Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, The PKI was destroyed, Sukarno's authority collapsed, and Major General Suharto assumed the presidency in 1968, establishing the authoritarian New Order regime. The new administration was supported by Western governments during the Cold War, reopened Indonesia to foreign investment, and presided over sustained economic growth for three decades.
Indonesia's invasion of East Timor in 1975 and the occupation that followed drew international condemnation, and the Santa Cruz massacre in 1991 brought greater international attention to Indonesia's human rights record. The Asian financial crisis in 1997–98 exposed the regime's economic and political fragility, causing unrest and Suharto's eventual resignation in May 1998. In 1999, East Timor voted to secede after nearly a quarter-century under Indonesian rule, whose violence and death toll have been examined in scholarship on genocide and occupation.
In the post-Suharto era, Indonesia introduced democratic reforms, including regional autonomy and the first direct presidential election. The early years of reform also saw political instability, terrorism, and ethnic and religious conflict in several regions. A political settlement to the separatist insurgency in Aceh was reached in 2005, in part due to the impact of the Indian Ocean tsunami in the previous year. Since the mid-2000s, Indonesia has seen broadly steady economic growth alongside persistent corruption, democratic consolidation, and concerns over authoritarian practices.
Geography
thumb|[[Semeru|Mount Semeru and Mount Bromo in East Java. Indonesia's seismic and volcanic activity is among the world's highest.]]
Indonesia's physical geography is shaped by its archipelagic scale, equatorial position, and varied terrain. It lies between latitudes 11°S and 6°N and longitudes 95°E and 141°E,
The exact number of Indonesia's islands varies by source, usually ranging from 13,000 to 17,000, with around 922 permanently inhabited. Its five main islands are Sumatra, Java, Borneo (shared with Brunei and Malaysia), Sulawesi, and New Guinea (shared with Papua New Guinea). Java, although it accounts for less than 7% of Indonesia's land area, is the country's most densely settled island and has highly intensive land use. Forest cover and land use vary sharply across the archipelago, with Papua and Maluku retaining much larger forested areas than Java and Bali. while Lake Toba in Sumatra is its largest lake. Major rivers include the Kapuas, Barito, and Mahakam in Kalimantan, which have long served riverine settlements and inland transport. These physical features influence Indonesia's rainfall patterns, geological hazards, biodiversity, and environmental pressures.|alt=]]
Indonesia's climate is shaped by its equatorial position and monsoon circulation. Conditions are generally warm and humid throughout the year, with temperature differences influenced more by elevation than by season. Much of the country has a tropical rainforest climate, while monsoonal and savanna climates occur in some regions and cooler conditions are found in higher terrain. Indonesia is described as having a dry season from May to October and a wet season from November to April, although local timing and intensity vary.
Rainfall varies considerably across the archipelago. Western Sumatra, Java, and the interiors of Kalimantan and Papua are among the wetter areas, while regions closer to Australia, including Nusa Tenggara, are generally drier. These patterns are shaped by the combined influence of surrounding oceans, island geography, monsoons, and topography. In drier regions, El Niño events can reduce rainfall and lengthen dry spells, increasing pressure on water supplies and crops. These changes are expected to affect agriculture, water security, public health, coastal settlements, and wildfire risk. Rising sea levels are a particular concern for coastal areas, where much of Indonesia's population and infrastructure is concentrated.
Geology
thumb|[[Lake Toba in North Sumatra, the world's largest known Cenozoic caldera.]]
Indonesia's geology is shaped by its position along the Pacific Ring of Fire, where major tectonic plates meet in a complex system of subduction zones and active faults. This setting gives the archipelago some of the world's highest levels of volcanic and seismic activity. Volcanic ash can damage crops and settlements in the short term, but weathered ash is also an important source of fertile soils in volcanic regions, including parts of Java and Bali. The risk dimension is particularly prominent in studies of major eruptions.
The archipelago has experienced several large eruptions with effects beyond their immediate surroundings. A super-eruption at present-day Lake Toba occurred around 74,000 years ago and remains central to debates about volcanic impacts on climate and ancient human populations. The eruption of Mount Tambora in 1815 had global climatic effects and was a factor in the Year Without a Summer in 1816 across parts of the Northern Hemisphere. The eruption of Krakatoa in 1883 caused severe regional destruction and became one of the best-known volcanic events in modern scientific literature.
Seismic hazards are also a recurring feature of Indonesia's geology, especially along offshore subduction zones and active faults that cross the archipelago. Offshore earthquakes can generate destructive tsunamis, while shallow inland and near-coastal earthquakes can cause severe damage in populated areas. Notable recent events include the 2004 earthquake and tsunami near northern Sumatra, the 2006 Yogyakarta earthquake, and the 2018 Sulawesi earthquake and tsunami.
Biodiversity
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thumb|The [[Komodo dragon (Varanus komodoensis) is one of Indonesia's officially designated national animals under a presidential decree]]
Indonesia is recognised by Conservation International as one of 17 megadiverse countries. Its insular setting, complex geological history, and tropical habitats have produced highly diverse flora and fauna, with many endemic species.
Indonesia's flora and fauna reflect both Asian and Australasian influences. The Sunda Shelf islands have stronger Asian faunal affinities due to past land connections with mainland Asia during periods of lower sea level. Farther east, the Wallacea region forms a major transition zone between Asian and Australasian fauna and is one of the world's major centres of endemism. In western New Guinea, geological history has also been linked to patterns of diversification in some animal groups.
Indonesia has of coastline, Its coral reefs form part of the Coral Triangle, a global centre of marine biodiversity. Indonesia also contains most of Southeast Asia's old-growth forest. Major conservation pressures include deforestation, forest fragmentation, habitat loss, and reef degradation from land-based pollution and destructive fishing practices.
Environment and conservation
thumb|[[Bunaken National Park in the Coral Triangle, one of Indonesia's over 100 marine protected areas]]
Indonesia faces major environmental pressures from peatland degradation, deforestation, and resource extraction linked to logging, plantation agriculture, and mining.
Habitat loss, degradation, and illegal exploitation affect many threatened species, including the critically endangered Bali myna, Sumatran orangutan, and Javan rhinoceros. Broader reviews also identify forest fragmentation and land-use change as continuing threats to biodiversity and ecosystem integrity. Indonesia's conservation system includes protected areas, species protection, and broader biodiversity-management programmes.
As of 2024, Indonesia has designated 27 million hectares, or 14% of its land area, as protected areas, alongside an extensive network of marine reserves and 54 national parks. Protected-area studies report recurring pressures such as illegal logging and settlement, Conservation policy also intersects with local rights and livelihoods, and one study has described a trade-off between poverty reduction and environmental-quality improvement in Indonesia.
Government and politics
thumb|A presidential inauguration by the MPR in the [[MPR/DPR/DPD building|Parliament Complex Jakarta, 2014|alt=]]
Indonesia is a presidential republic governed under the 1945 Constitution. Pancasila is the state ideology and a central subject of civic education, where it is presented as a philosophical basis for Indonesian citizenship and national identity. The country's present institutional structure took shape after the fall of the New Order in 1998, when constitutional amendments restructured the executive, legislative, and judicial branches. These reforms kept Indonesia as a unitary state while expanding powers assigned to regional governments.
The president serves as both head of state and head of government, as well as commander-in-chief of the Indonesian National Armed Forces, and may serve up to two consecutive five-year terms. National representative institutions are organised through the People's Consultative Assembly (Majelis Permusyawaratan Rakyat, MPR), which consists of the People's Representative Council (Dewan Perwakilan Rakyat, DPR) and the Regional Representative Council (Dewan Perwakilan Daerah, DPD). The MPR amends the constitution and inaugurates or impeaches the president under procedures set out in the constitution. The DPR exercises legislative, budgetary, and oversight functions, while the DPD represents regional interests but has more limited authority within the national legislature. Since 1998, reforms have strengthened the DPR's role in governance. The Constitutional Court (Mahkamah Konstitusi) reviews constitutional questions and resolves certain political and electoral disputes. The Judicial Commission (Komisi Yudisial) has a supporting role in the judicial system, including oversight related to judicial conduct.
Parties and elections
Since 1999, electoral politics in Indonesia have been characterised by a competitive multi-party system in which no party has secured an outright majority of seats in legislative elections. Presidents have generally governed through broad coalitions, making power-sharing a recurring feature of national politics.
Political parties are often grouped into secular-nationalist and Islamic-oriented currents, but governing coalitions have often crossed these boundaries. Governing coalitions are often oversized, and opposition parties have at times been incorporated into presidential power-sharing arrangements.
Administrative divisions
Indonesia is a unitary state with a multi-tiered system of regional government extending from provinces to villages. At the highest subnational level are provinces, each governed by an elected governor (gubernur) and a provincial legislature (Dewan Perwakilan Rakyat Daerah, DPRD). Provinces are subdivided into regencies (kabupaten) and cities (kota), which are headed by elected regents (bupati) and mayors (wali kota) and supported by local legislatures (DPRD Kabupaten/Kota).
Since the implementation of regional autonomy after 1998, substantial authority has been devolved to local governments, especially at the regency and city level.
Several provinces have special or asymmetric status, with arrangements that vary by province. Aceh has authority to implement aspects of Islamic law; Jakarta has a distinct status linked to its role as the national capital; and Yogyakarta retains a hereditary sultanate within the republican system. In Papua, special autonomy includes institutions for indigenous representation, notably the Papuan People's Assembly.
Foreign relations
thumb|Jakarta hosts the headquarters of [[ASEAN.]]
Indonesia follows an "independent and active" (<span lang="id" dir="ltr">bebas aktif</span>) foreign policy, a doctrine associated with Mohammad Hatta's 1948 formulation. The doctrine has been interpreted as a flexible approach to great-power politics, centred on national interest, external autonomy, and active diplomacy rather than formal alignment. Scholars commonly describe Indonesia as a middle power, with diplomacy shaped by regional leadership, multilateral engagement, and concern for autonomy in international politics.
As the largest country in Southeast Asia and a founding member of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), Indonesia treats the organisation as the cornerstone of its foreign policy and a main platform for regional diplomacy. Its wider diplomacy includes longstanding support for Palestine and the absence of formal diplomatic relations with Israel, although informal contacts and trade links have existed. Indonesia has also sought to manage competition between China and the United States, with analysts describing its approach in terms of hedging, strategic autonomy, and a preference for avoiding great-power conflict.
Indonesia has been a member of the United Nations since 1950, apart from a brief period of non-participation in 1965–1966. It participates in major multilateral forums, including the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM), the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), and the East Asia Summit. After decades as a major recipient of foreign aid, Indonesia has also developed a role as a provider of development assistance, establishing its own foreign aid agency in 2019. Since 1957, it has contributed military and police personnel to UN peacekeeping missions, including Lebanon, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Mali.
Military
thumb|left|[[Indonesian Military Academy cadets]]
The Indonesian National Armed Forces (TNI) consists of the Army (TNI-AD), Navy (TNI-AL) (including the Marine Corps), and Air Force (TNI-AU), with active personnel numbering approximately 300,400 in the Army, 65,000 in the Navy, and 30,100 in the Air Force. The army emerged from the Indonesian National Revolution with claims to revolutionary legitimacy and a contested relationship with civilian control. The TNI later developed a territorial command structure extending across the country, giving it a role in both defence and internal security.
During the New Order, the military exercised a formal political role under a doctrine known as "dual function" (dwifungsi). Post-1998 reforms ended the military's formal parliamentary representation and reduced its overt role in politics, but studies of civil-military relations have continued to note the TNI's institutional influence and incomplete reform. Military business interests have also remained a recurring concern in discussions of reform. Defence spending has remained below 1% of GDP since 2007, while analysts have linked Indonesia's procurement difficulties to the gap between capability ambitions and budgetary limits.
Since independence, Indonesia has faced separatist movements and insurgencies, notably in Aceh and Papua. The insurgency in Aceh ended in 2005, Human rights organisations and UN mechanisms have reported abuses in Papua, including extrajudicial killings, forced disappearances and restrictions on freedom of expression.
Law enforcement and human rights
thumb|Riots on the streets of Jakarta on 14 May 1998, part of a [[May 1998 Indonesia riots|wave of civil unrest that involved attacks on property and individuals associated with the ethnic Chinese community.]]
Law enforcement in Indonesia is primarily carried out by the Indonesian National Police (POLRI), which operates under the direct authority of the President. Its responsibilities include maintaining public order and security, enforcing criminal law, and supervising civil-servant investigators and specialised policing functions.
Major themes in scholarly and human-rights reporting include communal violence, minority discrimination, and the accountability of state institutions. Studies have documented anti-Chinese racism and Papuan experiences of racism and political mobilisation, while post-Suharto communal violence has affected several regions. Religious minorities and LGBTQ individuals have also faced discriminatory regulations and social hostility, including what scholars have described as anti-LGBT moral-panic discourse.
The National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM), established in 1993, is Indonesia's primary independent body for monitoring and investigating human-rights abuses. Although its mandate makes it an important institution for monitoring human-rights abuses, observers have noted limits arising from internal problems and the refusal of some state bodies to cooperate with it.
Economy
thumb|right|[[Palm oil plantation in Kampar Regency, Riau. Indonesia is the world's largest producer of palm oil.]]
thumb|[[Morowali Industrial Park hosting primarily nickel-related industries in Morowali Regency, Central Sulawesi. Indonesia is the world's largest producer of nickel.]]
Indonesia operates a mixed economy in which the private sector and the government both have substantial roles. It is the only G20 member state in Southeast Asia, has the region's largest economy by GDP, ranking among the top 20 in nominal terms and the top 10 by purchasing power parity, and is classified as a newly industrialised country. Services and industry account for the largest shares of gross domestic product, while agriculture is still a major source of employment.
The structure of the economy has changed considerably since independence. It was initially predominantly agrarian before industrialisation and urbanisation accelerated from the late 1960s. Manufacturing and non-oil exports expanded in the 1980s and 1990s, during a period of rapid growth and falling poverty. The Asian financial crisis caused a severe contraction, followed by a recovery shaped by post-crisis reforms in banking, fiscal policy, and exchange-rate management.
The domestic market is an important source of demand, supported by Indonesia's large population and consumer base. It has helped Indonesia withstand global shocks, including the 2008 financial crisis and the post-COVID-19 pandemic recovery. At the same time, the economy includes a large informal sector, productivity constraints, uneven access to development gains, and governance challenges.
Indonesia's archipelagic geography affects the spatial distribution of economic activity and the movement of goods across the country. The need to connect thousands of islands raises transport and logistics costs, and complicates the integration of regional markets. Economic activity is heavily concentrated on Java, while many outer regions have weaker infrastructure and less diversified local economies.
Several sectors show how the economy combines services, strategic industry, and infrastructure. Tourism is an important service industry and source of foreign-currency earnings, though international tourism is concentrated in the island of Bali and other major gateways. Recent industrial policy has sought to use resource endowments, especially minerals such as nickel, to expand downstream processing. Extractive industries produce commodities such as coal, petroleum, and natural gas, while agricultural exports include palm oil, coffee, and spices. The country also imports refined petroleum products and industrial inputs, and its major trade partners are primarily in Asia, alongside the United States. Studies of trade liberalisation in Indonesia have linked tariff reductions to firm productivity, labour-market outcomes, and poverty effects.
Tourism
left|thumb|upright=1.15|[[Borobudur in Central Java, part of the Borobudur Temple Compounds World Heritage Site.]]
Tourism is an important service industry and one of Indonesia's main sources of foreign-currency earnings. In 2023, the sector generated about in foreign-exchange earnings and recorded 11.6 million international visitor arrivals. The sector supports employment and enterprise across services such as accommodation, food, transport, and related activities. International tourism is concentrated in Bali and other major gateways, while domestic tourism accounts for most tourism expenditure. Efforts to expand tourism beyond established destinations have been linked to infrastructure, skills, business-climate, and sustainability challenges. Within this wider range, Bali is the country's principal destination for foreign tourists.
Science and technology
thumb|The [[Palapa satellite system (pictured here in 1984), first launched in 1976 with U.S. assistance, expanded domestic communications across the archipelago.|alt=]]
Research and development expenditure in Indonesia has historically remained a small share of GDP. Reviews of Indonesian research and innovation policy have identified limited financing, fragmented policy structures, and uneven technology adoption as constraints on scientific and technological development.
Indonesia has pursued technological capability partly through state-backed strategic industries. Aircraft manufacturing and shipbuilding are recurring examples: Indonesian Aerospace and PAL Indonesia have developed capabilities through technology transfer, licensed production, and international collaboration, while studies of both sectors note continuing constraints in competitiveness, design capability, components, and scale.
Indonesia established the National Institute of Aeronautics and Space (LAPAN) in 1963. Satellite programmes have supported domestic communications, remote sensing, and maritime monitoring, including the use of Automatic Identification System data from LAPAN-A2 and LAPAN-A3 satellites. LAPAN also conducted suborbital rocket and propellant research in support of longer-term launcher development.
Infrastructure
Transport
thumb|Opened in 2023, Whoosh links Jakarta and [[Bandung and is the first high-speed railway in Southeast Asia. Networks are most extensive on Java, while sea, river, and air transport remain important for many inter-island and remote-area links.
Land transport is most developed along the country's main population and economic corridors, especially on Java. Limited public-transport capacity and quality have encouraged reliance on private vehicles, especially motorcycles and cars, while ride-hailing services have become part of urban mobility.
Rail transport is concentrated on Java and Sumatra, with recent expansion into South Sulawesi.
Maritime and air transport provide long-distance links beyond the main land corridors. Air transport supports domestic and international connectivity, with Soekarno–Hatta International Airport serving as the country's main international gateway and Ngurah Rai and Juanda International Airport among other major airports.
Energy
thumb|Sidrap wind farm, Indonesia's first wind power plant, in [[Sidrap Regency, South Sulawesi]]
Indonesia is a major energy producer and consumer. Industry and transport account for large shares of final energy consumption, while electricity provision is centred on the state-owned State Electricity Company (<span lang="id" dir="ltr">Perusahaan Listrik Negara</span>, PLN), whose role has been central to debates over power-sector reform and the energy transition. Indonesia's geography and uneven settlement pattern also affect electrification, off-grid power options, and supply reliability in some regions.
Total installed power generation capacity in 2023 was 70.8 gigawatts (GW). Renewables account for a smaller share of supply, although Indonesia has significant hydropower, solar, and geothermal potential. It is also among the world's major geothermal producers. Domestic energy policy therefore spans both resource production and the provision of reliable, affordable energy across the archipelago.
Demographics
thumb|left|upright=1.5|A map of districts (kecamatan) coloured by population density as measured by person per square kilometres
Indonesia has a large and unevenly distributed population. With a population of 270.2 million according to the 2020 census, making it the country's demographic centre. Its population density is far above the national average,
The official language, Indonesian, is a standardized variety of Malay based on the prestige dialect of the Riau-Johor region. Malay had long served as a lingua franca in the archipelago before Indonesian nationalists promoted it in the 1920s through the Youth Pledge and it gained official status in 1945 under the name Bahasa Indonesia. Written in the Latin script, Indonesian has since been widely adopted through education, media, business, and governance, and serves as a common language across ethnic and regional boundaries.
Indonesia is also one of the world's most linguistically diverse countries, with more than 700 languages spoken across the archipelago. Most local languages belong to the Austronesian family, while eastern Indonesia includes more than 150 Papuan languages. Javanese is the most widely spoken local language Several local languages also retain or have historically used distinct writing traditions. Local languages are important to regional identity and cultural transmission, even as Indonesian dominates national public life.
Colonial-era European-descended communities were comparatively small. The Dutch and other European-descended populations, including the Indos, numbered around 200,000 in 1930. Dutch also left a limited linguistic legacy: Malay was already widely used as a lingua franca, and colonial policy promoted Malay while restricting Dutch-language education largely to Europeans and a small indigenous elite. Dutch fluency today is limited, although the language is relevant to some civil and commercial codes whose official versions remain in Dutch.
Religion
thumb|right|upright=1.5|A map of districts (kecamatan) coloured by plurality/majority religious affiliation and what percentage of citizens it represents
thumb|[[Baiturrahman Grand Mosque in Banda Aceh, Aceh]]
thumb|A Hindu prayer ceremony at [[Besakih Temple in Bali, the only province where Hinduism is the predominant religion]]
Indonesia officially recognises six religions: Islam, Protestantism, Roman Catholicism, Hinduism, Buddhism, and Confucianism, while acknowledging religious freedom in the constitution. As of 2024, 87.1% of the population (244 million Indonesians) are Muslims, Christians, comprising 10% of the population, while Hinduism is concentrated in Bali and Buddhism has long been associated with Chinese Indonesian communities.
The state's approach to religion combines constitutional protection, official recognition, and public regulation of religious life. At the same time, observers have noted continuing religious intolerance and discrimination, including against religious minorities and followers of indigenous religions, officially known as aliran kepercayaan or cultural belief systems. Traditions such as Sunda Wiwitan, Kejawèn, and Kaharingan have continued within or alongside the recognised religions. The interaction between local traditions and world religions has produced varied religious practices, especially in Java and Bali.
Hinduism and Buddhism were the first major world religions to take root in the archipelago, spreading through early kingdoms and later polities such as Srivijaya and Majapahit. Muslim traders were present along the shores of the archipelago from at least the 8th century, and local Muslim communities and sultanates later developed from the 13th and 14th centuries onward. Islamisation spread through overlapping commercial, political, and religious networks, including trade, religious teachers, and the growth of Islamic sultanates. Traditions surrounding the Wali Sanga are especially important in Javanese accounts of Islamisation.
Christianity expanded through Catholic and Protestant missionary activity under European colonial rule,
Education
thumb|[[University of Indonesia is one of Indonesia's leading public universities.|alt=]]
Indonesia has one of the largest education systems in the world, with over 50 million students and more than 250,000 schools. The system is overseen across ministries responsible for school education, higher education, and religious education,