Culture

Indonesia has around three hundred ethnic groups, each with cultural differences that have shifted over the centuries. Modern-day Indonesian culture is a fusion of this diversity. Indonesia has also imported cultural aspects from Arabic, Chinese, Malay and European sources.

Ethnic Groups

Most Indonesians are ethnically Austronesian, particularly in central and western Indonesia, although much of eastern Indonesia is Melanesian. There are, however, around 300 distinct native ethnicities in Indonesia and 742 different languages and dialects. Small but significant populations of ethnic Chinese, Indians and Arabs are concentrated mostly in urban areas. An almost universally shared sense of Indonesian nationhood overlays this vast diversity and steadfastly maintained regional identities, providing a largely harmonious society.

Indonesia, however, is not without social tensions with religious and ethnic differences triggering sometimes horrendous violence. The transmigration program contributed to the spread of people from highly populated Java and Madura to eastern Indonesia. Ethnic and religious differences between these immigrants and the local peoples have been blamed for numerous difficulties, sometimes culminating in bloody conflicts such as the massacre of hundreds of Madurese by a local Dayak community in West Kalimantan, and conflicts in Maluku, Central Sulawesi, and parts of Papua and West Irian Jaya.

Architecture

The most dominant influences on Indonesian architecture have traditionally been Indian, however, Chinese, Arab, and, particularly from the 19th century, European architecture has had a significant influence.

Crafts

Several Islands are famous for their batik, ikat and songket cloth. Once on the brink of disappearing, batik and later ikat found a new lease of life when former President Soeharto promoted wearing batik shirts on official occasions. In addition to the traditional patterns with their special meanings, used for particular occasions, batik designs have become creative and diverse over the last few years.

Dance, Drama and Theatre

Randai is a folk theatre tradition of the Minangkabau people of West Sumatra, usually performed for traditional ceremonies and festivals. It incorporates music, singing, dance, drama and the silat martial art, with performances often based on semi-historical Minangkabau stories and legends.

Traditional Javanese and Balinese dances contain aspects of Hindu culture and mythology as does the Javanese and Balinese wayang kulit ('shadow puppet') shows, depicting mythological events.

Film

The Indonesian movie industry's popularity peaked in the 1980s and dominated cinemas in Indonesia, although it fell significantly in the early 1990s. As of 2000, however, the industry has improved gradually with a number of successful movies released.

Music

Examples of Indonesian traditional music are Gamelan, Keroncong and Dangdut. Keroncong is a musical genre that uses guitars and ukuleles as the main musical instruments. This genre had its roots in Portugal and was introduced by Portuguese traders in the fifteenth century. This music genre was popular in the first half of the 20th century. A notable example of a keroncong composer was Gesang, who became famous nationally and in Japan for his song Bengawan Solo. A more modern form of keroncong is called Pop Keroncong. Hetty Koes Endang is one of its most versatile singers. In addition, there are regional variations such as Langgam Jawa, which is most popular in Central Java and Yogyakarta.

Dangdut is a hugely popular contemporary genre of pop music partly derived from Arabic, Indian and Malay folk music, with an accompanying free dance style.

The soft Sasando music from the province of East Nusa Tenggara in West Timor is completely different. Sasando uses an instrument made from a leaf of the lontar palm, which bears some resemblance to a harp.

In West Java, popular musical styles include Degung and Angklung, which is played with bamboo instruments.

Media

Media freedom in Indonesia increased considerably after the end of President Suharto's rule, during which the now-defunct Ministry of Information monitored and controlled domestic media and restricted foreign media. The TV market includes ten national commercial networks and provincial networks that compete with public TVRI. Private radio stations carry their own news bulletins and foreign broadcasters can supply programs. Internet use is increasing; Bisnis Indonesia reported in 2004 that there were 10 million users.

Sports

Many traditional games are still preserved and popular in Indonesia, although western culture has influenced some parts of them. Due to the many different ethic groups, there are correspondingly many kinds of traditional games throughout the country. For example: cockfighting in Bali, annual bull races in Madura and stone jumping in Nias. Stone jumping involves leaping over a stone wall about up to 1.5 m high and was originally used to train warriors to jump over enemy walls.

Pencak Silat is another popular form of sport, which was influenced by Malay and also Asian culture as a whole. Another form of national sport is sepak takraw, which is also influenced by Malay and Thai cultures. The rules of the game are similar to volleyball: to keep the rattan ball in the air with the players' feet.

Popular modern sports in Indonesia include soccer and badminton. Most of these sports have been played at the international level. Indonesian badminton athletes have played in Indonesia Open Badminton Championship, All England Open Badminton Championships and many international events, including summer Olympics ever since badminton is played again in the 1992 Summer Olympics. Rudy Hartono is an Indonesian legendary badminton player, who has succeeded to win All England titles six times in a row. Another international level sport is soccer, which mostly active in the Asian Football Confederation (AFC).

The sporting events in Indonesia are organised by the Indonesian National Sport Committee (KONI). The organisation, along with the government of Indonesia have set the National Sports Day on every September 9 with 'Sports for All' as the motto. Jakarta has hosted the Southeast Asian Games 3 times, in 1979, 1987 and 1997, and came top of the medal table in each of these years.