February 27, 2024

Tag: Indonesia

Silek lanyah, traditional martial arts of the Minangkabau people in West Sumatra, Indonesia. Silek lanyah is always performed in a muddy paddy field. Taken I 2020.

Martial arts in Indonesia

The Indonesian archipelago is home to an astonishing diversity of fighting styles. The well-known and learned martial artist Donn Draeger thought there were between two and three hundred, but many believe that one can find that many styles without...

The last dinosaurs

The fearsome Komodo dragons measure four meters from snout to tail tip, and weigh 150 kilograms. They can smell prey from several kilometers away and the blow from the tail can kill. Since the days of the dinosaurs, the bloodthirsty lizards have...

Flora and fauna of Indonesia

The animal and plant life is strongly influenced by the fact that Indonesia lies between the Asian mainland and the Australian continent. The dividing line between these two, the Wallacea line, runs from the east of Borneo in the north and to the...

The national anthem of Indonesia

The national anthem is called Indonesia Raya, which means Strong Indonesia. The song was composed in 1928. The policy of the colonial power at the time when the national anthem was written was to divide and rule. This was a policy which deliberately...

The population of Indonesia

The population of Indonesia is a mix of the indigenous population and those who arrived in the Neolithic period (3000 – 2000 years before Christ). These people came from the Asian mainland. Today, Indonesia is the fourth most populous country...

The coat of arms of Indonesia

The Indonesian coat of arms consists of a golden eagle, called Garuda, which is a figure from old Indonesian legends. It is also found on many temples from the sixth century. The eagle is a symbol of the creative energy. The main color which is gold...

The national flag of Indonesia

The Indonesian national flag is called “Sang Saka Merah Putih”. As stipulated in Article 35 of the Constitution of 1945, the flag consists of two colours, red on top and white on the bottom. The width is two-thirds of the length, which...

The flying dogs

It lives its life upside down. It sleeps upside down, eats upside down and loves upside down. The kalongen is also an enormous bat – the largest of all flying dogs with a wingspan of one and a half metres. The kalongs, the very largest of all...

Orangutan

The name Orangutan can be translated as “man from the forest”. In Malay (the official language of Malaysia and Indonesia) “orang” means man or person and “hutan” means forest. Today, orangutans can only be found...

The world’s largest archipelago

Indonesia is often referred to as the world’s largest archipelago. A name that aptly describes the country’s 18,108 islands (figures from the Indonesian Navy’s chart work). Which stretches 5,000 kilometers east from Sabang in North...