Behasa is sort of like ‘high’ Malay. If you learn some in Indonesia, it will serve you very well in Malaysia.
I am green with envy!
Yup, I lived in Banda Aceh for a couple of years. Aceh used to be an important trading hub in its own right and there are some amazing artifacts from this period in the Singapore museum’s permanent collection.
I knew it was a dominant Muslim nation, but never knew how. My mum told me it used to be Buddhist and then word of mouth took hold and then the conversion began. I didn’t ask if by force or gentle means.
I have two friends who grew up in Indonesia but are of Chinese Christian descent.
(Kind of cheating since I was just there):
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one of the two places in the world where they’ve brought up the “living fossil” fish, the Coelacanth, Manado Tua is in Sulawesi.
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Sulawesi is predominately christian (churches everywhere, and more being built)
No one has yet mentioned its the home of Komodo dragons… Eg the island of Komodo next to Flores.
Homo floresiensis.
Not sure if this was brought up, but about half of the island of New Guinea is owned Indonesia. The western half, called Papua (formerly Irian Jaya). Pretty artificial boundary as the eastern part is Papua New Guinea, and the indigenous people are the same.
I lived in Seribudolok, on Sumatra, between the years of 1965 and 1968, but I was very young, so most of my recollections are child-sized (and quite possibly wrong).
Rabies was a real problem. We had a dog that contracted rabies even though he’d supposedly been vaccinated.
Sukarno was the president, and there was a revolt. Suharto replaced him. Sometime around the year we left, Life magazine was banned, and we had to hide ours when we drove from Medan to Seribudolok. There were roadblocks, and I remember my dad preparing us to duck down in the car if we heard shooting.
Indonesian people really liked to spoil little kids.
My wife is Indonesian. When we visited family on 4 different islands, I learned that in Jakarta, the painted lines forming traffic lanes are only a suggestion. Same with every other traffic light or sign. Somehow, in spite of the chaotic nature of it all, things work. Sort of. A car hit us from behind and just drifted away into the sea of vehicles and my brother in law just shrugged and said to me, “welcome to Jakarta!”
Incredible population density. If there is an open space on a sidewalk, center island, corner, or any space, there is a person there selling something. Mystery meat on a stick, fried anything, etc. Really good food that gave me horrible diarrhea. I remember the population density being comparable to Disneyland on a weekend. Overwhelming.
The mountains and countryside of Sumatra are beautiful. Many of the wild plants are common houseplants here in the USA.
Corruption everywhere. Our friends own a few gas stations in Medan. Nothing, from fuel deliveries to equipment repair happens on time unless someone gets an envelope with cash in it. Want the police to stop hassling the customers? Give them an envelope. When the fuel truck dispatcher starts talking about how expensive the school his kids go to has become, he better get an envelope or the drivers may or may not arrive that day to deliver the fuel.
All I need to. The internet is there for the rest.