The arts and crafts of Indonesia have for many centuries played an integral part in local religious and cultural life. Far more than mere decoration, woven cloth and painting, in particular, were regarded as a means of revealing the divine nature of the universe, playing important roles in rites of passage and temple ceremonies.
Today, the age-old skills developed in the courts of pre-Islamic Java are deployed in a wider range of contents than ever, and travelling around the country you’ll have numerous opportunities to see them being made and used in traditional ways. Light and vibrant, hand-decorated cloth and paintings also make perfect souvenirs, sold in markets and boutiques across the region.
Indonesia is situated at the meeting point of two of the world’s population groups, Asians in the west and Melanesians in the east. The great majority of Indonesians are related to the peoples of eastern Asia, although over the centuries there also has been considerable mixing with Arabs, Indians, and Europeans. In the eastern islands, however, most of the people are of Melanesian origin.
The Indonesian national motto, “Bhinneka tunggal ika” (“Unity in diversity”), makes reference to the extraordinary diversity of the Indonesian population that has emerged from the ongoing confluence of peoples, languages, and cultures. The country includes more than 300 different ethnic groups and more than twice as many distinct languages, and most of the major world religions, as well as a wide range of indigenous ones, are practiced there. Notwithstanding this diversity, most of the people are of Malay ancestry, speak Austronesian (Malayo-Polynesian) languages, and profess Islam.
The barriers of the mountains and the sea have protected the character and traditions of many groups. Away from the major cities and areas of dense population, there are significant variations from one valley to the next and almost from one village to the next. In many cases the highland groups of the larger islands—Borneo, Sumatra, and Celebes—were relatively untouched by international influences until the arrival of Christian missionaries during the 19th century; these upland peoples continue to reflect great cultural diversity. Each island or group of islands east of Java also has maintained its own distinct character, in many cases strongly influenced by different religions. In particular, Bali—with its long tradition of Hindu and Buddhist influences rooted in local religious practices—is quite different in character and customs from any other part of Indonesia.
Indonesia: Ethnic composition
Most of the several hundred languages spoken in Indonesia have an Austronesian base. The major exceptions are found in western New Guinea and some of the Moluccas, where different Papuan languages are used. The Austronesian language family is broken into several major groups within which languages are closely related though distinctly different. On Java there are three major languages—Javanese, Sundanese, and Madurese—while on Sumatra there are dozens, many of which are divided into distinct dialects. Within the Toraja group, a relatively small population in the interior of Celebes, several languages are spoken. In eastern Indonesia each island has its own language, which is often not understood on the neighbouring islands. Similarly, languages often differ from one village to the next in the interior of Kalimantan.
Indonesian (Bahasa Indonesia) is the national language. It evolved from a literary style of Malay language that was used in the royal houses of the Riau-Jambi area of eastern Sumatra, but it also has much in common with other Malay dialects that have long served as regional lingua francas. The differences between standard Malay and standard Indonesian reside largely in their idioms and in certain items of vocabulary. In 1972 Indonesia and Malaysia agreed on a uniform revised spelling of the language so that communications could be improved and literature more freely exchanged between the two countries.
Because it has no distinctive expressions based on social h