Provinces of Indonesia

Indonesia is a conglomeration of over 13,000 islands with various regions and provinces. The country is basically a collection of the islands which fall sunder different provinces.

Provinces in Indonesia are considered to be the highest order of local government sub-national entity. Each of the provinces in Indonesia has their own local government called as Pemerintah Daerah Provinsi which is headed by a governor.

The governor is regarded as the legislative body, Dewan Perwakilan Rakyat Daerah meaning "Regional People's Representatives Assembly of the province. The legislative body and the governor are all elected democratically with an interval of 5 years.

The present day Indonesia is divided into 33 provinces out which seven were structured in 2000. the last of the provinces created in Indonesia was West Sulawesi in September 2004. Out of the 33 provinces 4 of them have special status as the Special Capital Region. These provinces are Nanggroe Aceh Darussalam, Yogyakarta Special Region, Papua, and Jakarta.

The province of West Irian Jaya has recently undergone a name change to West Papua; though the change is still awaiting the Government’s approval and the Presidential directives. Further the provinces are sub-divided into regencies (kabupaten) and cities (kota).

The Nanggroe Aceh Darussalam which was formerly known as Aceh Special Region possesses greater status according to the MoU of 2005. the province enjoys the power of having its own Islamic law though only for Muslim citizens, a different flag along with local songs and political parties. In other words the province enjoys the status of a independent province being a part of Indonesia.

In the Yogyakarta Special Region the governor is not elected rather the Sultan himself serves the purpose by default. The sultan of Yogyakarta has ruled the province for centuries. The newly formed region of Papua too enjoys extended role of the government with its own national flag and the song of the province.

The Jakarta Special Capital Region is the capital of the country and is home to all the important national government bodies. The area of Jakarta is proposed to be extended to part of neighboring provinces.

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