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There are over 300 ethnic groups in Indonesia. The largest ethnic group in Indonesia in the Javanease, making up 52 percent of the population. The Sundanese, Malay, and Madurese are the next three largest ethnic group in Indonesia. Some of the smaller ethnic groups are located in places like Kalimantan and Papua, only having a few hundred members. Most of the Indonesian islands are multiethnic.

Globalization greatly effects the amount of ethnic groups in Indonesia as you can see in the map above. When people of different ethnic groups migrate to Indonesia, they bring little pieces of their culture with them as well, with things such as religion, and they also adopt Indonesian folk culture as well.

 

Nationalism in Indonesia's history started in August 1945, when Japan was defeated in World War 2. After the defeat, Indonesian nationalists that were led by Sukarno and Mohammad Hatta who declared Indonesian independence. It took the Dutch five years to accept this, the whole time fighting for the new rupublic mainly in Java. Then in 1950, Indonesian independence was established.

 

Ethnic relations on the island have been a long concern. The leaders of Indonesia recognized that there would be possible ethnic and regional separstism within the islands early on. War was started by the central government against separatism in Aceh, other parts of Sumatra, and Sulawesi in the 1950s and early 60s, with only the military force holding them together.

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