Unity and Diversity of Indonesia :: Conflict History Bond Papers

Unity and Diversity of Indonesia From "Sabang ‘till Merauke" is the name of a song dedicated to Indonesia’s many islands and it’s diversity. It’s numerous chain of islands contained in the thirty-two thousand miles dividing two oceans, the Pacific Ocean and the Indian Ocean. Sabang is a small island just off the coast of Sumatra; Merauke is a small village near the border of Papua New Guinea. Indonesia’s 13,677 islands inhabited by 350 different ethnic groups, and more than 200 different languages. Consequently this part of the world gave many different cultures, traditions, and way of lives (1). Despite this diversity, Indonesia today has a common bond that united them all into one nation, one language, and one people. Due to this diversity, conflicts are unavoidable. However, the people of Indonesia have been able to overcome their differences. The spirit of musyawarah (to deliberate or confer), mufakat (to agree), and gotong-royong (mutual assistance) that have been instilled by their fore-father have helped in achieving peace between the people's groups. We have yet find this quality in any other nations of the world. I. INTRODUCTION I have been away from this country for almost two decades. Being born and raised in this country, I felt a longing to return to my birth place and become a part of the people once more. My desire to contribute my experience, knowledge, and the skill, that I acquired in my life time is the dream that fuels my motivation to return to Indonesia. In relation to the globalization that are taking place today, I am confident that Indonesia will be a nation that able to contribute to the world for the good of all people. Relating to the National Standard for Geography, this writer is very interested in knowing and understanding the followings;  · The physical and human characteristic of the place.  · The people perceptions of the changing complexity that are influence by culture and experience.  · The characteristics, distributions and migrations of human populations  · The process, patterns, and functions of human settlement.  · The changes in meaning, distribution, and importance resources. II. THE COUNTRY The largest country, both in area and population, in Southeast Asia is the Republic of Indonesia. It consists of 13,677 islands that cover 741,101 square miles (1,919,443 square kilometers) of land along the equator between the Indian and Pacific oceans.