Indonesia is the largest archipelago and fourth most populous country in the world.The country is geographically situated between the Australian and Asian continental mainland and divides the Pacific and Indian Oceans at the Equator. Consisting of five main islands (Sumatra, Java, Kalimantan (Borneo), Sulawesi (Celebes), and Papua), 30 smaller archipelagos, the country is made up of a total of 17,508 islands of which around 6,000 are inhabited across 33 provinces.Indonesia stretches 5,150 kilometres from Sabang in the western most tip of Sumatra to Merauke in Papua to the east. Its capital city is Jakarta, home to more than eight million people.Climate The east monsoon from June to September brings dry weather, while the west monsoon from December to March, a transitional period in-between, are interposed by occasional rain showers. Even in the midst of the west monsoon season, temperatures range from 210 C (700 F) to 330 C. (900 F), except at higher altitudes, which are substantially cooler and less humid.Language and dialects There are more than 483 languages and dialects spoken in the archipelago. These belong to the 350 different ethnic groups comprising the nation's population. Bahasa Indonesia is the national language, written in the Roman script and based on European orthography.51 National Parks A unique marine biodiversity hotspot, the Wallacea region has 28,000 species of flora, ranging from tiny rare orchids to the giant Rafflesia flower and 3,500 species of fauna, including the endangered orangutans of Borneo and Sumatra, the giant Komodo lizard, the one-horned Javan Rhinoceros and the tigers of Sumatra.Cuisine The staple food of most of Indonesia is rice ('nasi' in Bahasa Indonesia). Rice is eaten with an endless choice of side dishes and condiments, usually consisting of a vegetable dish, a meat/fish dish and some form of spicy paste or sauce.Indonesia is a haven of luscious tropical and sub-tropical fruits and vegetables all year round. Local fruits include the durian, rambutan, mango, mangosteen, star fruit, jackfruit, sawo (Sapotaceae) and duku (Meliaceae).Coffee and tea are served everywhere and at any time from restaurants to warungs or stalls. Robusta and Arabica are popular varieties of coffee, and are generally brewed directly in hot water without filtration. Black, green and jasmine-scented tea is widely consumed throughout the country.That Indonesians are hospitable people is a fact that is reflected in the way they conduct their affairs and relationship with others.This norm was brazenly displayed by the staff of the Embassy since the day an appointment was fixed with the Ambassador through Mr Eddy the Head of Chancery who is a paragon of what a dutiful officer should be. Eddy would remind you through text messages of your appointment with the Ambassador hours to the time.As the Tribune Tourism Magazine crewof Wale Ojo-Lanre and Wale Olapade set their foot on Indonesia Embassy in Nigeria. Eddy, who had been waiting for us approached us warmly and we exchanged pleasantries, ushered us into a waiting 4 x4 diplomatic car with a note 'the interview will take place at the ambassador 's residence.As the wife of the ambassador ushered us into their residence, we noticed that all the residents and workers therein were uniquely dressed in different designs and trendy colours of batik attires.Mrs Haseng motioned us to the chairs as we were planting ourselves on the soft leather; Ambassador Sudirman Haseng came out of a room, welcomed us warmly and suggested having the interview at the garden, that presented a natural village ambience enhanced by a nurtured setting with livestock and small subsistence farming going on, a culture, which the ambassador described as a must for every Indonesian family to be on reach of local condiment and fresh and spicy vegetables.You must be quite old in Nigeria'No. I am just one year this month.Then, how has it been serving in Nigeria'Interesting, I love this country. Nigeria is just like my country. We are similar in almost every aspect of life and sector. We have over 17,000Islands, over 500 ethnic groups, over 300 languages, made up of 250 million multi'culture, multi'language. But our unity thrives in these diversities. We have never allowed these to set us apart, rather we used it as a form of a advantage that had wedge us together for a purpose.It seems you are so much in love with adire 'You mean this dress' No, this is not your adire. This is original batik which is made in Indonesia. It is one of the products of our Islands. Each of these Island has its own motif and design, which they translate into cloth. However, it is our policy that we should wear the batik on every Tuesday and Friday. The batik is being used to reflect our image, culture and art wherever we are. We place emphasis on our cuisines. If you are travelling out of Jakarta for instance, you will see more than 20 different kinds of foods in every 20 kilometre. Indonesia is the best when it comes to good foods. In a product, we can make different kinds of meals. For instance, just from the banana we can prepare 10 different delicious cuisines and chops.What is your tourism asset'Our tourism asset is our local wisdom. We based our tourism vision on the local content of the people. We basically believed in developing domestic tourism which we are using to empower and mobilise wealth. We are not using our fund to promote Indonesia to the foreign tourists. Of course, we promote, but the substantial part of the promotion is to divert the attention of the local to travel within and understand the culture, norms and values of the different ethnic groups and also appreciate the abundant natural potential, in the country. Domestic tourism generates multiple receipts than international returns. This is why our tourism revenue is very resilient and does not wink a bit by any international chaos, occurrences or disaster.' Last year alone, we recorded over 60 million domestic tourists while our international was only over 20 million. However, Nigeria also can mobilise its citizens to embrace domestic tourism and use it to empower and stimulate growth because it has all that is needed. Also, we are using the domestic tourism to crate and encourage the creative industry at the rural areas, which translate into empowerment of the local vis-a-vis opening the areas for development.Does your government give direct assistance to the people for the creative industry to thrive'The government of Indonesia facilitates credit facilities to the people involved in the creative business. The government also encourages the citizens to embrace domestic tourism by shifting holidays purposely for the people to travel to hinterland and spend some money to the villagers. For instance, if there is holiday on Tuesday, the government will shift it to either Friday or Monday, so that the people in the city can go home while those in the rural areas can visit the city. More so, I will want to say that tourism is private sector-driven event when we also key into the private and public sector participation initiative.Your country is an oil producing one but Indonesia does not rely on oil as major source of revenue, why 'The reason is that in the 80s, there was a serious oil glut and this affected us so much that our leaders had to think out the way to prevent such a harsh experience again. So we have to develop other avenues.What are the other avenues'We have to develop the manufacturing sector, the domestic tourism and the agricultural sectors. We established industry where the raw materials produced from our country are processed before exportation.How do you tackle the traffic in Jakarta'You know we are 250million population. We are experiencing heavy vehicular movement in and out of Jakarta every day and population continues to swell without a preparatory infrastructural provision. But our government has embarked on massive roads construction, building and expansion of our railways, mono rail, construction of overhead bridges and bus way, the one you called BRT.What is the relationship between Nigeria and Indonesia'Politically, we have no problem with Nigeria. We are solid with Nigeria. The trade volume between Nigeria and Indonesia is about 1.5 billion dollar a year. We also have about 15 great companies in Nigeria that belong to Indonesians. Some of them are, Indomie, Procold, So ' clean and many others.How many Indonesians are in Nigeria jail'We have no record of any Indonesian in Nigerian prison. We are not angels, but we regularly meet our citizens and drum it to their ears that they are Indonesian ambassadors in Nigeria and that whatever they do will be attributed to Indonesia.How many Nigerians are in Indonesians jail'In the last three years, we have not had any serious scam or alarming cries against Nigerians. And to tell you, Indonesians love Nigerians. There are many Nigerians in Indonesia doing well, At present, we are expecting about 200 Nigerians to leave Abuja forIndonesia for an exhibition.Which part of the country have you visited'I have been to a lot of towns in Nigeria. I have been to Yankari, Lagos and travelled to Kaduna, Kano and Jos . This has enabled me to meet a lot of people and appreciate the potentialities this country is harbouring.And what is your Nigerian favourite food'I love pounded yam with egunsi with suya.What is the embassy up to now'The Indonesian Ladies Organisation is planning the biggest Arts and Cuisine Bazaar in November 24, 2011. All over the world we use foods to lure tourists to Indonesia. We are supporting this Cuisine bazzar. It will be the best food carnival ever hosted in Nigeria. You are all cordially invited.
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