ABSTRACT
The Republic of Indonesia, an island nation of over 120,000,000 people, is Southeast A sia’s most populous and potentially richest country. In population it ranks fifth in the world. Until it became a Dutch colony, it was a collection of variegated islands and peoples. A succession of warring kingdoms, including Srivijaya, Mataram, M ajapahit, and the M alacca Sultanate, had dominated but never unified the archipelago. Its people remained divided by local identification and language into groups such as the Achinese, Batak, Minangkabau, Sundanese, Javanese, Madurese, Balinese, Minahasan, and Ambonese. The great religious currents of Hinduism, Buddhism, Islam, and Christianity divided the population further as each left its mark on the beliefs and cus toms of the people.
