CULTURE & LIFESTYLE

Arts and Culture
Indonesian culture mixes the traditions of many civilizations and religions, including Hinduism, Buddhism, Islam, Southeast Asian, Polynesian, Chinese, Arabic, and Dutch.

Dance: Indonesia is home to many traditional dance styles, and the classical dance traditions of Java and Bali have attracted worldwide attention. In Java, classical forms blend native traditions with stories and dance techniques from India. Wayang topeng, Javanese mask dances, have been traced to the 11th century. In these, dancers with wooden masks act out stories from the Hindu epics Mahabharata, the Ramayana, and local tales. Another significant dance drama is the wayang orang, in which men and women act out a familiar range of Hindu and local epics. In the wayang orang, dancers dress and act in a style adapted from traditional wayang kulit or shadow puppets. Bali has a rich tradition of dances that are part of religious rituals. Often performed by nonprofessionals, dances are held in temple courtyards and coincide with religious feasts. Bali is well known for its trance dances, in which performers experience an altered state of consciousness and seek contact with the spirit world. The Balinese also perform versions of Java's wayang topeng and wayang orang.

Traditional theater: Wayang kulit (shadow puppets) have been at the core of Javanese theater for more than 1,000 years and are still the most popular form of shadow theater. In wayang kulit, the dalang (puppeteer) manipulates leather figures so that their shadows dance across a white screen. Performances typically begin in the late evening and end at sunrise.

Music: The gamelan, a drum and gong orchestra, is the best known of Indonesia's classical music forms. The word gamelan comes from the Javanese word gamel, which refers to a type of hammer. The main instruments in the gamelan orchestra include gongs, bronze xylophones, bronze kettles on a horizontal frame, drums, flutes, zithers, and a two-stringed bowed instrument. The gamelan performs both in an instrumental role as well as in a supportive role for dance and puppet performances. The three major gamelan styles in Indonesia are based on Sundanese culture, central Javanese culture, and Balinese culture.

Literature: Written literature exists for very few of Indonesia's languages, although oral traditions, including prose and poetry, are very strong. Indian literature is influential, particularly in Old Javanese writings, which date from about AD 1000. Modern Javanese literature dates from the early 1700s and combines native, Indian, and Muslim traditions.

Textile Crafts: Batik, the art of applying wax to cloth then tie-dying in colorful and dramatic designs, is produced throughout Indonesia, and the center of this activity is in Central Java. Other craft forms on the islands include ikat, which is a type of weaving with tie-dyed threads, and songket, a silk cloth with interwoven gold or silver threads.

Architecture: Indonesia has a long and grand architectural tradition. Indian influence is evident in the large Buddhist monument of Borobudur and the Hindu temple of Prambanan, both in central Java. Borobudur is Indonesia's most famous tourist attraction. Built in the 9th century, it is a representation of the Buddhist vision of the cosmos. Prambanan, the largest Hindu temple complex in Java, was built during the 8th and 10th centuries.

Food and Drink
Indonesia is one of the world's melting pots of culinary influences, combining its own spices with the tastes of India, China, the Middle East, and Europe. Commonly used ingredients include coconut milk, lemongrass, tamarind, turmeric, cardamom, and saffron. Some areas produce sweet-and-sour specialties, some sweet and hot. Sumatra's masakan Padang (Padang dishes) are spicy hot, but there are many milder dishes.

Nasi (rice) is the staple of most islands, but fried noodles are widely used. Nasi goreng (fried rice) and mie goreng (fried noodles) can be found on every menu, and are often cooked with eggs, bits of vegetables, and slices of meat. Nearly every dish is accompanied by a sambal (spicy chili sauce.) Warung (street stalls) serve nasi campur—steamed rice flavored with vegetables and bits of meat and fish. Served everywhere and prepared in street stalls is the famous Indonesian sate (satay), often ayam (chicken) served with peanut sauce. Gado gado, a dish with vegetables and peanut sauce, is one of many dishes available on Java and Bali that will satisfy vegetarians. Western cuisine and fast-food restaurants are widespread in Jakarta and in the Kuta area of Bali. In fact, traditional local cuisine is almost impossible to find on Kuta.

Soft drinks and beer are readily available in many areas. Bir Bintang is the best-known local brew, a cheap and refreshing lager beer. 'Aqua' is the preferred bottled mineral water. Western-style tea and coffee are served only in hotels and Western restaurants; elsewhere, tea and coffee is invigoratingly strong, sweet, and black.

Dress
Men and women who live in cities generally adopt Western dress. Regionally, there are many styles of traditional dress, but most women wear a sarung (sarong; wraparound skirt or dress) and a kebaya, a fitted blouse. When participating in ceremonies, men often wear a batik shirt and a sarong skirt, along with a songkok, a black Muslim cap.

Religion
Over time, social and religious duty has been refined to form a code of behavior called adat or traditional law. Islam is the predominant religion of the archipelago but it's somewhat tempered by elements of Hindu-Buddhism, adat and animism. In Java, especially, there are considered hundreds of places where spiritual energy is thought to be concentrated and therefore absorbed by followers.

Followers of some form of Islam make up 87 percent of the population, making Indonesia the largest Islamic country in the world. Christians represent 9 percent of the population. Despite a lengthy colonial period, missionaries were only successful in converting small pockets of the Indonesian population to Christianity — the Bataks of Sumatra and the Toraks of Sulawesi being notable examples. Buddhists, most of whom are of Chinese descent, account for about 1 percent of the population. Hinduism was once a major influence throughout the region but is now significant primarily on Bali.

Indonesia's constitution guarantees freedom of religion.

Education
Compulsory education includes elementary schooling and three years of lower secondary schooling. An additional three years of upper secondary schooling are optional. Indonesian students attend more than 50 government-operated universities and more than 1,000 private universities.

Historically higher school attendance among boys reflects the values of a largely conservative, rural society, although the gap in schooling between boys and girls has begun to narrow. In 2000 some 82 percent of Indonesian females and 92 percent of males were literate. The economic crisis of the late 1990s caused some children to withdraw temporarily from school because their families could no longer afford school fees.

Women in Indonesia
The status of women in Indonesia is varied, and opinions about women's roles are polarized. Most Indonesians concede that women have limited formal opportunities in social institutions, but many claim women exert considerable power within families. The Minangkabau society in western Sumatra is matrilineal—that is, property and lineage are passed down and traced through the mother's family. However, the Minangkabau are an isolated example. In the mid-1990s women comprised less than 10 percent of managers and administrators. Feminism is largely an urban ideology in Indonesia, pursued by younger, educated women.

Socio-economic Issues
Indonesian society has experienced a profound shift in the location of wealth. For much of the period since independence, wealth was concentrated in rural areas, particularly beyond Java. The rural elite prospered through their control of land and through their success as crop exporters. With industrialization in and around the larger cities, however, the wealth has shifted to urban areas of Java and Bali. Wealth is now derived from manufacturing, infrastructure projects, and the services sector.

A skewed pattern of income distribution is a growing problem in Indonesia, with many Indonesians living in poverty, especially in rural areas. Overall inequality is lower in Indonesia than in nearby Thailand, the Philippines, or Malaysia, largely because Indonesia's wealthiest are still a very small proportion of the population.

Currency
The currency in Indonesia is the rupiah, which comes from the Sanskrit word for wrought silver, rupya. The recent Asian economic meltdown has impacted badly on the rupiah; it's currently on a stockmarket rollercoaster ride. The exchange rate went from Rp 2,450/US $1 in July 1997 to Rp 14,500/US $1 in July 1998. This currency devaluation was a major factor in causing a severe economic crisis, the effects of which dominated the economy in 2000 and continue to linger in 2001.

Transportation
As an island nation, well-maintained waterways and interisland shipping are vital to Indonesia's economy. The main ports for international trade include Surabaya, Medan, Makassar, and Tanjung Priok, which serves Jakarta.

On the islands, 46 percent of Indonesia's 342,700 km (212,944 mi) of roads are paved. Between the mid-1980s and mid-1990s the amount of road nearly doubled. Inexpensive minibus services have grown in both cities and rural areas, improving mobility for many Indonesians. Government-owned bus companies and privately owned taxis and minibuses provide transit services in the larger cities. Low-cost transportation include bemo (small motorized vehicles), ojek (motorbikes that transport passengers on a rear seat), and becak (three-wheeled pedicabs.) Becak have recently been banned from Jakarta because they are said to cause traffic congestion.

Railways are confined to Java, Sumatra, and Madura. Air services in Indonesia are provided by Garuda Indonesia and Merpati Nusantara airlines, both owned by the government; and by the privately owned Bouraq, Mandala, Serpati, and Seulawah airlines. Sukarno-Hatta International Airport in Jakarta is the country's main airport, although there are several other international airports, including Ngurah Rai, serving Denpasar in Bali.

Communications
A lack of modern communications has long been a serious problem in Indonesia, largely because relatively few Indonesians can afford them and because settlements are scattered over many islands. The government, however, has increased investment in several areas. In 1990 Indonesia had 7 telephones for every 1,000 people. In the early 1990s Indonesia increased its satellite capacity by one-third in order to improve telephone services, and the country has installed fiber-optic cables across Java and between the main islands. As a result of these and other improvements, local telephone calls doubled between 1991 and 1994; however, in 1998 Indonesia still had just 27 phones and 5 mobile telephones for every 1,000 people.