INDONESIA- Position Among the Stars

Selamat Pagi

   means Aloha in

 Indonesia!

 

Note: All photos are my own, shot

here in Hawaii. Click to enlarge.

According to

 the National Geographic Society:

" Indonesia

 is a vast equatorial archipelago

 of 17,000 islands

 extending 5,150 kilometers (3,200 miles)

 east to west, 

between the Indian

 and Pacific Oceans 

in Southeast Asia. "

The modern nation

was born

in 1945

with independence

from the Netherlands.

Due to the posts

of my wonderful

Indonesian 

blogger friends,

my interest

is growing.

 I am learning

that Indonesia

is a sort of 

Super Hawaii:

We are a small state,

 but Indonesia is

the world's fourth 

most populous nation!

Like Hawaii people,

 Indonesians are joined

 by the sea

 living on neighbor islands.

Oahu, 

our 'gathering place' 

has fewer than 

1 million inhabitants.

Java 

can claim around 130 million!

that's some 60 percent

 of the country's population.

It helps that the island Java 

is approximately the size 

of New York State!

 Sumatra, the other 'big island' 

is much larger even than Java.

But fewer than

 a third of Indonesians

 live there.

As in Hawaii,

 outer areas of the archipelago

 sometimes feel

 misunderstood

and mismanaged

by a government

all the way over 

 on  Java

(or Honolulu),

  The Moluccas. 

The island of Bali,

 Kalimantan (Indonesian Borneo), 

Sulawesi, 

and the Indonesian part of

 New Guinea 

(known as Papua or Irian Jaya)

are also

INDONESIA.

We Hawaii people 

are used to ethnic

and cultural diversity,

but we are relatively

 homogenous

 when you consider 

Indonesia's

 more than 580 languages 

and dialects!

 Thirteen of those,

 boast more than

 one million speakers.

Today I saw

an absorbing film:

"Position Among the Stars"

filmed with a real

Indonesian family.

The very human stories

of family, aging,

making a living,

coming of age,

living with momentous

change,

all in a setting

so very different

yet so familiar

quite touched my

heart.

I highly recomend

that you view the film

if you can.

Currently

it is running

 on HBO.

A 'Trailer' for the film

is below.

Here are a few Indonesian [Malay] words

 that we use in English everyday:

Ketchup,

Bamboo

Mango

Cockatoo 

 Orangutan

Sarong

and our friend

Gecko.

 

Thanks for visiting!
                 Warmly, cloudia