I like to learn a few things about the places I visit to gain a better appreciation for my surroundings. I have to admit I didn't really know much about Indonesia before we arrived. We are enjoying our stay here, but now that we've been here for almost two weeks and plan to stay for a couple more, a few questions have come to my mind. Here in Java we're reminded five or six times a day by the call to prayer that this is primarily a Muslim island, yet the island of Bali is primary a Hindu area. Why is that, and do the various groups in Indonesia get along? Why are the people here better off than say Vietnam, but not as well off as the people in Thailand? And why is Indonesia, a vast collection of islands, one country and not many? I found some answers, but it's complicated.
The various religious groups in Indonesia tell a story of empire and trade spanning thousands of years. Buddhism and Hinduism originated from India and made their way to Java and Sumatra via merchants along the naval Silk Road. Buddhism is only practiced by a tiny minority in Indonesia today, mostly Chinese immigrants, but it played a much larger role in the past.
Yesterday we visited one notable temple called Borobudur, which has the largest and best collection of stone reliefs of any Buddhist structure in the world. It was covered in jungle growth and trees until the early 1800's when the British and later the Dutch took an interest in uncovering and repairing it. It caused quite a sensation in Europe at the time as the first example of a large and sophisticated ancient civilization in the area outside of China - this was before Angor Wat was uncovered in Cambodia. The temple was built in the 9th century as a homage to Buddha and as a site for pilgrims. Pilgrims would circle around this large step pyramid, which is in the shape of a stupa when seen from afar. As we moved around the large structure along the bottom level we saw really intricate stone reliefs covering the walls. The lower level reliefs showed the desires of daily life and its struggles with good and evil. By the time we moved up a few levels we were supposedly looking at a world of forms, a higher plane of existence closer to reality. Here we saw reliefs of holy men praying, contemplating and teaching. When we reached the two top levels we were looking at the "formless sea of nirvana", which was represented by statues of gods and holy men in stupas that you could peer into.
It was a good site to visit, and we followed the pilgrim's path around the structure to get a sense of what it might have been like to be a pilgrim in the 9th century. One difference was the Indonesian students we met along the way. I think they had a field assignment to practice their English, and so we were stopped a few times to answer basic questions about who we were and where we were from. We were asked to sign their score sheets for school, which we happily did, although I signed more score sheets than students I spoke with; I think they were working the system. It was nice to talk to them and take some pictures of us together.
Anyway, back to my history lesson. Hinduism was especially prevalent in the western half of Indonesia from 1200 to 1400, when the Majapahit empire spread from Java to conquer and rule much of modern day Indonesia. Islam made its way to the islands of Sumatra and Java at first via Muslim traders from western India and later from the Sultanate of Malacca in modern day Malaysia. The remnants of Majapahit culture retreated to Bali by the 1400's and is the reason Bali is a Hindu dominated island today with a culture much different from the rest of Indonesia. Islam became dominant in the western part of Indonesia by the 1600's and spread further over time to be the dominant religion today where 90% of Indonesians subscribe to Islam. Next the Portuguese and then the Dutch entered the scene, and the islands of Indonesia were controlled by the Dutch from the 1600's until around World War II. At that time the area was called the Dutch East Indies. During this period Christianity spread somewhat into the eastern portion of the islands, which had mostly subscribed to animist beliefs up until then. The islands were briefly under British control in the early 1800's and Japanese occupation during World War II.
The local resistance to the Japanese during World War II led to resistance to Dutch rule after the war. The Indonesians then won their independence in 1949. After some turbulent and violent years in the 1960's between local communist and anti-communist parties, it has settled down into a more or less stable, secular democracy. This has been especially true since the Suharto regime ended in the late 1990's. Since then, freedom and governance have improved for the most part.
There are still some areas of concern among freedom watch groups including government corruption, some curbs on freedom of the press, and some restrictions on religious freedom. One quirk is that the Indonesian constitution only recognizes six official religions: Islam, Protestantism, Catholicism, Hinduism, Buddhism and Confucianism. Those who subscribe to another religion or have no affiliation are subject to discrimination and in some cases repression. The source of this odd situation? At the time of independence a compromise was made between some Muslim groups who wanted a Islamic state based on Shariah law and other groups who wanted full religious freedom. The compromise they settled on seems a little muddled to me.
However, there are pockets in the country where the rules don't apply. On our way to Indonesia from Singapore, I read the Jakarta Post, and was surprised to discover that people were being publicly caned per Sharia law in one part of the country for misdemeanours such as couples hugging in public. There are also a few extremist groups in Indonesia, and there was a terrorist bombing in Bali in 2002 which was claimed by an extremist group. But for the most part Indonesia is a safe place to be.
The country was very poor through its colonial period and started to improve its economy starting in the mid 60's after some changes were implemented to stabilize the economy. Since then, thanks to oil production, manufacturing, and crop exports, the economy has improved and the official poverty rate has dropped from 60% to 15% since the 1960's.
On a trek today through the countryside, we saw some of the crops grown here. Even though the land is very steep and mountainous, much of the land is under culivation. We saw terraces 10 feet high so farmers could squeeze in another rice or tobacco crop. The land seems so fertile and well irrigated. We saw endless crops of rice, tobacco, tomatoes, cassava, chilli peppers, green beans and other crops we couldn't identify. We also saw banana and papaya trees. I could see though how undeveloped some practices were. I saw water buffaloes pulling wooden plows, and ladies making gravel from rocks on the side of the road using hammers. In town yesterday I saw four men with sledgehammers and long iron spikes breaking up some asphalt in the middle of the road. At an average wage of $2 an hour I believe, I can only guess that this is a cheaper alternative than having one guy with a jackhammer do the same job faster.
By contrast, Thailand has been developing their economy in fits and starts since the early 1900's when serfdom was abolished, and Vietnam has only opened up their economy for the last 20 years. This mostly explains why Thailand is richer per capita than Indonesia, while Vietnam is poorest.
Here is Catheleen near some water buffaloes on our trek through the countryside today.
The various religious groups in Indonesia tell a story of empire and trade spanning thousands of years. Buddhism and Hinduism originated from India and made their way to Java and Sumatra via merchants along the naval Silk Road. Buddhism is only practiced by a tiny minority in Indonesia today, mostly Chinese immigrants, but it played a much larger role in the past.
Yesterday we visited one notable temple called Borobudur, which has the largest and best collection of stone reliefs of any Buddhist structure in the world. It was covered in jungle growth and trees until the early 1800's when the British and later the Dutch took an interest in uncovering and repairing it. It caused quite a sensation in Europe at the time as the first example of a large and sophisticated ancient civilization in the area outside of China - this was before Angor Wat was uncovered in Cambodia. The temple was built in the 9th century as a homage to Buddha and as a site for pilgrims. Pilgrims would circle around this large step pyramid, which is in the shape of a stupa when seen from afar. As we moved around the large structure along the bottom level we saw really intricate stone reliefs covering the walls. The lower level reliefs showed the desires of daily life and its struggles with good and evil. By the time we moved up a few levels we were supposedly looking at a world of forms, a higher plane of existence closer to reality. Here we saw reliefs of holy men praying, contemplating and teaching. When we reached the two top levels we were looking at the "formless sea of nirvana", which was represented by statues of gods and holy men in stupas that you could peer into.
It was a good site to visit, and we followed the pilgrim's path around the structure to get a sense of what it might have been like to be a pilgrim in the 9th century. One difference was the Indonesian students we met along the way. I think they had a field assignment to practice their English, and so we were stopped a few times to answer basic questions about who we were and where we were from. We were asked to sign their score sheets for school, which we happily did, although I signed more score sheets than students I spoke with; I think they were working the system. It was nice to talk to them and take some pictures of us together.
Anyway, back to my history lesson. Hinduism was especially prevalent in the western half of Indonesia from 1200 to 1400, when the Majapahit empire spread from Java to conquer and rule much of modern day Indonesia. Islam made its way to the islands of Sumatra and Java at first via Muslim traders from western India and later from the Sultanate of Malacca in modern day Malaysia. The remnants of Majapahit culture retreated to Bali by the 1400's and is the reason Bali is a Hindu dominated island today with a culture much different from the rest of Indonesia. Islam became dominant in the western part of Indonesia by the 1600's and spread further over time to be the dominant religion today where 90% of Indonesians subscribe to Islam. Next the Portuguese and then the Dutch entered the scene, and the islands of Indonesia were controlled by the Dutch from the 1600's until around World War II. At that time the area was called the Dutch East Indies. During this period Christianity spread somewhat into the eastern portion of the islands, which had mostly subscribed to animist beliefs up until then. The islands were briefly under British control in the early 1800's and Japanese occupation during World War II.
The local resistance to the Japanese during World War II led to resistance to Dutch rule after the war. The Indonesians then won their independence in 1949. After some turbulent and violent years in the 1960's between local communist and anti-communist parties, it has settled down into a more or less stable, secular democracy. This has been especially true since the Suharto regime ended in the late 1990's. Since then, freedom and governance have improved for the most part.
There are still some areas of concern among freedom watch groups including government corruption, some curbs on freedom of the press, and some restrictions on religious freedom. One quirk is that the Indonesian constitution only recognizes six official religions: Islam, Protestantism, Catholicism, Hinduism, Buddhism and Confucianism. Those who subscribe to another religion or have no affiliation are subject to discrimination and in some cases repression. The source of this odd situation? At the time of independence a compromise was made between some Muslim groups who wanted a Islamic state based on Shariah law and other groups who wanted full religious freedom. The compromise they settled on seems a little muddled to me.
However, there are pockets in the country where the rules don't apply. On our way to Indonesia from Singapore, I read the Jakarta Post, and was surprised to discover that people were being publicly caned per Sharia law in one part of the country for misdemeanours such as couples hugging in public. There are also a few extremist groups in Indonesia, and there was a terrorist bombing in Bali in 2002 which was claimed by an extremist group. But for the most part Indonesia is a safe place to be.
The country was very poor through its colonial period and started to improve its economy starting in the mid 60's after some changes were implemented to stabilize the economy. Since then, thanks to oil production, manufacturing, and crop exports, the economy has improved and the official poverty rate has dropped from 60% to 15% since the 1960's.
On a trek today through the countryside, we saw some of the crops grown here. Even though the land is very steep and mountainous, much of the land is under culivation. We saw terraces 10 feet high so farmers could squeeze in another rice or tobacco crop. The land seems so fertile and well irrigated. We saw endless crops of rice, tobacco, tomatoes, cassava, chilli peppers, green beans and other crops we couldn't identify. We also saw banana and papaya trees. I could see though how undeveloped some practices were. I saw water buffaloes pulling wooden plows, and ladies making gravel from rocks on the side of the road using hammers. In town yesterday I saw four men with sledgehammers and long iron spikes breaking up some asphalt in the middle of the road. At an average wage of $2 an hour I believe, I can only guess that this is a cheaper alternative than having one guy with a jackhammer do the same job faster.
By contrast, Thailand has been developing their economy in fits and starts since the early 1900's when serfdom was abolished, and Vietnam has only opened up their economy for the last 20 years. This mostly explains why Thailand is richer per capita than Indonesia, while Vietnam is poorest.
Here is Catheleen near some water buffaloes on our trek through the countryside today.
No comments:
Post a Comment