Original subtitles

ADAM LIAW: It's been called the Improbable Nation.

17,000 islands

stretching 5,000 kilometres across three time zones.

It's home to hundreds of ethnic groups

and many religions...

..ancient rites and rituals...

..and the world's largest Muslim population.

They're all part of one country - Indonesia.

Lying along a tectonic plate,

Indonesia's geography, like it's history, is turbulent,

constantly changing and sometimes deadly.

Part of the Pacific Ring of Fire,

the archipelago is dominated by a chain of active volcanoes

and frequently rocked by earthquakes.

There is nowhere on Earth as diverse in its human cultures...

..or as varied in its landscape and oceans.

Join us on this aerial journey across the Indonesian archipelago.

For centuries tropical spices enticed European traders

to the region they called the East Indies.

The holy trinity of pepper, cloves, and nutmeg

packed into the holds of trading fleets

powered an age of exploration.

These spices were highly-valued and much sought after.

They were the reason that the Dutch East India Company,

a powerful multinational,

came to the island of Java in the 17th century.

The company seized the port of Jayakarta

and razed it to the ground.

In its place they built the city of Batavia

which was to become the hub of a thriving colony.

It was from here that the Dutch would conquer the archipelago,

from Aceh in the west to Papua in the east.

After the Second World War, nationalists fought for independence

and threw out the Dutch to create the modern Republic of Indonesia.

Modern Jakarta celebrates that hard-won freedom

here on Medan Merdeka,

Independence Square.

It's one of the largest city squares in the world,

five times the size of Beijing's Tiananmen.

The centrepiece of Medan Merdeka is the National Monument.

It was built by Indonesia's first president Sukarno

to celebrate the revolutionary heroes

who had freed the nation from colonial rule.

Today's Jakarta is a city of hopes and dreams.

Each year tens of thousands of Indonesians come here

from the other provinces to seek their fortunes.

3.5 million people commute from the outlying areas

to the city centre,

creating some of the worst traffic jams in the world.

(CAR HORNS BLARE)

Traffic is often gridlocked during morning and evening rush hours.

Jakarta is an economic hub

and the Greater Jakarta area is home to over 30 million people,

a figure that increases by the day.

Indonesia has a population of over 260 million.

Only China, India and the United States have more people.

Indonesia also has the world's largest Muslim population.

Almost 90% of Indonesians practice Islam.

The faith travelled here with Arab traders and scholars,

who began coming to the archipelago in the eighth century.

(CALL TO PRAYER)

The Istiqlal, or Independence Mosque, is the largest in South-East Asia.

It was commissioned by President Sukarno

and took 17 years to build.

For Muslims, it is the spiritual heart of the nation.

But Indonesia is a country of many different faiths.

Over a thousand years ago

these islands were ruled by a series of Hindu kingdoms.

In the 19th century

explorers ventured deep into the jungles of Java.

They made an astonishing discovery -

an immense structure buried under layers of volcanic ash.

On the tumbled blocks of stone were tantalising fragments of carvings

that looked like Indian temple reliefs.

And in every part of the ruins

the explorers found large statues of the Buddha.

They had found the ruins

of one of the world's most impressive monuments -

Borobudur.

Over a thousand years ago

local rulers began expanding their village kingdoms.

To enhance their power,

they took on the trappings of Indian rajahs.

They adopted their culture and imitated their monuments.

One kingdom constructed this huge temple.

It's made from more than a million blocks

of grey andesite rock,

a gift from Java's volcanoes.

An army of stonecutters, labourers and sculptors toiled

in the tropical heat

to create the largest Buddhist temple in the world.

The immense temple was designed to represent Mount Meru,

the cosmic mountain of Indian mythology.

Over centuries

many of Borobudur's carvings and statues were looted and sold,

but in the 1970s

the government undertook an epic $25 million restoration.

Today Buddhist Borobudur is one of Indonesia's national icons.

Java contains many other archaeological treasures.

As Javanese kingdoms rose and fell,

their ambitious rulers competed to outdo each other.

It seems that the ninth century king of Mataram, Rakai Pikatan,

was envious of Borobudur.

He began to build a rival monument - Prambanan.

Successive kings added new temples to the complex.

The temple complex is also known as Roro Jonggrang,

after a legendary princess.

She told an unwelcome suitor that she'd marry him

if he built a thousand temples in one night.

Helped by his army of genies he would have succeeded,

but the princess told her maids to begin pounding the day's rice,

thinking it was morning, all the cocks crowed loudly

and the genies fled.

One temple remained unbuilt.

Enraged, her suitor turned the princess into stone.

These temples are dedicated not to the Buddha

but to the principal Hindu gods.

The largest temple was built to honour Shiva, Lord of Destruction.

Here, the carved reliefs tell the story of the Ramayana,

an Indian epic that was translated into Javanese in the ninth century.

Like Borobudur,

Prambanan has been a victim of Java's geological instability.

Over the centuries it has been rocked by earthquakes

and volcanic eruptions.

As the old kingdoms fell into decline,

the last Hindu rulers fled across the sea to the island of Bali.

In the 15th century, as the message of Islam swept across Java,

the last Hindu rajahs fled to the neighbouring island of Bali.

Now a major tourist destination,

the island of the gods remains a bastion of Hinduism.

There are more temples than houses in Bali

if you count domestic shrines as temples.

The Balinese called their version of Hinduism 'Agama Tirtha',

'the Religion of Holy Water'.

For them, water is both a vital ceremonial substance

and a source of prosperity.

Bali has over 200 streams and rivers.

But while water is plentiful,

a complex system and management is needed

to irrigate the rice fields.

To coordinate the sharing of water,

farmers form associations called 'subak'.

All decisions are coordinated at the water temples,

the most important of these is the Pura Ulun Danu Bratan,

built by a Balinese king four centuries ago

to honour the water goddess.

The subak system dates back to the ninth century

and brings together gods, humans and nature.

It has enabled the Balinese to become

some of Indonesia's most effective rice growers.

Wet rice farming has been practised in Bali for over a thousand years

and these contoured landscapes are the work

of many generations of farmers.

In the shadow of Mount Agung

lies the most sacred of all Balinese temples -

Pura Besakih.

The site of this grand temple complex has been revered

as a holy place for at least 2,000 years.

Known as the Mother Temple, it rises in a succession of steps

towards the summit of Mount Agung, the abode of the gods.

Once it was a burial place for Balinese royalty.

Today all Balinese, regardless of caste,

can come and worship here.

(RUMBLING)

In 1963, Mount Agung erupted, devastating the area.

Lava flows missed Pura Besakih by only a few metres,

a miracle the Balinese attribute to the holiness of the temple.

Beyond the shores of Bali,

small groups of Hindus still practise their ancient rituals.

This is the Mount Bromo volcano

in the Tengger highlands of East Java.

The volcano spews smoke, ash and sulphur gas almost continuously.

It's never quiet

and the Tenggerese people have learned to live

with its volatile moods.

The Tenggerese are among the last Hindus on Java

and every year they celebrate the Kasada festival.

Held according to the cycles of the Hindu calendar,

the festival is dedicated to the god Sang Hyang Widhi.

The ritual begins at midnight

in the temple at the foot of Mount Bromo.

Priests come from all over the highlands

to burn incense and make offerings.

But that is just the prelude to a unique and ancient ritual.

Now the Tenggerese undertake

one of the riskiest pilgrimages in the world.

The ceremony is said to be inspired

by the story of a princess and her husband

who begged Sang Hyang Widhi to bless them with children.

The God agreed but only on condition

that they threw their last born child into the crater.

Standing on the narrow rim of the volcano,

the villagers throw vegetables, chickens and goats into the crater.

But there's a surprise.

As the pilgrims make their offerings,

poorer villagers gather on the other side of the steep slope.

They're there to try and catch the sacrifices

flung into the volcano.

In this way, the offerings aren't wasted.

This Tenggerese ritual both appeases the gods and redistributes resources.

Other Indonesian islands preserve even older cultures and faiths.

In the central highlands of the spider-shaped island of Sulawesi

live the Toraja people.

The Toraja have lived in this landlocked region for many centuries.

They practise an ancient faith and culture known as 'Aluk To Dolo'.

It means 'Religion of the Ancestors'

and its most important element is a cult of the dead.

(PEOPLE CHANT)

Elaborate funeral rites lie at the heart of Torajan society.

They believe that the souls of the dead

travel to a land in the south.

To reach it, they have to be supplied with the provisions they need

for their journey.

(CHANTING CONTINUES)

This funeral for a noblewoman may last for up to seven days.

She is taken from her home to the funeral site.

According to tradition,

close relatives accompany the coffin under a scarlet cloth.

It's taken the family two years to save the money for her funeral.

During that time she was embalmed,

kept in the family home and called 'the sick one'.

Only today has she finally been declared dead.

Her body is given a position of honour

and will preside over a series of rituals and sacrifices.

Buffaloes are highly-prized in Torajan culture.

They believe that the dead travel to the land of souls

on the backs of sacrificed buffaloes.

After the sacrifices comes the funeral.

This is not a sad occasion.

For Torajans, dying just means passing to another plane of existence

and is a natural part of life.

Their destination is a huge limestone boulder near the village.

Over the centuries a honeycomb of tombs

has been carved into the rock.

The body is placed in headfirst

to speed the soul on its way to the afterlife.

The wealthiest and most prestigious people

are given the highest tombs.

This makes it tough for those carrying the deceased

but up here there's more protection from grave robbers.

There is one final step in the process.

An effigy of the deceased is made.

These figures, known as 'tau tau',

are reverentially placed in galleries carved into the limestone cliff.

The wooden statues are often carefully carved

to resemble the deceased.

Once the ceremony is over and the body has been interred,

the soul of the deceased can finally begin its journey

to the land of the dead.

Everything possible has been done

to prepare it for a comfortable eternity.

Over the centuries,

the islands of Indonesia have been shaped

by tumultuous geological upheavals,

often with tragic results.

In late August 1883,

lighthouse keepers at the southern tip of Sumatra

witnessed one of history's most destructive natural disasters -

Mount Krakatau, a volcano between Sumatra and Java, had erupted.

Four gigantic explosions were heard as far away as Perth

and hurled 45 cubic kilometres of debris into the atmosphere.

Ash fell up to thousands of kilometres away.

The eruption also generated a tsunami.

At least 36,000 people were killed.

Over a century later, on 26 December 2004,

250 kilometres off the coast of Aceh, Sumatra's northernmost province...

..30 kilometres below the Earth's crust,

a slab of rock 1,000 kilometres long shifted,

raising the ocean's floor by several metres.

The earthquake that followed was 23,000 times more powerful

than the Hiroshima bomb and destroyed towns and villages across Aceh.

But worse was to come.

The earthquake also displaced 30 cubic kilometres of water.

This created a massive tsunami which raced towards the coast of Aceh.

By the time it made landfall

the tsunami was the height of a 10-storey building.

Waves swept more than three kilometres inland,

laying waste to the narrow strip of land

between the sea and the mountains.

The 2004 earthquake and tsunami killed almost 170,000 people

in Indonesia alone.

After more than a decade of redevelopment

the landscape still bears the scars of the disaster.

But many of the survivors have regained their livelihoods.

The giant wave was devastating to local fishermen

but they've bounced back.

Houses, roads, bridges and ports have been rebuilt.

Sumatra is vital to the Indonesian economy.

It produces tin, oil, natural gas, gold...

..timber, coffee, tea and palm oil,

and accounts for over half of Indonesia's export income.

But prosperity has come at a cost.

Today Sumatra's rainforests are among the most threatened on the planet

with vast regions given over to the cultivation of oil palms.

The island has lost half its rainforest in the last 30 years.

Sumatra's forests are among the most biologically diverse on Earth.

They're home to a huge variety of fauna and flora,

including many species found nowhere else on Earth.

(BIRDS CAW)

Here at the southern tip of the island

is some of Sumatra's last lowland forest.

Tambling Wildlife Nature Conservation is a privately managed oasis

where an army of rangers is employed to combat poachers.

Some wildlife is coming back.

Today Tambling has the highest density of tigers in South-East Asia.

But the threat of extinction remains.

More than 150 years ago

an English naturalist made an epic journey

across the region he called the Malay Archipelago.

His name was Alfred Russel Wallace.

Wallace spent eight years here,

collecting an astonishing diversity of animals,

from insects to birds to orangutans,

all in the name of science.

Today, along with Charles Darwin,

he's celebrated as the co-discoverer of the theory of evolution.

Wallace is best known as the man who identified

a distinctive feature of the archipelago.

The flora and fauna in Sumatra and Java are similar

to those in mainland Asia

but very different to those in the eastern islands

which are home to kangaroos.

Scientists now know that a deep ocean trench

between the islands of Bali and Lombok has helped create

these two different eco zones.

This boundary is known as the Wallace Line.

There has been some debate as to where exactly to draw this line.

But the Nusa Tenggara archipelago clearly demonstrates

the dramatic difference between the two regions.

The islands of Komodo National Park are part of the Nusa Tenggara group

and were created by the movement of tectonic plates 50 million years ago.

The islands are a mysterious world of natural one-offs,

including the world's largest lizard.

These komodo dragons,

three metre monsters with a savage bite and poisonous saliva,

exist nowhere else on the planet.

Attacks on humans are rare but Komodo dragons can be deadly.

Currents from the Savu Sea flow between these islands,

bearing with them the nutrients

that sustain a spectacular marine community.

These manta rays are considered an endangered species

but here they thrive.

Giant wings propel them serenely through their crystal world.

Small mouth fins scoop up the plankton they feed on.

Further east, scientists have made a fascinating discovery

that takes us deeper into the story of human evolution.

The island of Flores is a mountainous Eden

and another refuge of cultural diversity.

Here the Manggarai people have created

remarkable spider web rice paddies.

At the centre of each web is a sacred space known as a 'lodok'.

During planting and harvesting, farmers hold ceremonies here

to celebrate the union of male and female,

and Heaven and Earth.

(RHYTHMIC DRUMMING)

At the end of the rice harvest,

the Manggarai hold an important festival.

The highlight is the ritual 'caci' or 'whip fight'.

Adversaries from rival villages dual for many hours

dressed in symbolic costumes.

(WHIP WHOOSHES AND CRACKS)

Being hit on the back is said to increase the chance

of a good harvest.

(WHIP WHOOSHES AND CRACKS)

The roots of these customs lie deep in the past.

But Flores has yielded human relics that are even older.

Local legends tell of tiny humanoid creatures

with voracious appetites who kidnapped children.

They were called Ebu Gogo,

'the grandmother who eats everything'.

But were the Ebu Gogo just a myth?

In 2003, deep inside this cave known as Liang Bua,

Indonesian and Australian archaeologists made a find

that shattered conventional ideas about human evolution.

The archaeologists unearthed the fossilised remains

of a human species unknown to science.

They lived 50,000 years ago and were only a metre tall.

They made simple stone tools and had tiny brains,

just one third the size of ours.

Science labelled them Homo floresiensis

but the world knows them as hobbits.

When Homo sapiens arrived on the island,

groups of Homo floresiensis may still have been living there.

If the two species lived alongside each other

competing for resources,

the hobbits could have been pushed deep into the island's interior

and then vanished into legend.

Perhaps the local folk tales are evidence

of this period of coexistence.

Beyond Flores, we travel even further into our evolutionary past.

On the far eastern edge of Indonesia is Raja Ampat,

over 1,500 islands off the western tip of Papua.

Over millions of years the elements have sculpted limestone outcrops

into a myriad of shapes.

There's even a touch of romance.

This rocky outcrop is known as Wedding Cake Rock.

A spectacular array of corals flourish in this labyrinth.

75% of the world's coral species are found here.

The environment is pristine for now.

In this maze of islands, boats are the only way to get around.

At the foot of this limestone cliff are caves and overhangs.

Here you can find rock art that's thousands of years old.

There are hundreds of ochre paintings of dolphins, turtles and bats.

These outlines of human hands are reminiscent of Australian rock art.

Another feature of Raja Ampat is the saltwater lakes

which are fed by fissures in the limestone.

This lake is home to thousands of large stingless jellyfish.

These beautiful creatures offer us a glimpse

into origins of life on Earth.

The ancestors of the jellyfish in these saltwater lakes

first appeared on Earth 500 million years ago.

Indonesia, a nation of 17,000 islands...

..a land of menacing volcanoes...

..impenetrable jungle and fertile valleys...

..home to hundreds of ethnic groups with unique cultures,

customs and traditions.

(WHIP WHOOSHES AND CRACKS)

It's given rise to mighty civilisations and monuments.

Indonesia's landscapes have been shaped

by unpredictable and violent natural forces

as well as by human activity.

As Indonesia faces the future,

it needs to protect the cultural and natural diversity

of the most remarkable archipelago on the planet.

Captions by Red Bee Media (c) SBS Australia 2019