Indonesia is the fourth largest country in the world according to its population and it has the largest population of Muslims in the world. Over 300 nationalities live in Indonesia. The climate is generally tropical so that over 17 000 islands are overgrown with tropical rain forest. The islands were created by lava erruptions from the many volcanoes in the area.  There are about 76 active volcanoes in the area of Indonesia! These volcanoes were created  by the movement of tectonic plates. This movement also causes  earthquakes which frequently create tsunamies. The volcanic erruption of 1883 was the loudest sound heard on Earth in the last few centuries! The largest Indonesian islands are:  Sumatra, Java, Borneo (Kalimantan), Sulawesi and part of New Guinea. A very popular island is the small island of Bali. Bali is almost exclusivly the home of Hindus and their dance is world famous. We had the opportunity to see it live!

The population of Indonesia is growing due to its large birth rate. There are over 270 Indonesian and 180 Papuanian languages. In the interrior of the islands, there are many tribes who still live according to the old ways of life (perhaps headhunting!:). Unfortunately, there is wide spread corruption in Indonesia just as there is in Croatia. In both countries there is an on-going battle against corruption.

In the past there had been many different countries on the Indonesian islands. One of the largest of these was Majapahit.  Hinduism and Budhism had spread from India to Indonesia.  In the 15th century, Islam had also spread from the trading town of Malacca. Indonesia had been a  colony of Netherlands so that it also contains Protestants and Catholics as well.  Politically, the most important island is Java with a polulation of 135 Million, while the capital city, Jakarta, has a population of 9 160 000 people.

Mr. Haris' presenation was followed by Mrs. Putu Furina Dewi. She is a professional dancer from the Bali Island. She wore a traditional Balinese costume. Her dance was accompanied by exotic music and held us all spell-bound for 15 minutes. The Asian culture is very  impressive!

After the dance demonstration, many students took a photo with the lady from Bali. She even let some of us try on her crown. She showed us some ''Balinese“ poses, and then she taught us some of the moves from her dance.  Many of the students surrounded her and asked her all types of questions. This was not a problem for her since she spoke Croatian very well. In the end we said goodbye with a big hug.  Here are some of our impressions:


 

We learned a lot at school and from the presentation given by  Mr. Syafran Haris, the second secretary of the Indonesian Embassy. He organized a quiz, and whoever answered correctly, got a prize! Our guests spoke to us in English, so our students translated his talk into Croatian and translated our questions into English. They did an excellent job.













The lucky person who correctly answered a question received a gift!


Our team of translators worked very well!


Our audience had a lot of answers, but also a lot of questions!



Let's dance the Balinese way!

I really liked when the lady from Bali danced. I liked the fact that we had to answer the questions that they asked us and that they gave us a gift. I will remember this day because I really liked the entire presentation and especially the Balinese dance. (Melisa Musić 5. B)


Photo gallery


 

On Croatian national television: