For sheer size, scale and
variety, Indonesia is pretty much
unbeatable. The country is so
enormous that nobody is really sure
quite how big it is; there are
between 13,000 and 17,000 islands.
It's certainly the largest
archipelago in the world, spreading
over 5200km between the Asian
mainland and Australia, all of it
within the tropics and with huge
areas of ocean separating the
landmasses. Not surprisingly,
Indonesia's ethnic, cultural and
linguistic diversity is
correspondingly great - the best
estimate is of 500 languages and
dialects spoken by around 200
million people.
The largely volcanic nature of
the islands has created tall
cloud-swept mountains swathed in the
green of rice terraces or
rainforest, dropping to blindingly
bright beaches and vivid blue seas,
the backdrop for Southeast Asia's
biggest wilderness areas and
wildlife sanctuaries. The ethnic mix
of Indonesia is overwhelming: this
is the world's largest Muslim
country, but with a distinct local
flavour, and there are also
substantial populations of
Christians, Hindus and animists,
whose forms of worship, customs and
lifestyles have been influencing
each other for centuries.
Worryingly, it is this very
religious and racial diversity that
in recent years has threatened to
unravel the very fabric of
Indonesian society. Riots in many
parts of the country have pitched
Muslims against their Christian
neighbours, with two of these
battles - in the Maluku Islands and
in Poso in Central Sulawesi -
developing into full-scale civil
wars. On Java and other islands,
deep-rooted anti-Chinese sentiment
surfaced in particularly bloody
fashion in 1998 and continues to
smoulder to this day. More localized
ethnic violence has its
source in the transmigration
policies of the Indonesian
government, whose aim was to settle
far-flung areas such as Kalimantan
with migrants from overpopulated
regions including Java and Madura,
often without local consultation and
with little heed given to
traditional land rights.
Unsurprisingly, resentment and
violence have sometimes boiled over.
However, with a new and popular
president, Megawati Sukarnoputri, in
power, and the economy finally
showing signs of recovery, it is
hoped that - while further bloodshed
is perhaps inevitable - the fury and
frequency of these internecine
battles may start to subside.
Indonesian has also been badly
battered in recent years by the separatist
struggles of a couple of its
provinces. Despite wide-ranging
democratic reforms introduced by
Megawati and her predecessor, Gus
Dur, two disaffected provinces, Aceh
in North Sumatra and West Papua
(formerly Irian Jaya), tired of
years of repression and corruption,
unhappy that the new democratic
reforms do not go far enough for
their liking, and emboldened by East
Timor's successful secession (the
former Indonesian province became
the world's newest country in 2001),
began to clamour for their own autonomy
, launching bloody uprisings that
continue to this day. Whether their
respective struggles prove
successful - and what will happen to
Indonesia if they are - remains to
be seen, though with these two
provinces lying at the geographical
extremes of the archipelago, it's
tempting to think that any break
from Indonesia will have little
adverse effect on the rest of the
country.
Because Indonesia encompasses
such a diversity of cultures, it can
be very difficult to decide where to
go. However, there is a well-worn
overland travellers' route across
the archipelago, which begins by
taking a boat from Penang in
Malaysia to Medan on Sumatra's
northeast coast. From here the
classic itinerary runs to the orang-utan
sanctuary at Bukit Lawang, the
nippy little hill resort of Berastagi,
the chilled-out lakeside resorts of Danau
Toba and the surfers' mecca of Pulau
Nias . Further south, the area
around Bukittinggi appeals
because of its flamboyant
Minangkabau architecture and dances.
Many travellers then hurtle through
the southern half of Sumatra in
their headlong rush to Java ,
probably bypassing the exhaustingly
overpopulated capital Jakarta
, but perhaps pausing at the relaxed
beach resort of Pangandaran
in West Java. Next stop is always
the ancient capital of Yogyakarta
, a cultural centre which hosts
daily performances of traditional
dance and music and offers batik
courses for curious travellers.
Yogya also makes a good base for
exploring the huge Borobodur
(Buddhist) and Prambanan
(Hindu) temples. Java's biggest
natural attractions are its
volcanoes: the Dieng plateau
, with its coloured lakes and
ancient Hindu temples and, most
famously, Gunung Bromo ,
where most travellers brave a
sunrise climb to the summit.
Just across the water from East
Java sits Bali , the longtime
jewel in the crown of Indonesian
tourism, a tiny island of elegant
temples, verdant landscape and fine
surf. The biggest resorts are the
party towns of Kuta and
adjacent Legian , with the
more subdued beaches at Lovina
and Candi Dasa appealing to
travellers not hell-bent on raging
nightlife. Most visitors also spend
time in Bali's cultural centre of Ubud
, whose lifeblood continues to be
painting, carving, dancing and
music-making. The islands east of
Bali - collectively known as Nusa
Tenggara - are now attracting bigger
crowds, particularly neighbouring Lombok
, with its beautiful beaches and
temples. East again, the chance of
seeing the world's largest lizards,
the Komodo dragons , draws
travellers to Komodo and then
it's an easy hop across to Flores
which has great surfing, and the
unforgettable coloured crater lakes
of Keli Mutu . South of
Flores, Sumba is famous for
its intricate fabrics, grand funeral
ceremonies and extraordinary annual
ritual war, the pasola.
North of Flores, Sulawesi
is renowned for the intriguing
culture of the highland Torajans,
whose idiosyncratic architecture and
impressively ghoulish burial rituals
are astonishing. West of Sulawesi,
the island of Borneo is divided into
the Malaysian districts of Sabah and
Sarawak, the independent kingdom of
Brunei, and the Indonesian state of Kalimantan
. For the overland traveller short
on time, there's not much here that
can't be experienced more
rewardingly across the border in
Sarawak, but Tanjung Puting national
park offers guaranteed close contact
with orang-utans, and there are
opportunities for river travel in
remote jungle. East of Sulawesi, West
Papua (Irian Jaya) is expensive
and time-consuming to reach, but is
worth considering for the remote Baliem
Valley , home of the Dani
people, who hunt with arrows and
wear penis gourds.
The whole archipelago is
tropical, with temperatures
at sea level always between 21ฐC
and 33ฐC, although cooler in the
mountains. In theory, the year
divides into a wet and dry season,
though it's often hard to tell the
difference. Very roughly, in much of
the country, November to April are
the wet months (January and February
the wettest) and May through to
October are dry. However, in
northern Sumatra, this pattern is
effectively reversed. The peak
tourist season is between
mid-June and mid-September and again
over the Christmas and New Year
season.
