Glossary -- Indonesia
- Refers to people who are nominally Muslim and who, in fact,
are followers of kebatinan (q.v.). The word is
derived from the Javanese abang, which means "red."
- Asian Development Bank
- Established in 1967, the bank assists in economic development
and promotes growth and cooperation in developing member
countries. The bank is owned by its forty-seven member
governments, which include both developed and developing
countries in Asia and developed countries in the West.
- Association of Southeast Asian
- Founded in 1967 for the purpose of promoting regional
stability, economic development, and cultural exchange. ASEAN's
founding members were Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines,
Singapore, and Thailand; Brunei joined ASEAN in 1984.
- Bahasa Indonesia
- The Indonesian national language, also known as Indonesian;
an Austronesian language reported to be modelled on Riau Malay
and 80 percent cognate with Standard Malay.
- Confrontation (Konfrontasi)
- Indonesia's 1963-66 effort to disrupt the new state of
Malaysia, which Indonesian leaders regarded as a front for a
continued British colonial presence in Southeast Asia.
- Consultative Group on Indonesia
- Formed after the March 1992 demise of the Inter-Governmental
Group on Indonesia (IGGI; q.v.). Except for the
Netherlands, the membership is the same as IGGI.
- fiscal year (FY)
- April 1 to March 31.
- Food and Agriculture Organization
- A United Nations specialized agency established in 1945 to
raise living standards and increase the availability of
- Revolutionary Front for an Independent East Timor (Frente
Revolucionária do Timor Leste Independente); a guerrilla movement
seeking the independence of East Timor. Fretilin was established
- General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade
- Negotiated in 1947 among twenty-three original signatories
who were members of the United Nations Economic and Social
Council and went into effect January 1, 1948, as an interim
arrangement pending the ratification of the proposed
International Trade Organization. GATT functions as a
multilateral treaty aimed at promoting the expansion of
international trade on a nondiscriminatory basis. As of 1992, 101
nations, including Indonesia, had acceded to the GATT.
- Golongan Karya (Functional Groups); the ruling political
parties; a federation of groups within society, such as peasants,
workers, and women.
- gross domestic product (GDP)
- The value of domestic goods and services produced by an
economy in a given period, usually a year. Only output of goods
for final consumption and investment is included, as the value
added by primary or intermediate processing is assumed to be
represented in the final prices.
- gross national product (GNP)
- Gross domestic product (q.v.) plus income from
overseas investments and wages minus earnings of foreign
investors and foreign workers in the domestic economy.
- Group of Fifteen
- Group of Third World countries that participated in the
Conference on International Economic Cooperation, held in several
sessions between December 1975 and June 1977; it has continued to
meet and add additional members since 1977. The group in 1992
included nineteen members: Algeria, Argentina, Brazil, Cameroon,
Egypt, India, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Jamaica, Mexico, Nigeria,
Pakistan, Peru, Saudi Arabia, Venezuela, Yugoslavia, Zaire, and
- Group of Seventy-seven
- Established in October 1967 with the aim of promoting
economic cooperation among developing countries. Indonesia was
among the seventy-seven original members. Despite the name, which
persists, by 1992 there were 123 members.
- Inter-Governmental Group on Indonesia
- An international group of lenders established in 1967 by the
Netherlands to coordinate multilateral aid to Indonesia. The
other members included the Asian Development Bank, International
Monetary Fund (q.v.), United Nations Development
Programme, World Bank (q.v.), Australia, Belgium,
Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, New Zealand,
Switzerland, and the United States. In March 1992, Indonesia
announced that it was rejecting further IGGI aid as long as the
Netherlands chaired the organization. IGGI was replaced by the
Consultative Group on Indonesia (q.v.).
- International Monetary Fund
- Established along with the World Bank in 1945, the IMF is a
specialized agency affiliated with the United Nations and is
responsible for stabilizing international exchange loans to its
members when they experience balance of payments difficulties.
- An amalgam of animist, Hindu-Buddhist, and Islamic
(especially Sufi) mystical elements that combine to form Javanese
mysticism. As a body of belief, kebatinan is officially
recognized in the 1945 constitution and is administered by the
Department of Education and Culture rather than by the Department
of Religious Affairs. Also known as kejawen, agama
Jawa, or Javanism.
- Nonaligned Movement
- Established in September 1961 with the aim of promoting
political and military cooperation apart from the traditional
East and West blocs. Indonesia was among the original members; as
of 1992, there were 101 members, 9 observers, and 12 "guests."
Indonesia was elected to chair the Nonaligned Movement from 1992
- Organization of the Petroleum
Exporting Countries (OPEC)
- Founded in Baghdad, Iraq, on September 14, 1960, the
organization aims to coordinate petroleum policies of its member
countries: Algeria, Ecuador, Gabon, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq,
Kuwait, Libya, Nigeria, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, United Arab
Emirates, and Venezuela. Indonesia joined OPEC in 1962.
- Outer Islands
- Term used by some sources to refer to all islands of the
Indonesian archipelago other than Java and Madura. Other sources,
however, use the term to refer to all islands except Java,
Madura, Bali, and Sumatra; still others say except Java and Bali
or exclude Java, Madura, and Bali. The term as translated from
Dutch--buitengewesten--means outer terroritories or
regions while a similar term from Bahasa Indonesia
(q.v.)--tanah seberang--means land (or lands)
over there, or across the seas. The term is sometimes considered
pejorative by those people living on the islands indicated.
- The state philosophy based on five interrelated principles:
belief in one supreme God; just and civilized humanitarianism;
nationalism as expressed in the unity of Indonesia; popular
sovereignty arrived at through deliberation and representation or
consultative democracy; and social justice for all the Indonesian
people. The Pancasila was announced by Sukarno on June 1, 1945.
From Sanskrit: panca (five) and sila
- Literally, an indigene, or native. In the colonial era, the
great majority of the population of the archipelago came to
regard themselves as indigenous, in contrast to the nonindigenous
Dutch and Chinese (and, to a degree, Arab) communities. After
independence the distinction persisted, expressed as a dichotomy
between elements that were pribumi and those that were
not. The distinction has had significant implications for
economic development policy.
- Repelita (Rencana Pembangunan Lima
- A five-year economic development plan: Repelita I (FY 1969-
73), Repelita II (FY 1974-78), Repelita III (FY 1979-83),
Repelita IV (FY 1984-88), and Repelita V (FY 1989-93).
- rupiah (Rp)
- Basic unit of currency. The exchange rate was fixed at Rp415
to US$1 from 1971 to 1978, when the rupiah was devalued to Rp625.
Thereafter, the rate has floated slightly, although two major
devaluations occurred in 1983 and 1986, bringing the exchange
rate to Rp1,641 at the end of 1986. A policy of more gradual
depreciation at about 5 percent per year has been followed
through 1992. In November 1992, the exchange rate was valued at
Rp1,881 per US$1, or Rp1 = US$.00018. The rupiah is made up of 5,
10, 25, 50, and 100 coins and 100, 500, 1,000, 5, 000, and 10,000
- Orthodox Muslims. In the Javanese context, the
santri are also sometimes referred to as
putihan (white ones), an allusion to their purity,
especially as contrasted to abangan (q.v.)
- sharia (Arabic; syariah in
Bahasa Indonesia, q.v.)
- Islamic canon
law. Among Shia (q.v.) Muslims the sharia includes the
Quran and the authenticated sayings of the Prophet
(hadith) and the Twelve Imams.
- Shia (or Shiite)
- A member of the smaller of two great divisions of Islam. The
Shias supported the claims of Ali and his line to presumptive
right to the caliphate and leadership of the Muslim community,
and on this issue they divided from the Sunnis (q.v.) in
the first great schism of Islam. Later disagreements have
produced further schisms among the Shias. Shias revere twelve
imams, most of whom are believed to be hidden from view.
- Comes from suf, the Arabic word for "wool." The term
derives from the practice of wearing a woolen robe, a sign of
dedicating oneself to the mystical life, known in Islam as
becoming a Sufi. Sufis, who seek mystical union with God, have
been condemned by some Sunni (q.v.) legal schools.
- Comes from sunna meaning "custom," giving
connotation of orthodoxy. A member of the two great divisions of
Islam, the Sunnis supported the traditional method of election to
the caliphate and accepted the Umayyad line. On this issue, they
divided from the Shia (q.v.) discipline in the first
great schism within Islam.
- transmigration program
- A voluntary rural resettlement plan
that seeks to move large numbers of Javanese to Indonesia's
underpopulated Outer Islands (q.v.).
Transmagrasi in Bahasa Indonesia (q.v.).
- value-added tax
- A tax levied on the value added income of a firm, defined as
the difference between total sales revenue and costs of
intermediate inputs, such as raw materials, used in the
- Literally, "shadow." A dramatic form in several major
variations, in which puppets or human performers, and sometimes
both, portray gods, heroes, villains, and other characters in
literary epics. The wayang kulit is shadow theater using
highly decorated flat leather puppets.
- World Bank
- Informal name used to designate a group of four affiliated
international institutions: the International Bank for
Reconstruction and Development (IBRD), the International
Development Association (IDA), the International Finance
Corporation (IFC), and the Multilateral Investment Guarantee
Agency (MIGA). The IBRD, established in 1945, has the primary
purpose of providing loans at market-related rates of interest to
developing countries at more advanced stages of development. The
IDA, a legally separate loan fund but administered by the staff
of the IBRD, was set up in 1960 to furnish credits to the poorest
developing countries on much easier terms than those of
conventional IBRD loans. The IFC, founded in 1956, supplements
the activities of the IBRD through loans and assistance designed
specifically to encourage the growth of productive private
enterprises in the less developed countries. The MIGA, founded in
1988, insures private foreign investment in developing countries
against various noncommercial risks. The president and certain
officers of the IBRD hold the same positions in the IFC. The four
institutions are owned by the governments of the countries that
subscribe their capital. To participate in the World Bank group,
member states must first belong to the International Monetary