Indonesia:
It's been more than a year since an extremist Islamic organization blew up two nightclubs in Bali and killed about 200 people. Since then, some of the main players in that bloody drama have been tried, found guilty and sentenced.
Bali is trying to regain its place in the hearts of the world as a peaceful, beautiful island where where people are nice and nothing goes wrong. In fact, it's probably safe to go back to Bali. A lot of islanders who worked in the tourism business have been hit hard by the loss of income and have had to go back to a subsistence life on their family farms. If you go to Bali you'll be doing the Balinese a big favour. And they'll welcome you. Terrorism against tourists is as alien to them as it is to us.
Other parts of Indonesia have been having a lot of problems, as well. Places to avoid include: Aceh, the Maluccas, Lombok, Kalimantan (Indonesian Borneo) and West and East Timor. (For more information on East Timor, see the East Timor page.) Also, be careful in Jakarta; there was a bombing of a big hotel there a couple of months ago.
In early November 2003, 75 people, including five foreigners, were killed at Bukit Lawang, North Sumatra, when the Bahorok River flooded due to illegal logging practises upriver. Bukit Lawang is the resort town that people visit mainly to see the orangutans in the organgutan rehabilitation centre. The village has been devastated with dozens of buildings destroyed, and of course, a big loss of life. The orangutans were not harmed.
Before the Bali bombings, the Moluccan Islands were seeing the biggest problems. In just under two years, about 4,000 people have died in fighting between Christans and Muslims on these islands. Towns have been razed, and 500,000 people have been made homeless. Indonesian human rights groups are calling on the United Nations to come in a stop the violence, but so far the Indonesian government is saying no to outside intervention. There are even reports that the Indonesian special forces have been involved in some of the fighting. This is a very dirty war.
Violence has also erupted in towns in Kalimantan where Javanese immigrants were brought in as settlers by the government. The native Dayak people, after harbouring resentments for years against these interlopers, decided to force the immigrants to go back where they came from. Entire towns were left in burned ruins, with many deaths on both sides. Very ugly....
After May 1998 when President Suharto stepped down and B.J. Habibie took over, there was a lot of violence, including clashes between the police and student protesters, deadly confrontations between Muslims and Christians, and general mayhem and anarchy on the streets. From January 1999 until January 2000, approximately 1,100 people died in clashes between Muslims and Christians in the Maluccas.
On October 20, 1999, Abdurrahman Wahid was elected the new president of Indonesia by the national assembly, which is composed of 700 members elected by the people of Indonesia. He won only by a thin margin against rival Megawati Sukarnoputri, and then promptly named her vice president. But he soon was forced to resign, and Megawati replaced him as president.
As someone who has spent a significant chunk of my life in Indonesia, I am feeling quite depressed about the state of the country. I hope that one day the problems will be solved, and Indonesia will regain its repuation as one of the best places in the world with some of the best people you'll ever meet.
The Jakarta Post online: The biggest Indonesian English-language daily newspaper. It used to be strictly a mouthpiece of the government, but since the departure of Suharto, it's become a little freer.
Films:
The Year of Living Dangerously, takes place in 1965, and starts Mel Gibson and Sigourney Weaver./
Wild Indonesia, an excellent documentary about all the amazing animals of Indonesia, along with some pieces on various tribes, such as the Toraja of Sulawesi, and the Bandanese of Banda.Books:
Exploring the Islands of Indonesia, by Annabel Sutton;
Five Journeys from Jakarta, by Maslyn Williams;
Into the Heart of Borneo, by Redmond O'Hanlon;
Islands of Fire, Islands of Spice: Exploring the Wild Places of Indonesia, by Richard Bangs and Christian Kallen;
Not a Hazardous Sport, by Nigel Barley;
Skullduggery, by Mark ShandThis page last updated November 14, 2003.