Summary :
Th e Republic of Indonesia is the world’s largest archipelago country by area and by population. It is also the world’s most populous Muslim-majority nation and is home to 240 million people living across more than 17,504 islands in an area of 1.910.931,32 km2. Despite its diversity, which includes 300 distinct ethnic groups and more than 700 languages and dialects, Indonesia has managed to develop a shared national identity. Th e fall of the Suharto regime in May 1998 marked the beginning of Indonesia’s “remarkable transition from repressive dictatorship to possibly the most dynamic and successful democracy in Southeast Asia” (Liddle, 2012). Far-reaching political, economic and judicial reforms have contributed to the country’s rapid democratic consolidation. A massive decentralization program in the early 2000s has transferred political power to the local level. A member of the G-20 with an estimated GDP of US$ 846.8 billion in 2011, Indonesia’s economy is the largest in Southeast Asia. In the past 15 years, the region’s most populous nation has turned from “Southeast Asia’s economic basket case in 1998” into one of Asia’s most promising emerging markets with annual growth rates at more than fi ve percent. Indonesia’s rapid urbanization, young demographics, and increasingly affl uent middle class are driving its economy to become the world’s seventh largest by 2030 (UNESCAP, 2013). Indonesia’s economic growth from 2009 until 2012 of was 6.2% per year with a GDP per capita of US$3557. Th is makes Indonesia a lower middle income country.