Salam Dari Nusantara - Greetings from Nusantara (Part 2)

A Green Paradise

In short, this region possesses some of the world's amazing natural wonders. I ain't gonna talk more, but here's a short list of the natural heavens of Nusantara;

1. The world's oldest rainforest, way older than the Amazon in South America.

The green rainforest (pacificislandadventures.com)

2. Where the world's best tropical islands are located, i.e. Bali, Langkawi, Phuket, Lombok, to name a few

The Nusantara tropical islands (blogspot.com)

3. Unique fauna and flora species, i.e. Orang utans, Rafflesia flowers, pygmy elephants, Komodo lizards and etc.

The Orang Utan (ecoteerresponsibletravel.com)

4. Great sunny weather throughout the year, with a little bit monsoon, rainy and dry seasons.
5. The region is also the world's biggest oxygen producer, with tens of thousand plant species covering the land.

The Downfalls

This region is naturally a green paradise, right from the sea to the land. But there is a downfall to this gift. Sadly, in the name of development, it has been disappearing for the last couple of years. It may doesn't seem serious, but the recent calamities proved it all.

The haze has shrouded most areas of Peninsular Malaysia, Singapore and Sumatera of Indonesia for several times this year. It was due to unhealthy slash and open burning practice that was done in some plantation areas across the region. Yes, many forests have been cleared up for the opening of palm oil plantation in Indonesia and Malaysia.

The haze in Kuala Lumpur (malaysiatravelnews.com)

This is another 'attractive' view when cruise across the major highways and roads in Malaysia. As soon as you arrived at KLIA, along the way to KL, you will be seeing a lot of palm oil trees 'welcomes' you by filling in the landscape.

Palm oil plantation along the roads (www.aberkeleydaily.com)

Perhaps, this is a common scene in most developing countries. As the country is progressing, many resources may have taken up to cope with the fast pace development. It would not be able to stop for now, but it needs a different and sustainable approach to deal with environment. I'll just leave it here for your food of thoughts...

So for now, let's gear up to unveil the enchanted and amazing discoveries of Nusantara. I shall begin with the most fascinating country that I have been so far, as well as very dear to me, the Republic of Indonesia...

Till then, welcome to Nusantara, the land of the Malay World.

Nusantara - Indonesia, Brunei, Malaysia, Singapore (keepcalm-o-matic.co.uk)

Quick Facts:

Malay and Indonesia Languages belonged to the Malayo-Polynesian branch under Austronesian Group. It is placed under the same branch with Filipino Languages (Tagalog) and Bornean Languages (Malagasy).

Malay as an ethnic has a distinct approach and definition from Malay as a race. The differences are evident between the Malays in Malaysia/ Singapore and Indonesia. In Indonesia, Malay is another one of hundreds existing ethnics. Whilst in Malaysia, the Malay encompasses those who are the indigenous Malays (Kedah, Kelantan, Pahang) and immigrant Malays (Javanese, Bugis, Banjar, Mandailing, Aceh, Minang). 

The Malay race concept had been discussed and proposed by a number of scholars since the 19th century. The concept advocated Malay as a single group of ethnic for the local inhabitants of South East Asia maritime. In another term, the Malay World or Nusantara in Malay/Indonesian had been used to refer to this region. 

Across the media and studies done, the Malay World does apply to the region of South East Asia maritime, stretching from Sumatera, Peninsular Malaysia, southern Thailand, Singapore, Southern Philippines, Borneo to the Indonesian Papua. These regions are where the predominantly Muslims live. Contrary to the less popular view, the Malay World does include the whole Philippines islands, where Christianity is the dominant faith. In brief, the Malay world is generally viewed as the homogenous Malay Muslims region.

The modern countries of South East Asia maritime were created by the former colonial powers, namely the British, Dutch, Portuguese and Spanish. Malaysia consists of the former Straits Settlements (Malacca, Penang and Singapore-left the federation later to form a republic), Federated Malay States, Non Federated Malay States, British North Borneo Company of Sabah and Brooke Dynasties in Sarawak. Indonesia was made of the Dutch East Indies, while Philippines of the Spanish East Indies and Timor Leste of the Portuguese Timor. Brunei remained the same Brunei Sultanate existed since the 15th century.