Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania, between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of over 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo and New Guinea. Indonesia is the world's largest archipelagic state and the 14th-largest country by area, at 1,904,569 square kilometres. With over 280 million people, Indonesia is the world's fourth-most-populous country and the most populous Muslim-majority country. Java, the world's most populous island, is home to more than half of the country's population.
Abdurrahman Wahid, more colloquially known as Gus Dur, was an Indonesian politician and Islamic religious leader who served as the fourth president of Indonesia, from his election in 1999 until he was removed from office in 2001. A long time leader within the Nahdlatul Ulama organization, he was the founder of the National Awakening Party (PKB). He was the son of Minister of Religious Affairs Wahid Hasyim, and the grandson of Nahdatul Ulama founder Hasyim Asy'ari. Due to a visual impairment caused by glaucoma, he was blind in the left eye and partially blind in his right eye. He was the first president of Indonesia to have had physical disabilities. The name Abdurrahman Wahid means "Servant of Mercy the First."
Muhammad Amien Rais is an Indonesian politician. He was one of the leaders of the reform movement that forced the resignation of President Suharto in 1998. Amien Rais was the leader of Muhammadiyah, one of the two biggest Muslim organizations in Indonesia, from 1995 to 2000. He was the Chairman of the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) from 1999 to 2004. During his chairmanship, the MPR passed a series of amendments to the Constitution of Indonesia. These amendments, among other things, established direct presidential elections, a presidential term limit, and the Constitutional Court.
Suharto resigned as President of Indonesia on 21 May 1998 following the collapse of support for his 32-year long presidency. Vice President B. J. Habibie took over the presidency.
Nurcholish Madjid, in Indonesia affectionately known as Cak Nur, was a prominent Indonesian Muslim intellectual. Early in his academic career, Nurcholish was a leader in various student organizations. He soon became well known as a proponent for modernization within Islam. Throughout his career he continued to argue that for Islam to be victorious in the global struggle of ideas, it needs to embrace the concepts of tolerance, democracy and pluralism.
Harun Nasution was an Indonesian Islamic scholar whose work and thoughts were part of a significant trend in Islamic thought that championed rationalist, scientific and humanist principles. He is renowned for his support of Mu'tazilite thought, as a solution to the severe decline of many countries in the Muslim world. He is also known for reforming the education system at Islamic universities in Indonesia.
Anies Rasyid Baswedan is an Indonesian academic, activist, and politician who served as the Governor of Jakarta from 2017 to 2022. A student activist and political analyst before entering public service, he served as the Rector of Paramadina University before being appointed to be Minister of Education and Culture in Joko Widodo administration. He is also the founder of Indonesia Mengajar, a program that selects, trains, and assigns university graduates to serve in a one-year teaching mission across the country. He is the grandson of nationalist, journalist, and freedom fighter Abdurrahman Baswedan, and the cousin of Novel Baswedan. He was a candidate for President of Indonesia in the 2024 election.
Early legislative elections were held in Indonesia on 7 June 1999. They were the first elections since the fall of Suharto and end of the New Order, the first free elections in Indonesia since 1955, and the first and only free legislative election held in East Timor during Indonesian provincehood. With the ending of restrictions on political activity following the fall of Suharto, a total of 48 parties contested the 462 seats up for election in the People's Representative Council. A further 38 seats were reserved for members of the armed forces.
Arifin Bey was an Indonesian diplomat. He was born in Padang Panjang, West Sumatra in the Minangkabau Highlands, one year before the Communist revolt in 1926, and three years before the participants of Youth Conference in 1928 avowed themselves to be one people, the Indonesian people, constituting one nation, Indonesia, with one language Bahasa Indonesia. They were years of growing political and social unrest during which Dutch rule became increasingly oppressive.
Marshall Green was an American diplomat whose career focused on East Asia. Green was the senior American diplomat in South Korea at the time of the 1960 April Revolution, and was United States Ambassador to Indonesia at the time of the Transition to the New Order. From 1969 to 1973, he was Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs, and, in this capacity, accompanied President of the United States Richard Nixon during President Nixon's visit to China in 1972.
The following lists events that happened during 2005 in Indonesia.
Djohan Effendi was the Secretary of State of Indonesia, under President Abdurrahman Wahid from 2000 to 2001. He was an Ahmadi and belonged to the Lahore branch and was an ardent advocate for the Ahmadiyya movement. He was known for having been a prominent liberal thinker of Islam in Indonesia, more specifically based in Yogyakarta and a part of the Jogja-based liberal Islamic intellectual group known as the Limited Group led by Mukti Ali. He also served as chair of the International Centre for Religious Pluralism and voiced criticism toward the issuance of the fatwa by Majelis Ulama Indonesia targeting religious pluralism in 2005.
Budhy Munawar-Rachman is an Indonesian progressive Islamic scholar. He is a lecturer of Islamic studies at Paramadina University and an editor of Islamic journal Ulummul Qur'an. He is influenced highly by the renowned Indonesian Islamic scholar Nurcholish Madjid and considered as the successor of Madjid's strand of progressive Islamic thoughts, namely Islamic neo-modernism.
Pondok Modern Darussalam Gontor Ponorogo, also known as Pondok Modern Gontor, abbreviated as PMDG, or simply Pesantren Gontor, is a pesantren in Ponorogo Regency, East Java, Indonesia. Since its founding in 1926, the pesantren has become famous for the application of discipline, heavy emphasis on foreign languages, and strong network and cadre of alumni. It also has been an educational institution known for not being specifically tied to any political and social organization. The pesantren is considered the backbone of Muslim society in Indonesia, producing numerous leading figures in the history of Islam in Indonesia.
In the context of Muslim society in Indonesia, Modernism or modernist Islam refers to a religious movement which puts emphasis on teachings purely derived from the Islamic religious scriptures, the Qur'an and Hadith. Modernism is often contrasted with traditionalism, which upholds ulama-based and syncretic vernacular traditions. Modernism is inspired by reformism during the late-19th to early 20th century based in the Middle East, such as the Islamic modernist, Salafiyya and Wahhabi movements. Throughout the history of contemporary Muslim Indonesia, these movements have inspired various religious organizations; from the mass organization Muhammadiyah (1912), political party Masyumi Party (1943), to missionary organization Indonesian Islamic Dawah Council (1967).
Islam Yes, Islamic Party No was a slogan coined by Indonesian Muslim scholar Nurcholish Madjid in his speech at Taman Ismail Marzuki (TIM) in Jakarta, in 1970. The slogan soon became a catchphrase in Indonesia that helped fight the notion that voting against Islamic parties was sinful for Muslims.
Dawam Rahardjo was an Indonesian Muslim scholar and human rights activist. An economist by profession, Dawam was widely known for his uncompromising defence of minority groups and his advocacy for religious pluralism in Indonesian society. He was awarded the Yap Thiam Hien Award in 2013.
Marsudi Wahyu Kisworo is an Indonesian Professor of Computer Science currently affiliated with Pancasila University. On 13 October 2021, he was appointed as Member of the Board of Governors of the National Research and Innovation Agency (BRIN) by Joko Widodo.
Satrio was an Indonesian military doctor. He served as Minister of Health during the Guided Democracy period, between 1959 and 1966, and as General Chairman of the Indonesian Red Cross between 1970 and 1982.
