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Is Indonesia truly the RICHEST-MOST POWERFUL nation in ASIA?

As American citizen, I of course proud that United States of America is the richest-most powerful nation on Earth! But how about Indonesia then? I read from Wiki that under the strong leadership of Sukarno, Indonesia became very strong and powerful… is that true? If it IS true, why then I hear next-to-nothing impressive from your country at all? The most corrupted nation on Earth, severe racism toward the Chinese-Indonesian people, separatism everywhere, low-quality maid from Indonesia, poor management toward natural disaster, unimpressive human resource, crazy religion (read: Islam) partisan, mafia-like social organization, I-hate-America-and-Israel syndrome, what else?!? Anyway, I have no bad intention toward Indonesia... I just wish that Indonesia were not that bad so that I can visit your beautiful and exotic Bali as soon as possible…. What do you all Indonesian think then? Any Indonesian people to respond here?

Public Comments

i wish they where, we would all be better off with a culture like theres. Beautiful People .............
if i were an indonesian i would say that.. but ithink they're far from being recognized as a stabilized nation
No it is not. It has amongst the lowest per capita GDP and its army is very badly equipped. It is the most populous nation however.
I would go with China being the most powerful in Asia. In fact, i saw in the Discovery Channel that their economy may surpass the United States' in 20 years.
Japan is the richest nation in Asia and certainly the most powerful economically in the world second only to the USA... China is probably the leading military power in Asia..
hmm.. i don't know about that i'm thinking Japan is pretty rich and powerful and China is also on its way up and they are larger than Indonesia but i think one of the richest people on earth can't remeber his name- lives there on one of the islands
bali is over rated not exotic only in the movies, the rest of indo is pretty much a depressing place to see , and one very poor standards of the world indeed
Indonesia was colonized by the Dutch in the 1800's and the indegenous people were oppressed and practically enslaved. The Dutch forced them to work for practically nothing so that the Dutch could get rich off of them. It wasn't until the Indonesians overthrew the Dutch Government in the 1940's that they were able to gain their independence. Soekarno served as President from 1945-1966, during which time the government made great strides at picking up the pieces and rebuilding their nation. I am not Indonesian, but my husband is. It is a great country. Unfortunately the people have been thru a lot and yes, there are corrupt officials in the government (please note though that they exist in every government, even ours.) They are proud friendly people that work hard. I would equate the Bali bombings in Indonesia to David Koresh and the Unibomber. Ever country has their psycho's. More locals that tourists died in those bombings as well, which few American's seem to realize. About Islam in Indonesia, the numbers are a bit misleading. You have to register your religion with the government when you get your family ID card. If you do not, by default you are listed as Muslim. It's a lot like Christianity here. People say they are but don't actively practice. Furthermore, every Muslim is not an extremist. Bali is also predominately Hindu, which is why people, especially Americans, tend to find it a more inviting environment than other islands in Indonesia. I think you need to look at things from a different perspective. We are fortunate as Americans, not everyone is so lucky. If you want to go to Bali, go. Don't let a wacko keep you from experiencing another culture. Besides, you are more likely to die in a car accident than you are in a terrorist attack.
yes
my2cent or someone has a logical answer. The richest person is the Sultan in Brunei. Indonesia is not close enough either to Japan or China and not even Malaysia. I think its a good idea to avoid Bali. China still has lot of poor people becuase of their vast population. Now that they are opening their economy little by little they shall come to a level of America someday. But also by then USA will be far ahead. At initial stages development goes fast: for example life cycle of an organization. It climbs fast and once it goes to top it levels and later it declines. Now that USA is in the top of the list they have to make sure to bring new inventions to new technology and motivate people to bring new things - new life.
Soekarno is long gone. For a while, Indonesia seemed destined for greatness, then came the financial crisis of 1998. Soeharto (2nd President) was ousted amidst chaos, riots and major weakening of the Rupiah. Indonesia has since experienced major corruptions, instability in political and economical platforms and uprising of Muslim extremists (where they trained in Afghanistan during the Taliban regime and Malaysia during the Soeharto presidency). All of this brings Indonesia to what it is today, a substandard country with such diminishing hope. GDP is way below other Asian countries such as China, India, Japan, Korea, Singapore, HK, Malaysia, and Thailand among others. Anyways, Bali is still a safe and beautiful place to visit. A lot of Americans, British and Australian nationals visit Bali still, so it's no reason to eschew the country despite bad publicity. The US afterall has had its own bad publicity without much hindrance to its tourism.
you are only a unity of this world; you never go out of your country to make friends outside? you think you are power foul, that gives right to step freedom of other people around the world,I m sure you don t agree this kind of things,you are clever enough so, don t judge people different than you,thanks
no. indonesia is the dead lion of the east. I THINK THE PHILIPPINES IS THE RICHEST-MOST POWERFUL nation in ASIA. The Philippines is the SLEEPING BULL OF THE FAR EAST. When it would rise up economically, it will overtake her southeast asian neighbors. before the philippines fitted that name because it was the first nation in asia to rise up economically. but because of FERDINAND MARCOS, the philippines morphed from a sleeping bull into a piece of shit. A SHAME but i always hope that someday the Philippines will be as powerful as Indonesia and China.
Sukarno was ousted 1965 by the dictator Suharto, with the help of the USA (for the simple fact that Sukarno was leftish). Under General Suharo's regime, over a million of people were killed in the period 1965-1967 (alledged communists), with the support of the CIA. Suharto and his family and his militairy friends plucked the country into poverty. There are billions still in forreign banks, while many Indonesian people live in poverty. Suharto ruled until 1997 until he was ousted by huge crowds of protesting civilians. Several presidents after him had the impossible task of re-organising the country. Suharto's millitairy friends have strong power. Suharto is still alive and walking free. By the way, the USA still provides militairy support.....while the militairy still pluck the country and do not respect human rights. Why? Oil, copper, uranium, gold...... you name it, Indonesia has it! Sorry to tell you this............ By the way, Indonesia is not in the top five of most corrupted countries. Number one is Haiti. Millions of non-muslim people in Indonesia, but being registered as a muslim brought benefits under Suharto's rule. People officially stick to it now, but deep in their heart many people still keep the animist tradtions. Also, many Christians in Sulawesi, Papua, Maluku, Flores, Timor and a part of Sumatra. Bali is mainly Hindu. Yes, the discrimination of Chinese is bad in some areas. True fact and very sad. Same as it is bad for black people or muslims in countries like yours or mine. Finally, Indonesia is a beautiful country with mainly friendly people eager to become your friend or pen-pal. They love to communicate in curiosity with forreigners (they have no money to travel), without asking anything in return but your friendship. There is not a single reason why you should not go there for a holiday. And Bali.......... tourism has begun it's recovery. People will always come and enjoy Bali.
yes
LOL, this is funny. OK I tend to agree with a lot of what you are saying. You have to know the country tho'. It has the largest population of Muslims in the world & yes there is a strong resentment towards the Chinese Indonesians because of the wealth they have. And yes, in many parts of Indonesia, Islamic fundamentalism is taking root. But on the bright side, Bali is one of the most beautiful places in the world & lets hope there won't be anymore Bali bombings ok. Its such a shame that a small group of people has given Indonesians a terrible reputation. Sigh!!!
omg!! how could such a question be asked... here is a list of the most richest nations of asia (non oil based economies-based on gdp per capita in USD) ****1.Japan-$38,000 very high income country ****2.singapore-$26,000 high income conutry ****3.south korea-$20,000 high income country ****4.malaysia-$12,000 medium high income country ****5.thailand-$8,000 moderate income country 6.Turkey $ 6,700 moderate income country 7. Kazakhstan $ 6,300 medium income country 8. Turkmenistan $ 5,800 medium income country 9. China $ 5,000 medium income country 10. Philippines $ 4,600 medium low income country 11.Maldives $ 3,900 medium low income country 12.Sri Lanka $ 3,700 medium low income country 13.Armenia $ 3,500 medium low income country 14.Azerbaijan $ 3,400 medium low income country 15.Indonesia $ 3,200 medium low income country 16.India $ 2,900 medium low income country 17. Vietnam $ 2,500 medium low income country 18.Papua New Guinea $ 2,200 medium low income country therefore the conclusion would be indonesia is 12 times poorer then japan (asias no.1 country in terms of wealth) however if measured based on purchasing power parity (measured in millions): 1. People's Republic of China (mainland China only, i.e. excludes Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan) $8,091,851 2 Japan $4,009,327 3 India $3,602,894 4 South Korea $1,099,066 5 Indonesia $863,654 6 Republic of China (Taiwan) $629,858 7 Iran $560,348 8 Thailand $559,489 9 Philippines $409,445 10 Pakistan $392,526 11 Saudi Arabia $337,268 12 Bangladesh $303,655 13 Malaysia $289,606 14 Vietnam $231,644 (15) Hong Kong, China $226,766 15 Israel $154,174 16 Singapore $124,001 17 United Arab Emirates $111,027 18 New Zealand $101,582 19 Iraq $89,800 20 Sri Lanka $85,155 this figures are the total value of the countries economy. however,since indonesia has a population of 220MILLION, their PPP is considered very very low. indonesia has 45 times more people compared to singapore.so if equalized,singapores work force is estimated to be 100 times more productive then tht of indonesia , 50 times more productive then tht of china, and 3.5 times more productive then tht of malaysia with only japan beating it.
No, I hardly agree. China is more likely.