Timor. Current
issues include implementing IMF-mandated reforms (particularly
restructuring and recapitalizing the insolvent banking sector),
effecting a transition to a popularly elected government, addressing
longstanding grievances over the role of the ethnic Chinese business
class and charges of cronyism and corruption, alleged human rights
violations by the military, the role of the military and religion in
politics, and growing pressures for some form of independence or
autonomy by Aceh, Irian Jaya, and East Timor.
Geography
Location: Southeastern Asia, archipelago between the Indian Ocean
and the Pacific Ocean
Geographic coordinates: 5 00 S, 120 00 E
Map references: Southeast Asia
Area:
total: 1,919,440 sq km
land: 1,826,440 sq km
water: 93,000 sq km
Area--comparative: slightly less than three times the size of Texas
Land boundaries:
total: 2,602 km
border countries: Malaysia 1,782 km, Papua New Guinea 820 km
Coastline: 54,716 km
Maritime claims: measured from claimed archipelagic baselines
exclusive economic zone: 200 nm
territorial sea: 12 nm
Climate: tropical; hot, humid; more moderate in highlands
Terrain: mostly coastal lowlands; larger islands have interior
mountains
Elevation extremes:
lowest point: Indian Ocean 0 m
highest point: Puncak Jaya 5,030 m
Natural resources: petroleum, tin, natural gas, nickel, timber,
bauxite, copper, fertile soils, coal, gold, silver
Land use:
arable land: 10%
permanent crops: 7%
permanent pastures: 7%
forests and woodland: 62%
other: 14% (1993 est.)
Irrigated land: 45,970 sq km (1993 est.)
Natural hazards: occasional floods, severe droughts, tsunamis,
earthquakes, volcanoes
Environment--current issues: deforestation; water pollution from
industrial wastes, sewage; air pollution in urban areas; smoke and
haze from forest fires
Environment--international agreements:
party to: Biodiversity, Climate Change, Desertication, Endangered
Species, Hazardous Wastes, Law of the Sea, Nuclear Test Ban, Ozone
Layer Protection, Ship Pollution, Tropical Timber 83, Tropical
Timber 94, Wetlands
signed, but not ratified: Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol, Marine Life
Conservation
Geography--note: archipelago of 17,000 islands (6,000 inhabited);
straddles Equator; strategic location astride or along major sea
lanes from Indian Ocean to Pacific Ocean
People
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