>>28749393Indo here. Indonesia has been close to Japan doesn't have anything to do with colonialism heritage or religion.
Back in late 1960s Indonesia was so fucked up with 1000% inflation and just committed a communist genocide, Indonesia tried to ask everyone to invest but no one came except Japan. It snowballed into a significant relationship with Japan being one of the reason of Indonesian industrialization and beyond. Indonesia has been the biggest total recipient of Japanese investments and aids in SEA since the 1970s. Don't know what are the reasons, ask them. It would make sense for them to get closer to Thailand, while they're indeed close, the ties between Indo and Japan are even closer.
>>28756014Being Javanese is not nice, don't believe any of that western narrative. While the politics is dominated by the Javanese, the Javanese heartland never got any significant improvement until recently. You have to know that until early 2000s there are some places in Java that haven't been electrified yet. The Indonesian government has always been Jakarta-centric, not Java-centric, until the last 10 years.
It's true that 20 years ago people of Miangas prefers to fly the Philippines flag instead of Indonesia, but I bet right now none of them are willing to do that again.
