The Government
Indonesia is a unitary republic state with a presidential system. The President serves as the head of state, commander-in-chief of the Indonesian National Armed Forces as well as director of domestic governance, policy-making and foreign affairs. The President also appoints a council of ministers who are not required to be elected members of the legislature. The elected President may only serve two consecutive five-year terms.
The People’s Consultative Assembly or MPR is the highest representative body at national level and its main purposes are in supporting and amending the constitution, swearing in the president as well as formalizing the outlines of state policy. It retains the power to impeach the president in the post-Suharto regime. Within the MPR are two sects; the People’s Representative Council or DPR and the Regional Representative Council or DPD. The DPR has had an increased role in national governance since the 1998 reform and its duties involve passing legislation and monitoring the executive branch.
The DPD serves as a form of regional management. There are several courts of law in Indonesia that handle specific issues. Civil disputes appear before a State Court and appeals are handled by the High Court while The Supreme Court attends to final cessation appeals as well as conduct case reviews. Another court, The Commercial Court handles bankruptcy and insolvency.
Indonesia has 33 provinces and each province has its own political legislature and governor. Each province is segmented into regencies and cities and subdivided further into districts and again into village groupings. Post 2001, the regencies and cities are now the main administrative units that are responsible for providing most of government services while the village level administration handles civil issues pertaining to a village or a neighbourhood.
The Economy
Indonesia has the largest economy in South-East Asia and is a member of the G-20 major economies. It is of a mixed economy where both the private sector and government play substantial roles. Indonesia’s industry sector boasts the largest growth in the economy with 46.6% of GDP in 2010. It is followed by services at 37.1% and agriculture at 16.5%. The service sector accounts for 48.9% of the total labour force while agriculture follows with 38.3%.
With extensive natural resources such as crude oil, natural gas, tin, copper and gold, Indonesia exports and imports actively to several countries. Its main export markets since 2009 are Japan, Singapore, the United States and China. Its major imports are machinery, chemicals, fuels and foodstuffs and its largest suppliers of imports are Singapore, China and Japan.
©Rumah247.com Agustus 2011
