Yearbook 2008
Indonesia. Former dictator Suharto passed away in January at the age of 86 after a long illness. He goes to history as one of Asia’s most blood-soaked despots. He gradually seized power from 1965, when he, as army general, defeated a coup attempt and crushed the influential Communist Party. At least half a million people, a significant portion of Chinese burden, were killed by the military. As president of 1968, Suharto was also the chief responsible for brutal military attacks in East Timor, as well as in the provinces of Papua and Aceh.
In the aftermath of the Suharto dictatorship, around 1,400 people were killed by local militias supported by the Indonesian army when East Timor in 1999 voted for independence. A Truth Commission appointed by both states in a report in July Indonesia gave the main responsibility for the violence. President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, on behalf of the state, assumed responsibility and asked for forgiveness but rejected the idea that an international war criminal court should be set up. Indonesia’s own attempt to answer those guilty has resulted in almost perfect acquittals.
- ABBREVIATIONFINDER: Click to see the meanings of 2-letter acronym and abbreviation of IN in general and in geography as Indonesia in particular.
In May, the government announced that Indonesia will leave the oil exporting countries’ cooperative organization OPEC. In recent years, the country’s oil production has decreased so much that Indonesia in 2008 became a net importer of oil.
In November, the three men convicted as the main culprit for the terrorist attacks in Bali in 2002, when 202 people were killed, including six Swedes. Imam Samudra as well as the Amrozi and Mukhla brothers arched on a prison island off Java.
In cooperation with the World Nature Phone, the Indonesian state and the ten provincial governments at Sumatra signed an agreement in October to try to save the island’s forest stock and fauna. Sumatra is estimated to have lost half of its forest cover over the past 20 years, including through fires that were deliberately created to clear land for plantations. As a result of the reduced vegetation, landslides and floods have become more common. Wild animals such as orangutans, tigers, elephants and rhinos are greatly threatened.
In January 2016, Islamic State (IS) took charge of a series of military attacks in Jakarta that cost 4 militants and 4 civilian lives. The government took the opportunity to tighten terror laws, increase the possibility of torture, arbitrary detention and the death penalty.
Indonesia broke a 50-year taboo in April 2016 as it supported the conduct of a seminar for survivors and family members of killers in the state’s witch-hunt and killing of $ 1 million. alleged communists in 1965-66. The opening, however, did not extend beyond President Widodo in July to appoint General Wiranto as Minister of Security. In 1999, Wiranto was commander of the Indonesian forces in East Timor and responsible for the massacres of thousands of East Timorese and the burning of the country. The crimes were so serious that in 2003 the UN charged him with crimes against humanity, and in 2004 the United States placed him on a list of people the superpower would not grant entry. In 2016, he then became “Minister of Security”.
At least 2,200 activists from Irian Jaya were arrested during the April-September period during peaceful demonstrations in Indonesian and Irian Jaya cities against the Indonesian occupation. Dozens of activists were sentenced to shorter prison sentences for their participation.
Criminal punishment continued to be applied in Aceh province through 2016 in accordance with Sharia. More than 100 people were stabbed, usually for selling alcohol or for staying in a room with a person of the other sex, without a family member present. The penalty was almost always used against Muslims, but in 2016 it was also used against a Christian woman, accused of selling alcohol.
Population 2008
According to Countryaah reports, the population of Indonesia in 2008 was 241,834,104, ranking number 4 in the world. The population growth rate was 1.340% yearly, and the population density was 133.4943 people per km2.