* Indonesia is a secular country in the sense that its political policies are not necessarily derived from religious teachings and that it does not have a single state religion.

* Religion: play a very important role in Indonesian society. Indonesian nationals are obliged to adhere to one of the religions that have been selected by the government (Islam, Christianity, Catholicism, Hinduism, Buddhism and Confucianism), while atheism is not an option.

Political decentralization: Brought more power to the regional governments and this development implied that regional decision-making has been more affected by the regional religious context.

Muslim areas: implemented policies like regional banning of pork business or the obligation for women to ware the headscarf.

President: Non-Muslim and also on 2001 Megawati Soekarnoputri became the first female Indonesian president in 2001, only a small minority rejected her based on certain Islamic doctrine that women cannot take leading positions.

The Indonesian political system consists of three branches:

• Executive branch: consists of the president, the vice president and the cabinet. ( Public vote elections)
• Legislative branch: is the People’s Consultative Assembly. It has the power to set or change the Constitution and appoints (or impeaches) the president.
• Judicial branch: Indonesia's judiciary system is the independent Supreme Court. It is the final court of appeal and also deals with disputes between lower courts. A new court, established in 2003, is the Constitutional Court, which monitors whether decisions made by the cabinet and parliament are in line with the Indonesian Constitution.

* Self- identity of the Indonesian people is more complex due to the very large number of ethnic groups that inhabit the archipelago of 6.000 islands (some 12.000 islands remain inhabited). * Indonesia is the largest archipelagic state where the world’s largest Muslim population resides. * The presence of the multi-ethnic, multi-languages, multi-religion communities among its population of 235 million makes studies of Indonesian culture an enormous task. * Values that are more common in Indonesia by sub-cultures: 1. Javanese and Sudanese (make up more that 50% of the total population), embraces the culture of Rukun, which is the idea of harmony as a result of active orientation toward mutual respect and adjustment to each other’s. 2. Balinese: value harmony and fitting-in as an overarching norm. 3. Indonesian Chinese: values such as propriety, conformity to social harmony.

Rukun is significantly influenced by Indonesia´s collective cultural orientation, which also leads to interdependent self-concept that many Indonesians have, for example, the Javanese children are taught to maintain harmonious social relationships, screen extreme emotions from others and to display obedience and sharing.

Indonesian identity as being: 1. Sociable. (Individuals are expected to conform to the wishes of the group) 2. Maintaining a steady state life style (smooth, graceful and restrained behavior). 3. Javanese and Sundanese (50%) culture emphasize on: Interpersonal harmony, maintenance of social hierarches, politeness and group conformity.

Indonesian Leaders:
Indonesians Leaders, in general, would behave in a sociable manner, maintaining friendly relationships with everyone, emphasizing the community rather than the individual, to the extent that one conforms to the wishes of the group as expressed by the group leader.