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Indonesia

Culture & Identity

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Way of Life

Being a long-stretching archipelago, Indonesia is a very diverse country and the way of life in the country is nearly as diverse. From landscapes and weather to jobs and living, there are extremes across the country. However, one of the few things that most people have in common is religion as most of the people are Muslim.

About half of the Indonesians live in cities and half in rural landscapes. These two settings vastly alter many aspects of the daily life such as transportation, ease of access to shops and goods, and even available jobs and occupations.

Likewise, the occupations of the people are fairly evenly divided as about 40% of the people work in agriculture, about half in the services sector, and the last 20% have jobs in industry. Just like the urban-rural divide, these jobs vastly alter the way of life for the people. Farmers tend to live by the sun, weather, and seasons as families tend to help out during busy seasons. Meanwhile many services jobs have very consistent hours, setting their schedules by the clock, not mother nature.

The diversity in the way of life continues in the landscapes as some people live on small tropical islands where the nearest people or town are hours away by local boats. These people are sometimes isolated and sometimes seek out the islands further away, while others may never want to leave their home. In other locations mountains are the typical landscape and these mountains can isolate the people in a similar way, but with different scenery and challenges.

No matter the lifestyle or way of life in Indonesia, the people are united as one nation and many of the people are also Muslim. While the people are of varying degrees of orthodoxy for many people Friday evenings are time for prayer. For some prayer is a requirement five times a day, making religion a central pillar in their lives, while for others prayers, even Friday prayers are rarely observed as Islam does little to alter the way of life.

Ethnicity

The ethnicities within Indonesia number in the hundreds, if not thousands and each island has a fairly distinct ethnic makeup. The most populated islands also comprise the largest ethnic groups, including the Javanese (40% of the population) and Sundanese (15%), both of whom live on the island of Java, but spread to other islands. These two groups, along with the many other groups, are nearly all in the same ethnic family as they are most closely related to the Malays and other people from the larger Polynesian group.

Language

Bahasa Indonesian is the only official language of Indonesia; this language is very similar to Malaysian and, like that language, is part of the Polynesian language family. As a very large and diverse country, there are dozens of other languages natively spoken by the people of Indonesia as many islands have their own language or dialect. Despite the dozens of native languages in the country, most people communicate from island to island in Bahasa Indonesian.

Dutch and English are common second languages in Indonesia, but primarily only university-educated people speak these languages with any fluency. In business and tourism these languages are widely spoken as are other popular international languages, but in much smaller numbers.

Religion

About 85% of Indonesia's population is Muslim, making it the largest Muslim country in the world in regards to number of adherents. Among the last 15% of the population, about a third of them are Protestant Christian and there are also smaller numbers of Roman Catholics and Hindis.

Islam (the name of the religion, whose followers are called Muslims) is a monotheistic religion, whose holy book is called the Qur'an. The Qur'an is believed to be the word of God spoken through the prophet Muhammad from 609-632 CE (Common Era is preferred over AD (Anno Domini or "year of the Lord") since the Islamic world doesn't believe Jesus was the messiah). Islam believes Muhammad was the last prophet sent to earth by God, the last in a long line of prophets, which includes Moses, Abraham, and Jesus among others.

Muslims follow five pillars of their faith: testimony, prayer, alms-giving, fasting, and pilgrimage. These pillars, and other tenants of their faith, can give great structure to their lives as some foods, like pork, are forbidden and every Muslim is expected to pray five times a day. However, the level of participation in each of these pillars and to what degree Islam influences an individual's life varies from person to person and community to community. Generally speaking, Indonesia is fairly liberal in how they practice Islam.

Dress

The diversity of the dress in Indonesia is great since the country is divided geographically and ethnically. Traditionally, these outfits vastly differed from island to island and even from city to city on the same island, but today the clothing is shifting to modern western-styled clothing. Despite the many variations on traditional dress, there are also many similarities. Traditionally, Indonesian women wore a kebaya, which is a somewhat tight-fitting blouse, which is paired with a sarong. This outfit is often brightly colored and has influences from (arguably) China, Portugal, and the Middle East, giving it great variation. Men traditionally wore checkered sarongs with a simple shirt.

Today the traditional dress is still in existence to a great degree. Most women wear this outfit for special occasion and events, while men continue to wear the sarong at Friday prayers in the mosque. However, most Indonesians today wear western-styled clothing on a daily basis. However, as a primarily Muslim country, the dress, no matter the style, remains fairly conservative as arms and legs are covered and women often times also cover their hair. In fact, in some parts of country it is required for women to cover their hair by law.

As a visitor to Indonesia there are a number of clothing items to pack. Be sure to understand where you are staying and what kind of travel you plan on undertaking. Indonesia has established itself as an island paradise and most tourists go with the intention of sitting on a beach with little clothing on. While this may seem ideal, the locals don't want to see your half naked bodies. If in the presence of locals, dress as they do and cover your arms and legs, especially your shoulders and legs at least down to your knees. If you are in a private resort wearing a swimming suit is acceptable, but nakedness and toplessness for women is strictly forbidden even in private resorts. Although you should wear long pants and shirts everywhere in public in Indonesia, on tourist islands it may seem as hedonistic as home.

Behavior

Much like the dress, how the people of Indonesia behave is generally rooted in their Islamic faith. Among the greatest behavioral suggestions for Indonesia, next to dress, come in the form of dining. Islamic law forbids pork products and alcohol; however there is little expectation that you follow these rules while in a resort. Outside private resorts, few restaurants serve pork products and alcohol is difficult to find, although resorts, hotels, and some select restaurants and bars on islands like Bali do serve alcohol. Generally, alcohol isn't available outside these areas and nearly everywhere public intoxication is looked down upon, even if you only had one or two drinks. For more information on dining, visit our Indonesia Food & Drinks Page.

In addition to following the above mentioned dress restrictions and following the local dining etiquette, the most important behavioral restrictions are basic courtesy. Avoid sensitive conversation topics, such as politics, finances, religion, and business unless initiated by your local counterpart.

Identity

The people of Indonesia only identify as Indonesian on the international level; at home they almost always identify by the island they come from or their ethnicity, of which Indonesia has hundreds. Each island and ethnicity has differing foods, languages, architecture, dress, and more. As many people are proud of their home island or ethnicity, the differences in these foods and architecture are often times magnified and quite pronounced. Although the people of Indonesia are also united in many ways, most notably in terms of citizenship and religion (most of the people are Muslim), it is generally home island, ethnicity, and language that define what it means to be a member of each individual identity.

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This page was last updated: November, 2013