Interesting Facts About Indonesia

Public Holidays

Date 2005
 Occasion
 
January 1 New Year's Day  
January 9 - 11 Chinese New Year#
January 21 Eid Al Adha*
February 10 Islamic New Year*
March 25 Good Friday
April 21 Prophet's Birthday*
May 5 Ascension
August 17 Indonesian Independence Day
September 1 Ascension of Mohammed 
November 3 - 5 Eid Al Fitr*
December 25 Christmas Day  

*Muslim
**Hindu and Buddhist
# Chinese New Year is not a bank holiday. Chinese community shops close on this date for 1 or 2 days.
Holidays occuring on a weekend are not moved.
Weekend - Saturday, Sunday

Electricity

Indonesia has, ever since its independence in 1949, set up diplomatic links with a large number of countries, most of who have their embassies or diplomatic missions in Jakarta. The telephone numbers and addresses of most of these can be found in the telephone directory, or through telephone enquiry.

Post & Communications

Indonesia’s Directorate of Tourism also controls the posts and telecommunications department, and you won’t find post offices only in the very remote areas. There are more than 4000 post offices across the country, and nearly any place that can be termed `civilised’ has one. The GPO in Jakarta is, of course, the hub of all postal activities, and you can go here not just for postal services, but also for telephone calls.

For communication facilities like telephones, faxes and telexes, you can go to the `telecommunication centres’ (which are present in most cities); all large hotels- and most mid-range ones too- have these services as well. Cybercafes offer I-nternet and e-mail facilities; you can surf while you eat/drink.

Tipping

Tipping was originally not a common practice in Indonesia, but with the increasing tourist traffic to the country, it’s fast catching on. Many establishments, such as hotels and restaurants, levy a service charge of 10%, in which case you don’t need to leave a tip. If this isn’t added to your bill, a tip of between 5 and 10% of the bill would be considered appropriate, if the service has been satisfactory.