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1 1 (April 7, 2022)

handle is hein.crs/govegnn0001 and id is 1 raw text is: Congressional Research Service informing the Iegislative dlebate sin co 1914 Updated April 7, 2022 Indonesia Overview With over 270 million citizens, Indonesia is the most populous country in Southeast Asia, the world's most populous Muslim-majority nation, and the world's third- largest democracy (after India and the United States). It has the world's 16th-largest economy and the 10th-largest when ranked by purchasing power parity. It straddles important sea lanes and borders the Strait of Malacca, one of the world's busiest trade routes, as well as the Indian Ocean and the South China Sea. Over the past two decades, Indonesia has become a robust democracy, holding four direct presidential elections, each considered by international observers to have been largely free and fair. In the most recent, held in April 2019, President Joko Widodo was reelected to a second five-year term. The U.S.-Indonesia relationship has broadened in recent years, with closer military and counterterrorism cooperation and a range of new educational, environmental, and energy initiatives that were initiated in the Obama Administration. However, Indonesia's foreign policy is guided by its historical role as a leader of the Non-Aligned Movement, and successive Indonesian governments have bristled at the notion of aligning too closely with the United States or with others, including China. Indonesia is an active member in regional diplomatic institutions and a leader of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), which has a Secretariat based in Jakarta. It chairs the Group of 20 (G-20) in 2022. Some 87% of Indonesians are Muslim, with the vast majority subscribing to moderate, syncretic forms of the religion. Religious diversity is enshrined in the constitution. Some observers, however, express concern about growing political influence of conservative religious groups who have organized mass demonstrations against non-Muslim politicians. Indonesia also has a recent history of violent extremism: several bombings in Jakarta and tourist center Bali targeted Westerners in the 2000s, and the persistence of smaller-scale attacks raises concerns about the dangers posed by Indonesians returning from the Middle East. Indonesia is increasingly involved in rising South China Sea tensions. Although the two nations do not dispute sovereignty over any land features, China's extensive nine- dash line claims overlap with Indonesia's Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ), the coastal area over which a state has the right to regulate economic activity. Indonesian authorities have periodically confronted or warned off Chinese fishing and law-enforcement vessels seen as encroaching on Indonesian waters. In 2017, Indonesia elicited a formal diplomatic protest from Beijing by renaming waters off the Natuna Islands, north of Borneo, the North Natuna Sea. In May 2020, Jakarta angered China with a formal submission to the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), supporting an UNCLOS ruling that criticized aspects of China's maritime claims and behavior in the region. Political Background President Widodo, universally known by his nickname Jokowi, was reelected in April 2019 elections, winning 55% of the popular vote. He campaigned on promises to improve Indonesia's infrastructure and raise living standards, particularly in underdeveloped areas. He has delivered on some of those promises, enacting several economic reform packages aimed at streamlining bureaucratic processes to boost foreign and domestic investment. However, poverty and uneven economic development remain major issues. Indonesia has been hit hard by the COVID-19 pandemic, with over 6 million cases as of March 30, 2022, the largest number in Southeast Asia. Indonesia also has Southeast Asia's second highest COVID-19 mortality rate, after the Philippines. About 58% of the population was fully vaccinated as of late March 2022. Some observers have bristled at Widodo's willingness to bring authoritarian and conservative Islamist voices into his coalition. Defense Minister Prabowo Subianto, a former Army Special Forces Commander, was implicated in a range of human rights violations in the 1990s. Vice President Ma'ruf Amin, a conservative Islamic leader, was chosen at least in part to quell criticism from some Islamic groups that Widodo's government is not sufficiently conservative. Such criticism has been a thorn in Widodo's side throughout his presidency, particularly in 2016-2017,

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