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12. INDONESIA: ITS LANGUAGES, PEOPLE, AND RELIGIONS Indonesia is an archipelago. Its official motto is Bhinneka Tunggal Ika in Old Javanese "Unity in Diversity.” It is written on the scroll gripped by the Garuda's claws, a mythical bird and the mount of Lord Vishnu. As an archipelago it was said in 1972 that the number of islands in Indonesia was 6.127, but in 1987 the number increased to 17.508, but only 5.707 had names. In 1992, the number of islands having names increased to 6.489. In 2002, the number of islands increased to 18.306. In 2004 the Department of Interior recorded that there were 7.870 islands with names, and 9.634 without names. (The total: 17.504 islands). Only about 6.000 islands are inhabited, and the remaining over eleven-thousand islands are uninhabited. In 2010 it was estimated that the number of tribes in Indonesia was 1.340. In Papua (formerly called “Irian Jaya”) there are 466 tribes. The biggest tribe is the Javanese living in Central and Eastern Java. It consists of about 41% of the total of population. No wonder that most of its presidents were Javanese: Out of seven presidents until now, only B.J. Habibie was from outside Java. The next big tribe is Sundanese, consisting of 15.4 % of the total population living in West Java. Chinese Indonesians are 3.7%, Malays are 3.4%, Madurese 3.3 % and Arab Indonesians, 2.4%. In fifteen years of research it was found that there are more than 746 tribal languages in these 17.508 islands of Indonesia. Its 240 million people belong to almost 500 ethnic groups with their own cultural traditions, languages and dialects. Since their independence in 1945, the Malay language has been adopted as the official language of Indonesia, called “Bahasa Indonesia” (Indonesian language). It is always taught alongside the native language in all schools. However, long before this, in 1928 the Indonesian Jong Islamieten Bond (Islamic Youth Association) delegates in Youth Pledge in Batavia (now Jakarta) had made their pledge unanimously that