vice president Habibie to fill out his five-year term and began the Reformation Era until now (Abdurrahman Wahid, Megawati and Yudoyono Administration). Indonesian is a huge multicultural society, which characterized by various ethnic groups and speaking a variety of regional languages, following a variety of religions and faiths and worshipping God in various ways, forms one complete national unity in the broadest sense of the world. Culturally, traditional culture has survived and flourished. Indonesians are very proud of their heritage and especially the progress they have made since achieving independence, but the colonial experience has had a lasting impact. The various periods of Indonesian history, such as colonialism, the Japanese occupation, and independence have contributed to shaping and maintaining distinct

characteristics and pride of the various "generations" of society. Psychologically, the Indonesian people should have a sense of belonging, having one destiny, and one sense of responsibility of being one nation and with one motherland, imbued with a strong determination to achieve the national ideals. Pancasila is the philosophy and ideology of the state and nation, whose basis is to guide and direct the nation towards its goal and the entire Indonesian archipelago forms one legal unity in the sense, that there shall only be the national legal system serving the national interest.

Language diversity in Indonesia resulted in the growing needs of a national language, which could be used all over the country. This lead to the adoption of Malay as the official and national language at the Youth Congress on the 28th of October 1928 in Jakarta named Indonesia. Indonesian was developed basically from high Malay which was used as the medium of communication in North Sumatra and Riau. In the 1945 Constitution, article 36, Indonesian is stated as the national language. Eventhough, some ethnic groups still maintain their traditions, local languages and dialects. This results in the varied and rich Indonesian culture. Customs and traditions in Indonesia vary from one region to another, and usually roted from their religion background and cultural heritages.

Indonesia is a country in which the majority of its citizens are moslem. It does not mean, however, that other religions or beliefs are banned, since the country's constitution keeps their right to practice religion. Islam is not only the religion recognized by the government; but also Christian, Catholics, Hinduism, Buddhism, and Confucianism.