Indonesia

In 1949, indonesia achieved independence from the Netherlands with the help of the United Nations (UN). The years following that event have been filled with poverty, terrorism, corruption, colonial revolts, shifting political alliances, and major natural and environmental disasters. In addition to these problems, the government has been forced to deal with separatist movements in Aceh and Papua. Indonesia's substantial oil resources have begun to decline, and the government was forced to import oil in 2005. This move led to a fuel price increase of 126 percent. In response to several terrorism incidents, the tourist industry also began to decline.

With a per capita income of $3,700, Indonesia ranks as the 150th wealthiest nation in the world. Indonesian income is unevenly distributed, with the wealthiest 10 percent of the population sharing 28.5 percent of available resources. More than 15 percent of the population of 241,974,000 live in poverty, which is particularly prevalent in rural areas. Indonesia is highly dependent on agriculture, in which 45 percent of the workforce is engaged. The high unemployment rate (10 percent) is indicative of deeper societal problems. The UN Development Program (UNDP) Human Development Reports rank Indonesia 110th of 232 countries in overall quality-of-life issues.

Located in southeastern Asia in an archipelago of 17,508 islands (only 6,000 are inhabited) between the Indian and Pacific Oceans, Indonesia has 33,924 miles (54,716 kilometers) of coastline and a total area of 741,096 square miles (1,919,440 square kilometers). An abundance of natural resources includes petroleum, tin, natural gas, nickel, timber, bauxite, copper, fertile soils, coal, gold, and silver. Most of Indonesia enjoys a tropical temperature, but the weather is more moderate in the highlands.

The land is composed of coastal lowlands with interior mountains on the larger islands. Elevations range from sea level to 16,498 feet (5,030 meters). Indonesia is subject to occasional flooding and severe droughts as well as to earthquakes, volcanoes, tsunamis, and forest fires. A volcanic eruption on Mount Tambora on April 10, 1815, killed more than 88,000 people. In December 2004, the infamous Indian Ocean tsunami hit Indonesia particularly hard at a cost of 131,000 known dead and another 37,000 people missing. Property damage was estimated at $4.5 billion, and environmental damage was incalculable.

Some 22 percent of the Indonesian population lacks sustainable access to safe drinking water, and 48 percent have no access to improved sanitation. As a result, Indonesians are at high risk for contracting food and waterborne diseases such as bacterial and protozoal diarrhea, hepatitis A and E, and typhoid fever. In certain areas, Indonesians are also vulnerable to vectorborne diseases that include dengue fever, malaria, and chikungunya. Some 100,000 Indonesians are living with HIV/AIDS, which has killed 2,400. A number of avian influenza cases were reported in Indonesia in 2005, creating a public scare.

Indonesia is currently facing a number of major environmental problems. First among these have been repeated widespread forest fires, massive enough to cast a pall of smoke over the southern Pacific Ocean for months in their wake. El Niño weather conditions set the stage for these fires, which created drought throughout Southeast Asia during the early 1980s and late 1990s. The fires, however, were almost exclusively anthropogenic, and set by plantation companies and large agribusinesses attempting to clear land for the plantation and extraction of palm oil, wood pulp, and rubber. Many of these firms, moreover, went unregulated in their activities, due to to their close and largely corrupt relationship to the ruling party.

...