Indonesia
| Republic of Indonesia |
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(and Indonesia's largest city) |
Source information is available at [ Sources ] |
Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania, between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It has over 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo and New Guinea. Indonesia is the world's largest archipelagic state and the 14th-largest country by area, at 1,904,569 square kilometers (735,358 square miles). With over 280 million people, Indonesia is the world's fourth-most-populous country and the most populous Muslim-majority country. Java, the world's most populated island, is home to more than half of the country's population.
Indonesia is a presidential republic with an elected legislature. It has 38 provinces, of which nine have special autonomous status. The country's largest city, Jakarta, is the world's second-most-populous urban area. Indonesia shares land borders with Papua New Guinea, East Timor, and the eastern part of Malaysia and maritime borders with Singapore, Peninsula Malaysia, Vietnam, Thailand, the Philippines, Australia, Palau, and India. Despite its large population and densely populated regions, Indonesia has vast wilderness areas supporting one of the world's highest levels of biodiversity.
The Indonesian archipelago has been a valuable trade region since at least the seventh century when Sumatra's Srivijaya and later Java's Majapahit kingdoms engaged in commerce with entities from mainland China and the Indian subcontinent. Over the centuries, local rulers assimilated foreign influences, leading to the flourishing of Hindu and Buddhist kingdoms. Sunni traders and Sufi scholars later brought Islam, and European powers fought one another to monopolize trade in the Spice Islands of Maluku during the Age of Discovery. Following three and a half centuries of Dutch colonialism, Indonesia secured independence after World War II. Indonesia's history has been turbulent, with challenges posed by natural disasters, corruption, separatism, a democratization process, and periods of rapid economic growth.
Indonesia consists of thousands of distinct native ethnic and hundreds of linguistic groups, with Javanese being the largest. A shared identity has developed with the motto "Bhinneka Tunggal Ika" ("Unity in Diversity" literally, "many, yet one"), defined by a national language, cultural diversity, religious pluralism within a Muslim-majority population, and a history of colonialism and rebellion against it. The economy of Indonesia is the world's 16th-largest by nominal GDP and the 7th-largest by PPP. It is the world's third-largest democracy, a regional power, and is considered a middle power in global affairs.
Spanking and Spanking Art in Indonesia
Official judicial corporal punishment in Indonesia exists only in Aceh Province, where the local government has introduced it as a concession to the strongly conservative Islamic population in the area. Even though Indonesia has the largest Muslim population in the world, most Muslims in the country generally follow a much more moderate form of Islam, but Aceh is one major exception.
Islamic law (Sharia, also spelled Syariah) was introduced in Aceh in 2002, and proposals for caning errant Muslims first emerged in September of that year. The first reported canings took place in June 2005. This form of punishment applies to only Muslims and may be administered to both men and women. Offenses punishable by caning include, among others, consumption of alcohol and inappropriate behavior with the opposite sex.
The offender is usually punished in public (outside a mosque) and receives strokes from a rattan cane on his/her upper back over clothing. Men stand when they receive the punishment while women are seated. This form of caning is much less severe in its effects than the judicial canings applied to male criminals in Indonesia's neighboring countries—Singapore, Malaysia, and Brunei. The caning is meant to humiliate the offender rather than to inflict pain.
Sharia caning is also practiced in Malaysia but is less common than in Aceh.
In the 20th century, school corporal punishment fell out of fashion and was gradually banned in many countries, a trend that continues until the present day.
As of May 2008, Indonesia permits corporal punishment in schools.
School corporal punishment is not unlawful in Indonesia, but there seems to be little evidence of its formal or official use in ordinary day schools. However, a video clip exists of a formal flogging at a traditional Islamic boarding school or "pesantren."
Prostitution in Indonesia
- Prostitution in Indonesia on our website
- Prostitution in Indonesia ↗ on Wikipedia
External links
- More information is available at [ Wikipedia:Indonesia ]
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