Why do we hear so little about Indonesia?
It is the world’s fourth most populous nation, the world’s most populous Moslem nation and, according to a Wikipeida article, the largest economy in Southeast Asia. The article says that about 12% of the nation is below the poverty line, which is better than a lot of other developing nations. It has a large number of unique plant and animal species, including orangutans and the Komodo dragon.
I have never met anyone from Indonesia and don’t know of any Indonesian restaurants or seen anything about Indonesian cuisine or any other aspect of Indonesian culture. I don’t know anyone who has visited Indonesia. The country rarely gets mentioned in the news. I know there is some anti-American sentiment in Indonesia due to past history, but I don’t know how extensive it is.
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Because we only hear about countries that are involved with the US. So much is going on in the world that we don’t hear about. But as soon as USA has some kind of significant role, bam, we hear about it.
I saw a documentary about Chechnya right after if was discovered that the bombings in Boston where caused by someone from Chechnya. The Boston bombings were of course sad, but not many people died compared to other parts of the world. But we don’t hear about those parts if they are not in some way connected to the US.
You won’t normally hear about places on the television news unless a bomb blows up or a disaster or mass killing occurs. You can learn about Indonesia all you’d like to on the Web or by paying a visit. They’re friendly folks, you know.
Really, how much did you know about Newtown, CT, before last December? That’s a nice place, too.
Everything I know about Indonesia (which is, admittedly, very little), I learned in this book, which offers some of the funniest stories I’ve ever read.
I agree with @CWOTUS. They’re doing fine, so there’s not much worry about them. Those people only know of the countries that the media inform them of.
Because the US hasn’t gone to war with them yet. ”“God created war so that Americans would learn geography.” -Mark Twain
We do hear about Indonesia where I live. They are one of our major trading partners (12th largest). We provide a lot of aid to Indonesia. Indonesia is the jump off point for many asylum seekers who travel here by boat. Both countries are members of the same international orgasations and we are treaty partners. Indonesia is Australia’s second favourite tourism location.
Thanks for that. It did not occur to me to consider the perspective from Australia.
I hear about Indonesia here (Canada). We hear about all kinds of countries here. Granted, the country most talked about is the USA (out of foreign countries). The UK would come in second. Pretty much every news segment has at least one story on something from a country other than Canada, USA or UK though.
We hear about Indonesia here in Germany from time to time. I once had an Indonesian co-worker. Our neighbors had an exchange student from Indonesia and she lived with them for one year.
I’m sure that the citizens of Azerbaijan and Brunei Darussalam at times wonder why they’re left out in the cold also…
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