ABSTRACT
This chapter provides a brief historical background and a description of major events in Indonesia. It also provides basic political, economic, and social data arranged in the following categories: polity, economy, population, purchasing power parities, life expectancy, ethnic groups, capital, political rights, civil liberties, and status. The chapter discusses the progress and decline of political rights and civil liberties in Indonesia. Indonesia won full independence in 1949 following a four-year intermittent war against its Dutch colonial rulers. Indonesia's human rights record is far better than it was during the Suharto era. Indonesia's private press, freed from its Suharto-era shackles, reports aggressively on government policies, corruption, and other formerly taboo issues. Students, workers, and other Indonesians frequently hold peaceful demonstrations, although security forces forcibly break up some protests. Indonesians of all faiths generally can worship freely, although authorities monitor and have outlawed some radical Islamic groups.
