Indonesia: A symbol of religious tolerance
Indonesia is unique and complex. It is one country with different time zones and peculiar culture and lifestyles in each of the 34 provinces. It is a blend of tradition and modernity where the characteristic of a fast life, high skyscrapers and shopping malls are key features in its metropolis, including its capital, Jakarta, yet its traditions are well pronounced in some of the cities beyond Jakarta such as Bali and Yogyakarta.
Advertisement
It is an Islamic-dominated country with about 90 per cent of its 260 million population practising Islam yet, it is fed by lots of Hindu and Buddhist temples.
Indonesia is an epitome of religious tolerance where temples of these religious bodies are placed side by side.
Indeed, it is a rare experience hardly practised in many parts of the world where religious intolerance has become the order of the day. In all these, it holds high the belief in its trinity – Brahma, the creator, Shiwa, the god that destroys and re-constructs and Vishnu, the god that protects.
The belief in their kind of trinity rather than the known trinity of God the father, the son and the Holy Spirit may sound fetish and more traditional but it has held the country together since its independence from the Dutch 71 years ago.
World’s biggest Buddhist temple
This belief underpins its developmental agenda anchored on tourism, agriculture and textile industry. Today, Borobudur, one of the suburbs of Yogyakarta host the biggest world Buddhist temple and rightly documented as the UNESCO World heritage site.
It is more than 65 cubic feet and situated on one of the country’s biggest national parks, where it is flooded with people from all walks of life, especially on Sundays where its festive season is heightened.
But the temple is only one of more than 240 across the world’s most populous country. It consists of hundreds of distinct native ethnic and linguistic groups, the largest of which is the Javanese.
Yet, its national language consists of numerous minority ethnic groups to depict its national character.
Volcanic eruption
One would not be wrong to tag Indonesia as a country of consistent volcanic eruptions and intermittent Tsunamis. But rather than wrecking the nation apart, the country found strength in its predicament and today it is one of the most sought-after in terms of disaster management.
But no day passes without a minor eruption, especially in Yogyakarta but the worse was 10 years ago when the country was nearly shattered. And in 2010, the almighty Tsunami brought the nation on its knees.
The tour of Yogyakarta was very revealing and it showed the inner strength of President Joko Widodo and his people turning their weakness into strength. Today, one of the worst affected areas in Yogyakarta has been turned into the country’s biggest drainage system and the people resettled.
Economy
Indonesia can boast of a vibrant economy with its unique textile industry creating jobs to more than half of its youth. Its distinctive batik industry remains one of the world’s most sought after.
Beyond that, the economy thrives on its massive rice production and processing and tourism accounting for at least two-thirds of its earnings.
Indonesia is a member of the G-20 major economies and the world’s 16th largest by nominal GDP.
Scenery
Indonesia is simply beautiful made up of thousands of volcanic islands, beaches, volcanoes, Komodo dragons and jungles sheltering elephants, orangutans and tigers.
Each of the provinces is unique and its economic activity is different. Yogyakarta for instance is known for its gamelan music, traditional puppetry and education while Bali is a known tourist site.