I.

Introduction

Republic of Indonesia, island republic and largest nation of South East Asia, constituting most of the Malay Archipelago and including all of the former Netherlands Indies. Indonesia comprises 13,677 islands straddling the equator, 6,000 of which are inhabited. From the island of Sumatra in the west to that of New Guinea in the east, Indonesia stretches across some 5,150 km (3,200 mi) of ocean, or almost one eighth of the Earth’s circumference; Indonesia’s north-south spread is about 1,931 km (1,200 mi). The republic shares the island of Borneo with Malaysia and Brunei Darussalam; Indonesian Borneo, equivalent to about 75 per cent of the island, is called Kalimantan. The western half of New Guinea is the Indonesian province of Papua (formerly West Irian and Irian Jaya); the eastern half is part of Papua New Guinea. Kalimantan and Papua, together with Sumatra (also called Irian Sumatera), Java (Jawa), and Celebes (Sulawesi) are the largest islands of Indonesia and, together with the insular provinces of Kalimantan and Jaya, account for about 95 per cent of its land area. The smaller islands, including Madura, Timor, Lombok, Sumbawa, Flores, and Bali predominantly form part of island groups. The Moluccas (Maluku) and the Lesser Sunda Islands (Nusatenggara) are the largest island groups. In 2003, satellite data suggested that Indonesia had an additional 500 islands than previously thought. The marine frontiers of Indonesia include the South China Sea, the Celebes Sea, and the Pacific Ocean to the north, and the Indian Ocean to the south and west. Indonesia has a land area of 1,904,570 sq km (735,359 sq mi). The capital and largest city is Jakarta.