80% of people in Lombok belong to the ethnic group of Sasak. The Sasak language belongs to a group called “Bali-Sasak” of the Malayo-Polynesian branch of the Austronesian languages. The rest of the population is made up of Balinese, Javanese, Chinese and Arabs.
In Indonesia, the 2 million people who consider themselves Sasak have the image of Muslims dévôts. However, a minority of Sasak still practice a form of Islam called wetu telu. This phrase means “three times” understood prayer, ie the observance of only three of the five daily prayers of Islam. The wetu telu is a syncretism in which mingle with Islamic beliefs and rituals predate Islam, as well qu’hindouistes pantheistic. Finally, there are several thousands of Sasak Boda pagans.

Until the late nineteenth century, the dominant religious syncretism in Lombok. At that time, a more stringent version of Islam spreads, primarily in the nobility, and then to other classes. Islam is rapidly becoming the Sasak a marker of identity, first vis-à-vis the Balinese who dominate and then compared to the Dutchman who conquered Lombok. Nevertheless, in mid-1960, syncretism is still alive. The change comes in the wake of the massacres of 1965-66, which is the seizure of power by General Soeharto.

In fact, many aspects of culture Sasak have nothing but Muslim belong to a common fund to the various ethnic groups in Indonesia. For example, Sasak hold a ceremony, the Lebaran Topat during the week following the feast of end of Ramadan, the Idul Fitri (Eid al-Fitr), whose name is traditional Indonesian Lebaran. This ritual is to visit the graves of loved ones, pouring water, lay flowers and drop betel leaves and lime powder. It is supposed to bring health and luck.

The autonomy of the regions is reflected in a willingness of local authorities to promote the culture Sasak. The authorities are trying to promote as well as the musical traditions of beliq gendang (drum major), fighting cane or traditional poetry.

Centuries of dominance in Lombok Balinese have obviously left their mark, if only by the presence of a strong minority but also Balinese temples and other places of worship Balinese.

Aceh (pronounced A-Czechoslovak) is a province (provinsi) of the Republic of Indonesia, located on the northern tip of the island of Sumatra. Its inhabitants are the Acehnese. It has an area of 57366 sq km and its population is estimated at about four million people (according to 2000 census), almost two percent of the Indonesian population. A law of 2001 gives a otonomi khusus ( “special autonomy”), the official name of Nanggroe ( “country”) Aceh Darussalam. Previously, it was called Daerah Istimewa ( “special territory” of) Aceh. The capital of Banda Aceh province (formerly Kutaraja, “the fortress of Kings”).

Aceh has been the scene of a long and bloody conflict between the Indonesian army and separatist Gerakan Aceh Merdeka ( “Movement for a Free Aceh”), or GAM, which was created in 1976 to denounce the unfair sharing of natural resources between the central government and the province. In the years 1970 and 1980, Aceh was the largest producer of natural gas in Indonesia through the giant Arun field. But production is declining and the reserves are being depleted without being renewed. A peace agreement was reached between the GAM and the government in August 2005. In the elections of the governor by popular vote in December 2006 is a member of GAM, Irwandi Yusuf, who has prevailed.

Aceh was the closest to the epicentre of the earthquake on Dec. 26, 2004, followed by a tsunami, has caused immense human and material damage in the province.

Surfing at Banyak Island

Banyak Islands ( “large numbers”) are a group of islands in Indonesia, most of them uninhabited, in the eastern part of the Indian Ocean, north of the island of Nias, south of Simeulue and the to 29 km off the west coast of Sumatra.

Among 99, they have an area of 319 sq km and are administratively part of the province of Aceh. The total population of 6050 inhabitants.

The largest of these islands is Great Tuanku or Banyak, whose main town is Alaban. The other two islands are important Bangkura and Bago. Tuanku is séparaté of Bangkaru by a loophole.

Only Tuanku, Bangkura Bago and have a significant population.

With Nias and Simeulue, Banyak islands were most affected by the earthquake on March 28, 2005 magnitude 8.7 on the Richter scale that struck the west coast of Sumatra.

These islands are part of a great arc of islands created by the collision of the Indo-Australian plate with the Eurasian plate. This collision has produced the Himalayas and most of the islands of Indonesia, as well as a long arc of mountains and islands, which includes the chain of Arakan in Burma, the Andaman and Nicobar Islands and the islands off from the west coast of Sumatra.

The 17000 islands of Indonesia (6000 inhabited) are spread around the equator giving that country a tropical climate. There are two seasons: the dry (which is wet anyway) from May to October and the rainfall from November to April. If the temperature ranges between 25 and 35 ° C at sea level, it loses altitude 2 ° C all three hundred and thirty metres, and there are thus covered mountains eternal snow in Indonesia.

The largest Java islands are home to nearly 60% of the population, Sumatra, Borneo (which is shared with the Federation of Malaysia), West Papua (Papua, formerly known as Irian Jaya, which is the western half of the island of New Guinea) and Sulawesi.

Indonesia is located in an area of tectonic friction on the Ring of Fire in the Pacific. Near the island of Sulawesi connect 3 plates (Pacific, the Philippines, Indo-Australia) and the block of Sunda (which moves independently of Eurasia). This explains that this volcanic area is the most active in the world, with about one hundred thirty active volcanoes, including a number in the archipelago (eg disappeared and the famous Krakatoa). Earthquakes are frequent and often followed by tsunamis. The tsunami of 26 December 2004 was made, according to the provisional toll of 19 January 2005, at least 220,000 dead.

The island of Roti, in the province of East Nusa Tenggara and 170 km of the Australian territory of Ashmore and Cartier Islands, the land is the southernmost of Indonesia (this situation has led to conflicts between the traditional practice of fishing and international law).