This paper will compare the world views of the people in old and current Indonesia. Since the 1940's, the government of Indonesia has been trying to change the basic world views of the people. The current government leaders believe that adopting Westernized attitudes would modernize the nation as a whole. As a result, it is believed that the future development of the nation is dependent upon the Indonesian people dropping their traditional values. The government has been frustrated by the fact that it has been unable to change world views in this way. At this time, traditional beliefs and behaviors still exist among the majority of the people in Indonesia. However, this does not mean that the government's efforts to modernize the nation have failed. In fact, the best opportunities for future development in Indonesia can be found in the merging of traditional values with modern technologies. The nation of Indonesia must modernize, but it must not do so at the sake of the cultural pride of its citizens.
The nation of Indonesia is actually made up of a number of different cultural groups. The nation consists of approximately 13,000 islands and 300 ethnic groups (Kaplan, 1983, p. 65). The contrasting values of these different groups has led to a number of cultural clashes in the past. There have also been clashes between the different religious groups of the nation. At the same time, however, there are certain bonds to be found throughout Indonesian society as well. For example, despite the wide variety of ethnic groups, Indonesians are united by a national language known as Bahasa Indonesia. The majority of the people are familiar with this language in addition to their own native languages. Furthermore, despite the religious clashes which have occurred, the nation of Indonesia is strongly unified by common religious beliefs. In this regard, "nearly 90 per cent of Indonesians follow Islam" ("A Republic of Islands," ...