transitional government note: following a successful referendum on independence for the Autonomous Region of Eritrea on 23-25 April 1993, a National Assembly, composed entirely of the People's Front for Democracy and Justice or PFDJ, was established as a transitional legislature; a Constitutional Commission was also established to draft a constitution; ISAIAS Afworki was elected president by the transitional legislature; the constitution, ratified in May 1997, did not enter into effect, pending parliamentary and presidential elections; parliamentary elections were scheduled in December 2001, but were postponed indefinitely; currently the sole legal party is the People's Front for Democracy and Justice (PFDJ)
Independence date
17 August 1945 (declared) note: recognized by the Netherlands on 27 December 1949; in August 2005, the Netherlands announced it recognized de facto Indonesian independence on 17 August 1945
Religions
Muslim 86.1%, Protestant 5.7%, Roman Catholic 3%, Hindu 1.8%, other or unspecified 3.4% (2000 census)
Muslim, Coptic Christian, Roman Catholic, Protestant
Languages
Bahasa Indonesia (official, modified form of Malay), English, Dutch, local dialects (the most widely spoken of which is Javanese)
Afar, Arabic, Tigre and Kunama, Tigrinya, other Cushitic languages
Exports
oil and gas, electrical appliances, plywood, textiles, rubber
External Debt
$186,900,000,000 $
Exchange Rate
Indonesian rupiah (IDR) per US dollar - 9,558.1 (2008 est.), 9,056 (2007 est.), 9,159.3 (2006), 9,704.7 (2005), 8,938.9 (2004)
Military Budget as percentage of GDP
3.000%
Beijing Olympics Medal Count
5
0
Location
Southeastern Asia, archipelago between the Indian Ocean and the Pacific Ocean
Eastern Africa, bordering the Red Sea, between Djibouti and Sudan
Area
1,904,569 km sq
117,600 km sq
Coastline
54,716 km
2,234 km
Climate
tropical; hot, humid; more moderate in highlands
hot, dry desert strip along Red Sea coast; cooler and wetter in the central highlands (up to 61 cm of rainfall annually, heaviest June to September); semiarid in western hills and lowlands
