INDONESIA

-the world’s largest island nation, stretching from east to west some 3,200 miles (5,120 km) on both sides of the equator
in Southeast Asia.
-3,000 of the country’s from 13, 667 islands are inhabited with the population of about 190 million and 113 million are
Java.
- most of the Indonesians are of Malay origin, though in the east, Melanesian influences are common.
 Melanesian- a member of the dominant native group of Melanesia.
 Austronesian- of, or constituting a family of languages spoken in the area extending from Madagascar eastward
through the Malay peninsula and Archipelago to Hawaii and with the exception of the Australian and Papuan
languages.
-previously known as the “Dutch East Indies.” Renowned through history for its production of spices, it was in these
islands that Columbus set out to discover in 1492.
*August 17, 1945- a republic was proclaimed on Java, after centuries of being dominated by the Dutch, and three years
under the Japanese occupation during World War 2.
* Dec. 27, 1949- Dutch formally surrender their sovereignty to an independent Indonesian state.
- consists of all part of some of the world’s largest islands- Sumatra, Java, most of Kalimantanan (Borneo), Sulawesi
(Celebes), Halmahera, and the west half of New Guinea (Papua)- and numerous smaller islands of which Bali (just east
of Java) is best known.
-national motto: “Unity in Diversity”, expresses one of modern Indonesia’s major goals: the development of a sense of
national identity transcending purely ethnic and regional loyalties.
 Javanese People- are ethnic group native to the Indonesian island of Java, approximately 100 million, and form
as the largest ethnic group in Indonesia, predominantly located in the central to eastern parts of the island.
 Sudanese People- an Austronesian ethnic group native to the Western part of the Indonesian island of Java.
Approximately 40 million, and form Indonesia’s second most populous ethnic group after the neighboring
Javanese.
THE CULTURE OF INDONESIA
-shaped by long interaction between original indigenous customs and multiple foreign influences.
-central along ancient trading routes between the Far east and the Middle East, resulting in many cultural practices
being strongly influenced by a multitude of religions, including Hinduism, Buddhism, Confucianism and Islam, all strong
in the major trading cities.
-their art-forms is express in a cultural mix.
 Wayang- traditional theater performed puppet shows, were a medium in the spread of Hinduism and Islam
amongst Javan villagers. Both Javanee and Balinese dances have stories about ancient Buddhist and Hindu
kingdoms, while Islamic art forms and architecture are present in Sumatra, especially in Mingkabau and Aceh
regions.
*Aceh- is the only province that has introduced Sharia law, under a special agreement struck with Indonesia more than a
decade ago, to end the long-running separatist war.
* Pencaksilat- traditional art form of Indonesia, music and sport combined with martial art form.
-Western culture has greatly influenced Indonesia in modern entertainment such as television shows, film and music as
well as political system and issues.
-India has notably influenced Indonesian songs and movies
 Dangdut- a popular Indian rhythmical type of song, often used in Malay folk music, but despite the influences of
foreign culture, some remote Indonesian regions still preserve their unique indigenous culture.
*Mentawi, Asmat, Dani, Dayak, Toraja and many others are still practicing their ethnic rituals, customs and wearing
traditional clothes.
TRADITION
-Early 1990’s Indonesia’s society was divided into numerous ethnic groups and minorities
- Javanese-the largest group, 45 percent of the total population; Sudanese made up 14 percent, followed by Madurese
7.5 percent, 7.5 percent and coastal Malays 7.5 percent.
-Indonesians were made aware through education, television, cinema, print media, and national parks- of the diversity
of their own society, and when Indonesian talk about their cultural differences with one another, one of the words they
used is Adat.
 Adat- roughly translated as “custom” or “tradition”, but its meaning has undergone a number of
transformations.
 Hukumadat- legal status for certain laws, recognized by the government as legitimate. These ancestral customs
may pertain to a wide range of activities: agricultural production, religious practices, marriage arrangements,
legal practices, political succession or artistic expressions.
-Despite the fact that the vast majority of Indonesians are Muslim, they maintain very different social identifications. If a
Javanese is being asked about the behavior of a Sudanese or a Balinese counter part they might say, “because it is his
adat.” Differences in the ways, ethnic groups practice Islam are often ascribed to adat. Each group, may have slightly
different patterns of observing religious holidays, attending the mosque, expressing respect, or burying the dead.
-1970’S and 1980’s- notion of adat came to take on a national significance in touristic settings such as Balinese artistic
performances and in museum displays.
 Taman Mini- a kind of ethnographic theme park located on the outskirts of Jakarta, seeks to display and
interpret the cultural variation of Indonesia.
*When Indonesians talk about their society in inclusive terms, they are more likely to use a word like “budaya” (culture)
than adat.
 Kebudayaan Indonesia- the “culture of Indonesia”, as something grand, and refers to traditions of refinement
and high civilization.
BELIEFS
-Indonesia has the largest Muslim population of any nation, and in 1990 the population was reported to be 87 percent
Muslim.
-Mystical cults are well established among the Javanese elite and middle class, and members of many ethnic groups still
follow traditional belief systems.
 Agama- religion recognized officially by the government to include Islam, Christianity, Hinduism, and Buddhism.
 Kepercayaan- other belief systems, and those who hold beliefs are subject to conversion; followers of religion
are not.
-Belief in ancestral spirits, spirits of diverse sorts of places, and powerful relics are found among both peasants and
educated people and among many followers of the world religions; witchcraft and sorcery also have their believers and
practitioners.
-The colonial regime had an uneasy relationship with Islam, as has the Indonesian government.
 Tuhan-the first of the Five principles extols God, but not Allah by name.
-Dissidents have wanted to make Indonesia, a Muslim state, but they have not prevailed.
INDONESIAN LITERATURE
 Pantun- a long tradition, particularly among ethnically Malay populations, of impromptu, interactive, verbal
composition of poetry.
 Suharto -an Indonesian military leader and politician who served as the second President of Indonesia, holding
the office for 31 years, from the ousting of Sukarno in 1967 until his resignation in 1998. He was widely regarded
by foreign commentators as a dictator. However, his legacy is still debated at home and abroad.
* During the Suharto era, there is a long tradition of the poet as a “voice on the wind”, a critic of authority. Poets and
playwrights had works banned. Among them are W.S. Rendra-whose plays were not allowed in Jakarta.

 Pramoedya Ananta Toer- a well-known author won the Magsaysay Award and was considered for the Nobel
Prize in literature.
-Indonesia’s literacy includes centuries-old palm, bamboo, and other fiber manuscripts from several literate people’s
such as the Malay, Javanese, Balinese, Buginese, Rejang, and Batak.
 Nagarakrtagama- a lengthy poem praising King Hayam Wuruk and describing the life and social structure of his
kingdom, Majapahit.
 The I La Galigo of the Bugis- traces the adventures of their culture hero, Sawerigading.
 Sawerigading- one of the world’s longest epic poems.
-Wayang- the tradition of plays using Javanese shadow puppets, the origins of which may date to the Neolithic age.
-Lakon- brought to a new level of sophistication in portraying complex Hindu dramas during the period of Indianization.
-Medang or Metaram Kingdom- a Javanese Hindu-Buddhist kingdom that flourished between the 8 th and 10th centuries
in Central Java, and later in East Java- there was a blossoming of art, culture, and literature, mainly through the
translation of Hindu-Buddhist sacred texts and the transmission and adaptation of Hindu-Buddhist ideas.
*The bas-relief narration of the Hindu epic Ramayana was carved on the wall of Prambanan Temple.
*Kakawin Ramayana-an old Javanese rendering was written. This Kakawin Ramayana, also called Yogesvara Ramayana.
*Yogesvara Ramayana- attributed to the scribe Yogesvara circa, the 9 th century CE, was employed in the court of the
Medang in Central Java.
-has 2,774 stanzas in the manipravala style- a mixture of Sanskrit and archaic Javanese prose.
* Ravanavadham of Bhatti- popularly known as Bhattikavya.
-When Islam started to spread across the islands of Indonesia in the 12 th century, it was also bringing new kinds of
cultural influences from the Islamic world, from Arab culture, Persia and Islamic West India. They included literature,
types of instruments, forms of music, styles of recitation of holy texts, and also some forms of dance. In many cases
these new elements were quickly localized, and they intermingled with earlier animistic and Hindu-Buddhist elements.
 Wayang golek rod- puppet theater which has its roots firmly in the older wayang kulit shadow theater that
mainly deals with Hindu mythology.
MAJAPAHIT LITERATURE and the NAGARAKERTAGAMA
-During the Majapahit period, in the 13 th-15th centuries, the East Javanese culture reached its zenith. The second half of
the 14th century in particular saw the flourishing of both literature and architecture.
-Wayang (shadow puppetry) -begun in the Kediri period.
-Mpu Prapanca’s Desawaman-often referred to life in the kingdom’s central provinces.
-Many other classic works also date from this period, including the famous Panji tales.
* Panji Tales- popular romances based on the history of eastern Java that were loved and borrowed by storytellers as
faraway as Thailand and Cambodia.
-Negara Kertagama-famous Javanese author Prapancha (1335-1380)- written during this golden period of Majapahit,
when many literary works were produced. Parts of the book described the diplomatic and economic ties between
Majapahit and numerous Southeast Asian countries including Myanmar, Thailand, Tonkin, Annam, Kampuchea and even
India and China. Other works in Kawi, the old Javanese language, were “ Pararaton,” “Arjuna Wiwaha,” “Ramayana,” and
“Sarasa Muschaya.”

LITERATURE FROM THE DUTCH PERIOD IN INDONESIA

-In colonial times some literature was published in regional languages, the most being in Javanese, but this was stopped
after Indonesian independence.
 Balai Pustaka- the earliest official publishing house for Indonesian literature, founded in Batavia in 1917.
National culture was expressed and, in some ways formed through spoken Malay-Indonesian (understood by
many people) and newspapers, pamphlets, poetry, novels, and short stories for those who could read.
MODERN LITERATURE IN INDONESIA
-Modern Indonesian literature got its start with language unification efforts in 1928 and underwent considerable
development before the war, receiving further impetus under Japanese auspices.
-Revolutionary (or traditional) Indonesian themes were employed in drama, films, and art, and hated symbols of Dutch
imperial control were swept away.
-Michael J. Ybarra-wrote in the Los Angeles Times, “Indonesia-is one of the largest countries, but its also relatively young
one. When the Indonesian republic was born in 1949, after three centuries of Dutch colonialism, language was one forge
of nationalism.
-The literary tradition was more oral than written, everything from the spoken word epics of the Kalimantanan Dayaks
in Borneo to Javanese court songs.
-Bahasa Indonesia- a dialect of Malay, the national language declared by the new government.
-According to Pramoedya Ananta Toer, “Indonesia owes its identity to the Indonesian language.
-By the time of independence ,literary production was not great, but it has grown considerably since the 1950’s.
-The literary tradition is now rich, but one should note that reading for pleasure or enlightenment is not yet part of the
culture of average urban Indonesians and plays little if any part in the life of village people.
MODERN WRITERS AND BOOKS IN INDONESIA
-In the conflict between left-and right-sing politics of the 1950s and early 1960s, organizations of authors were drawn
into the fray. In the anti-communist purges of the late 1960s, some writers who had participated in left-wing
organizations were imprisoned.
Left-wing- fair trade, egalitarianism, equality, economic regulation strict taxation, community based on ethics, inclusive
and secular.
Right-wing- free-trade, meritocracy, wealth, economic de-regulation, loose taxation, community based on morals,
exclusive and religious.
 Pramoedya Ananta Toer-a nationalist who had also been imprisoned by the Dutch from 1947 to 1949. He
composed books as stories told to fellow prisoners in exile on the island of Buru from 1965 to 1979. He was
released from Buru and settled in Jakarta, but remained under city arrest. Four of his novels, the Buru Quartet-
published between 1980 and 1988 in Indonesian, are rich documentaries of life in turn-of-the-century colonial
Java. They were banned in Indonesia during the New Order.
-Pram, as he is commonly known rhyming with Tom, received a PEN Freedom-to-Write Award in 1988 and a Magsaysay
Award in 1995. In English translation, the Buru Quartet received critical acclaim, and after the end of the New Order in
1999, Pram made a tour of the United States. He is the only Indonesian novelist to have received such acclaim overseas.
FAMOUS WRITERS AND INTELLECTUALS INCLUDE:
-W.S. Rendra-major poet and playwright who achieved fame during the New Order for taking stands against the
government.
-Akhdiat Miharja-key figure in literature during the 1940s and 1950s.
-Des Alwi- one of the last figures of the revolutionary period, he was the adopted son of Mohammed Hatta , and a close
associate of Sutan Syahrir, and later diplomat and writer.
-Rosihan Anwar-legendary reporter, columnist, and public intellectual.
-Chairil Anwar-also an important figure in the literature world and member of the Generation 45 group of authors who
were active in the Indonesian independence movement.
*Some well known Indonesian writers set their stories in fantasy words. Others have used the Dutch period to criticize
the Sukarno and Suharto eras.
-Ahmad Tohari’s- “The Dancer”, was banned under Suharto. It was about village life during the massacre in the 1860s. It
paints an unflattering picture of the military
-Mochtar Lubis- another highly regarded Indonesian writer. His most well-known novel, “Twilight in Jakarta”, examines
corruption and the problems of the poor in 1950s Jakarta. This book too was banned, and Lubis was jailed.
-Fira Basuki-wrote the trilogy Jendala-Jendala (“The Windows”), Pintu (“The Door”) and Atap (“The Roof”).
-Dew Lestari- is a singer who wrote the popular novel Supernova.