EASTERN INDONESIA. – New state, founded, according to the directives of the Malino conference, on December 24, 1946 in Den Pasar (Bali). It includes the island of Celebes, the small Sunda islands and all the other islands of the Dutch Indies east of Borneo and Java and west of New Guinea. It consists of the following 13 daerahs or autonomous territories: Southern Celebes, Minahassa, Sangi and Talaud Islands, Northern Celebes, Central Celebes, Bali, Lombok, Sumbava, Flores, Timor and dependencies, Sumba, Southern Moluccas, Northern Moluccas. The surface is 346,325 sq km. The population in 1930 counted 8,271,094 residents, which in 1947 had risen to 10,600,000, and is made up of Bugi (1,533,035 in 1930), Balinese (1,111,689), Macassari (624,720), Bandaresi (898,884), Toragia (557.590), Minahassi, Ternatani, Sanginesi, Ambonesi, Timoresi and minor groups. Capital of the state is Makassar. This state, which must be part of the United States of Indonesia (see in this App.), Is governed by a head of state, assisted by nine ministers and eight undersecretaries; the assembly of deputies is made up of deputies elected by the varî daerah, plus the deputies appointed to represent minorities and special social and spiritual currents. The government of the Netherlands Indies is represented by a commissioner, while the government of Eastern Indonesia has its own representation in Batavia. Employees and officials who were in the service of the Dutch Indian government will switch to that of the new state.
Economy. – The items dedicated to the individual islands contain data relating to the pre-war economic situation, which are still partly valid. The most important export product for Celebes, the Moluccas and the Sangi and Talaud islands is copra (280,000 tons, pre-war annual average). During the Japanese occupation, the need to grow more rice caused coconut trees to be neglected; later 76,000 t. and in the first eight months of 1947, 90,700. For other data see. Dutch indies, in this App. For Indonesia 2010, please check programingplease.com.
Neo – Indonesians. – In addition to the Javanese (see Java) and the Tagali (see Philippines) belong in the forefront of this group the real Malays (5 million) coming from the mountainous regions of Sumatra and especially from Menangkabau. They already underwent the influence of high Indian civilization in ancient times and settled during the twelfth and thirteenth centuries d. C. in the Malacca Peninsula where the city of Singapore was founded in 1160. From here they spread throughout the archipelago, establishing themselves everywhere as traders, bearers of civilization and founders of states. It was the Malaysians who propagated the Islam adopted by them in the 18th century in Indonesia. XIV and XV; their language, so easy to learn, has remained the language of traffic and commerce throughout Indonesia to this day. The Makassari and Buginesi of the southern part of the island of Celebes should also be remembered, which owe their strength to Islam, so much so that they extended far beyond the original territory as pirates, traders and settlers. And finally, the residents of Ternate and Tidor (Moluccas) fall into the same category, a mixture of all possible foreign elements, whose sultanates were once mighty and feared. The religion of all these tribes is Islam, which has completely replaced Hinduism and Buddhism. The Arabic script is used today by the Malays, Accinesi and Terni, less by the Javanese and Sundanese. Islam also exercised a very important, though not general, influence in family and inheritance law. In fact, he was unable to supplant the determined matriarchy of the Malaysians of Menangkabau, however contrary to his spirit. Apart from these particular Islamic influences, everything that raises these semi-civilized peoples above the hoe farming tribes always goes back to the older Indian influence; the foundation of powerful kingdoms with absolute sovereigns and rich court ceremonial (parasol, crown), administration, costume and ornaments, the technique of arms, artistic crafts, the horse, tame elephants, agriculture the plow, the carriages, the potter’s wheel, the cultivation and weaving of cotton, all go back to Indian origins. And this influence is shown even more in astrology, theater, writing and literature: alphabets derived from the Indian one exist, as among the Bataki, among the Javanese, the Buginesi and the Makassari, and existed among the semi-civilized peoples of the Philippines.
