Indonesia
Indonesia is the largest island nation in the world. With around 270 million inhabitants, the country has the fourth largest population globally, made up of over 30 ethnic groups. In terms of religion, about 87 percent of people profess Islam, with the rest divided between Christianity, Hinduism, Buddhism, Confucianism, and various animist religions. The capital of the Republic of Indonesia is Jakarta, located on the northwest coast of the island of Java. Over ten million people live in the city, which is the largest in Southeast Asia and the second largest urban agglomeration in the world, with a metropolitan region of around 30 million inhabitants.
At the beginning of the 16th century, the Portuguese arrived in the region with colonialist ambitions. In the following century, the Dutch East India Company took over large parts of today’s Indonesia, which the Dutch state administered as a colony from 1799 until the middle of the 20th century. In 1942, during the Second World War, the Japanese army occupied the Dutch East Indies (now Indonesia). Two days after the Japanese surrendered, on August 15, 1945, Sukarno—the future first president of Indonesia—and his vice president, Mohammad Hatta, proclaimed independence from the Netherlands. This was followed by a war of independence, which eventually brought sovereignty to Indonesia in 1949, after the Dutch government had come under pressure from the international community. In 1963, Indonesia occupied the last Dutch colony of West Papua (in Indonesian referred to as Irian Jaya), against the declared will of the region’s population, who would have preferred to become independent.
In the mid-1950s, President Sukarno called for a new architecture to reaffirm the country’s independence and continue the construction of the nation. “Build Jakarta as beautiful as possible, build it as spectacularly as possible, so that this city, which has become the center of the struggle of the Indonesian people, will be an inspiration and a beacon for all of struggling humanity, and for all emerging forces.” In contrast to the architectural styles of the colonial period, Sukarno’s concept of “guided democracy” found expression in a radically modern, international style, in terms of both architecture and urban development.
After a military coup, General Suharto took power in 1965, ruling as dictator until 1998. Suharto’s takeover went hand in hand with the mass murder of opposition members (1965–66), and ten years later with the occupation of the Portuguese colony of Timor-Leste (which became independent in 2002). Suharto’s “New Order” brought Western-oriented economic policies, coupled with the idea of reinventing Indonesian tradition and culture to strengthen national identity.
Several important Indonesian architects studied in West Germany in the 1950s and ’60s. Soejoedi Wirjoatmodjo and Han Awal graduated from the Technical University in West Berlin, returning to Jakarta in 1960, where they would design important buildings. Yusuf Bilyarta Mangunwijaya (also known as Romo Mangun) studied at RWTH Aachen University, moving back to Yogyakarta in 1966. He worked as an architect, writer, priest, and sociopolitical activist, and was awarded the Aga Khan Award in 1992 for his slum renovations along the Code River in Yogyakarta. Today, Indonesia is a presidential republic—the president is head of state as well as head of government, and also commander-in-chief of the armed forces. Joko Widodo has held the office of president since 2014. SB/MH/CH/EK
