INDONESIA

Geography

Indonesia is an archipelago in Southeast Asia consisting of 17,000 islands (6,000 inhabited) and straddling the equator.

Unity in Diversity, the national motto of Indonesia

Area: 2 million sq. km. (736,000 sq. mi.), about three times the size of Texas

Climate: Equatorial but cooler in the highlands.

Indonesia's approximately 240.3 million people make it

the world's fourth-most populous nation. The island of Java, roughly the size of New York State, is the most populous island in the world (124 million, 2005 est.) and

one of the most densely populated areas in the world.

Bahasa Indonesia (the national language, a form of Malay) has spread throughout the archipelago and has become the language of most written communication, education, government, business, and media. Local languages are still important in many areas, however. English is the

most widely spoken foreign language

religious freedom apply to the six religions recognized by the state, namely Islam (86.1%),

Protestantism (5.7%), Catholicism (3%), Hinduism (1.8%), Buddhism (about 1%), and Confucianism (less than 1%). On the resort island of Bali, over

90% of the population practices Hinduism

BATIK, official textile of Indonesia

The word batik is thought to be derived from the word 'ambatik' which translated means 'a cloth with little dots'. The suffix 'tik' means

little dot, drop, point or to make dots.

Tools used in batik range from wax “pens” to printing blocks

that are dipped in hot wax