Telephone system:
international: submarine cables from India to UAE and Malaysia and
from Sri Lanka to Djibouti and Indonesia
Transportation
Ports and harbors: Calcutta (India), Chennai (Madras; India),
Colombo (Sri Lanka), Durban (South Africa), Jakarta (Indonesia),
Melbourne (Australia), Mumbai (Bombay; India), Richards Bay (South
Africa)
Transnational Issues
Disputes—international: some maritime disputes (see littoral states)
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@Indonesia ————-
Introduction
Background: Indonesia declared its independence in 1945 from the Netherlands, a claim disputed, then recognized by the Dutch in 1949. In 1975 Indonesian troops occupied Portuguese East Timor. Current issues include implementing IMF-mandated reforms (particularly restructuring and recapitalizing the insolvent banking sector), effecting a transition to a popularly elected government, addressing longstanding grievances over the role of the ethnic Chinese business class and charges of cronyism and corruption, alleged human rights violations by the military, the role of the military and religion in politics, and growing pressures for some form of independence or autonomy by Aceh, Irian Jaya, and East Timor.
Geography