(no subject)
Your name: Kim
Your journal: zombiebat
Contact: aim: nom nom brains & plurk: zombified
Other characters played at Passing: billy kaplan
Character name: Indonesia (OC)
Character fandom: Hetalia
Version: VI
Canon point: present day
Importing development from old game? n/a
Background:
Important Links:
• Wiki of Indonesia's history
• Wiki time line
• Another nice history page
I'm mostly going to stay away from most historical events and focus on what Indonesia would be presented like in Hetalia to save everyone's sanity. The links above provide a really good base about Indonesian history, and I'll be using my own familial background and actual history to play him.
Indonesia wasn't always representative of the whole chain of archipelago when he was small. In fact, he had a good number of parental/guardian like figures. They consisted of the Java, Sumatra, Kalimantan, Sulawesi, Sunda, and Maluku. While he wasn't the closest to everyone, he absorbed a lot of the cultures of these 'parental' islands. He was particularly close to Java, Sumatra, Sulawsi, and Sunda. They taught him about the ancient kingdoms and the rich culture that were scattered all over the thousands of islands. The most powerful of these islands was Java, and Indonesia, then Nusantara, looked up to him a great deal. Nusantara (Indonesia) was a very small, innocent embodiment of what would eventually become the Dutch East Indies and eventually Indonesia. There were a few other 'baby' nations he considered siblings. Malaya (present day Malaysia) and Temasek (present day Singapore). While they had a lot in common in the beginning, future events would cause a big divide in their relationships and only until the mid 20th century would they come together once again.
Things began changing when foreigners, at first Arabian, Indian, and Chinese traders, came to his home. They were welcomed, spreading their culture to integrate in the local cultures. While things seemed to be going well, and Nusantara seemed happy, he was too young at the time to realize things were not all well. Then the European nations arrived, mostly Portugal at the beginning. Nusantara was still too young to understand what was going on, but he started to see the impact the foreigners were having on everyone he knew. He still didn't reject the nations who wanted to trade, though. He started coming out of his own shell more, showing a good deal of hospitality towards the Portuguese and the British. Then one day he met the Dutch traders, and a lot of things began to change.
Nusantara was very open and curious about the Netherlands at first. He'd only heard things from Portugal, but something was just so interesting about the Netherlands to him. His curiosity was met with positive things, but in the end a lot of hardship. The Netherlands sought to monopolize what was dubbed as the 'East Indies', and that meant removing Portugal and the British Empire. As this was going on, a lot of the islands Nusantara grew up with were beginning to weaken greatly and even pass away. With their 'deaths', they bequeathed their legacy and duties to him.
By the time the VOC bankrupted, Nusantara was more isolated than he was ever before. Once Java fell, he realized the only nation he really knew well was the nation who probably caused the most damage. A lot of the naivete Nusantara had went away and he had to grow up. The Netherlands instructed him to become the Dutch East Indies and uphold the culture of the islands that had raised him. While that sounded nice, Indies (formerly Nusantara) was quickly colonized and became the property of the Netherlands. He really didn't know what else to do, so he accepted the title of the Dutch East Indies.
He wasn't happy about the new relationship between him and the Netherlands to say the least. There were a lot of fights, but at the same time they knew they needed something from each other; he learned a lot of things the Netherlands, and he grew up under him. Indies really matured by the mid 19th and early 20th century, and his the relationship began to change around this time. After hundred of years of the two cultures integrating with each other, the Netherlands attitude and treatment began to change more of a familial responsibility from the previous mercantilism-centric approach. He started to learn about more about the outside world and how to do things as a nation, and he was getting a lot bigger and powerful. Europe was weakened by the effects of World War I, and that included the Netherlands. Indies started to call himself Indonesia, which was open defiance to the Netherlands due to the implication the name Indonesia meant -- that it would once be a sovereign nation.
Before World War II, Indonesia gained allies in secrecy, one being Japan. Indonesia admired the power Japan had gained so quickly, and being neighbors, Indonesia thought it would be a good idea to befriend Japan. Indonesia believed with the guidance and friendship of Japan, he would earn his own independence and become a powerful nation. Japan's friendship was very much like a double edged sword, but Indonesia firmly believed things would work out in the end. World War II broke out, and at first Indonesia believed things were going well. He grew closer to Japan, even thinking him of a big brother who had saved him from the possessive papa who grounded him too much. Indonesia grew a lot bigger initially, and he was allowed to rename his cities and learn about his past more. Japan had some strict rules, but he let Indonesia have freedoms he wasn't used to. One rule was not reminding himself of the Netherlands. This lead to not speaking Dutch and not being able to see him, which seemed TOTALLY awesome at first. The Axis Powers began losing greatly, and with this, Japan's relationship with Indonesia deteriorated quickly. Things got so bad Indonesia thought he was going to fade away, die as a nation before he really even got the chance at becoming independent. Luckily America stepped in, but WWII had done its damage.
Indonesia was a lot more jaded after WWII, and it didn't take long for Indonesia to declare independence from the Netherlands once the Japan had retreated. Let's just say it didn't go over well, and Indonesia never got the memo that declaring over the telephone is never a good idea (really, this happened). Of course the Netherlands wouldn't let things go like that. Sadly, the Netherlands was severely weakened by WWII, and Indonesia had won the battle for his independence. It'd take a good couple of years for the Netherlands to accept Indonesia's independence, but with many nations basically going "LET IT GO, BRO..." the Netherlands was forced to give into pressure. Indonesia didn't make it easy, taking along with it Dutch New Guinea (West Papua) and Dutch Timor (West Timor) under his control. To put that in simple terms, Indonesia took the kids and gave no fucks.
After independence, Indonesia started to rebuild itself, and soon it was emerging as one of the power houses of south east asia. A lot of his neighbors were also gaining independence. You would think he would be happy about that, but his ties between Malaya, now Malaysia, were nothing but constant bickering and little fights. It seemed Indonesia was picking fights with everyone, mostly verbal ones, but let's just say he wasn't using his independence wisely. Indonesia was such a big nations with such diversity, it seemed almost impossible to balance the needs of all his people. He took over colonies and land that clearly weren't his (e.g. East Timor), ignoring the UN and former friends/allies. Indonesia was growing up and lashing out, basically.
To recover from that, he started a group, ASEAN, with Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, and Thailand. ASEAN helped Indonesia stabilize, and he became the self declared leader of south east asia. This was actually a good thing, as he started becoming more responsible and more focused. Eventually other ASEAN members would join, and Indonesia became a great mediator and friends with most ASEAN members. Hey, it even helped his relationship with Malaysia, and that's something. Things were going very well, but near the 21st century, a financial crisis hits all of Asia and South East Asia the hardest. Around this time, East Timor seceded from Indonesia, too, and things just sucked. Once again Indonesia was once again in a sort of identity crisis, but he pulled through and became stronger. Present day, Indonesia looks forward to the future and becoming a better nation.
Changes from canon, if AU: n/a
Personality: Modern day Indonesia's personality has been allowed to blossom once his independence was gained from the Netherlands. He has given himself the position of leader, not having inhibitions about promoting his ideas, ideals, and his desires to neighboring nations. Outwardly to most nations he is friendly, confident, and intelligent. He can be a charmer and can mislead others for his own gain. While he doesn't intend to be malicious, he can easily be underhanded (sometimes these deals end up backfiring on him). While saying he has certain moral and financial standards, they easily can be bent for bribes. He takes life as it comes most of the time, enjoying free time and not being as productive as he should be. His ego isn't exactly the size it should be, as it's easy to say it's inflated. He feels he is the big brother type, but he isn't exactly a good brother. Those closest to him usually have to deal with his bad behavior of land grabbing, territory disputing, and treating some of his smaller nations less than kindly; it's easy to say he's a jerk to his family and those closest to him, but he's a pretty decent friend. He's mostly all bark and no bite, but if provoked enough, he will follow through with his words (and his bite can be pretty fierce).
He does have a lot of good qualities, though, really! He's usually a good mediator between ASEAN countries. A smooth talker, and a good nation to trade with. He's open to most business ideas and promoting South East Asia's commerce and prosperity. How he treats a person or a nation depends on what he thinks of them or what he thinks they have to offer, sadly. He usually does have a bias for nations who are very profitable or nations who have similar ideals to him. While being friendly, he doesn't let many get close to him emotionally. He does like making friends and spending time with friends, though. He's a very good host and treats his guests well. He's still learning how to make long lasting friends due the Netherlands keeping him isolated; maybe this is why he does try to be a brother like figure to the smaller nations and thinks of himself as the older brother of the Nusantara archipelago, Malaysia, Singapore, and Brunei.
While he acts like he's good at a lot of things, deep down he can be very insecure. Being a colony of the Netherlands for so long and feeling like a servant, there's almost of feeling of needing to compensate for that. He can be highly defensive and dismissive of those critical of him, and he doesn't like it when people take jabs at his national pride (especially neighboring countries). He does have an optimistic view of the future (too optimistic?), not the type to grumble over the past but look forward to a better future. Once you know the ways to his heart (see money), he is quick to forgive. He's picked up a lot of bad habits from the Netherlands such as smoking and trying to get others to pay for things, and sometimes he is a foil to his former colonizer. He's very into the arts, nature/animals, food, and relaxing.
Abilities: He's a nation, so essentially he's immortal unless his country disappears.
Writing sample:
Voice sample: dm post with vietnam, singapore, and papua new guinea, England, with Australia-bro , Being defensive with the Netherlands, & Malaysia (who has cooties forever)