Time in Indonesia

The Republic of Indonesia, a country located in Southeast Asia, comprise many islands, prompting the government to recognise three time zones. The Western Indonesia Time (Waktu Indonesia Barat, WIB) is seven hours ahead (UTC+07:00) of the Coordinated Universal Time (UTC), used in the islands of Sumatra, Java, and the western half of Kalimantan. The Central Indonesia Time (Waktu Indonesia Tengah, WITA) is eight hours ahead (UTC+08:00), used in the eastern half of Kalimantan, as well as all of Bali, the Lesser Sunda Islands, and Sulawesi. The Eastern Indonesia Time (Waktu Indonesia Timur, WIT) is nine hours ahead (UTC+09:00), used in the Maluku Islands and Western New Guinea.

Time in Indonesia
see caption
Map of time zones of Indonesia
Western Indonesia Time UTC offsetUTC+07:00
Central Indonesia Time UTC offsetUTC+08:00
Eastern Indonesia Time UTC offsetUTC+09:00
Adopted1 January 1988
Time notation24-hour clock
tz databaseAsia/Jakarta · Asia/Pontianak · Asia/Makassar · Asia/Jayapura

In 1908 during the Dutch East Indies colonial era, only Java and the Madura Island were initially given time until 1932, when the government utilised UTC+06:30 up to +09:30. In between those changes in 1918, Central Java (UTC+07:20, now defunct) was the basis for time in select locations: for instance, Padang was 7 minutes behind Central Java. The Japanese occupation of the Indies prompted the simplification of time in Indonesia to just UTC+09:00, also known as the Japan Standard Time. The Dutch reoccupied the country following its 1945 independence with UTC+06:00 up to +09:00 established, but it was reverted to the 1932 system after they recognised Indonesia's sovereignty. The current time zone division is a 1988 revision of a 1964 division, with Bali, West Kalimantan, and Central Kalimantan changing sides. Without any significant season changes, the daylight saving time system is not observed anywhere in Indonesia, as is other Southeast Asian countries.

Current usage

Indonesia is divided into three time zones:

Time zone nameOriginal nameUTC
offset		WIB
offset		Provinces covered
Western Indonesia TimeWaktu Indonesia BaratUTC+07:00WIB+/-0hAceh, Bengkulu, Jambi, Lampung, North Sumatra, Riau, South Sumatra, West Sumatra, Riau Islands, Bangka Belitung Islands, Banten, Jakarta, West Java, Central Java, Special Region of Yogyakarta, East Java, West Kalimantan, and Central Kalimantan
Central Indonesia TimeWaktu Indonesia TengahUTC+08:00WIB+1hSouth Kalimantan, East Kalimantan, North Kalimantan, North Sulawesi, Gorontalo Central Sulawesi, West Sulawesi, South Sulawesi, Southeast Sulawesi, Bali, West Nusa Tenggara, and East Nusa Tenggara
Eastern Indonesia TimeWaktu Indonesia TimurUTC+09:00WIB+2hMaluku, North Maluku, Central Papua, Highland Papua, South Papua, Southwest Papua, West Papua and Papua

These time zones have existed in their present form since 1 January 1988.[1]

The history of time divisions

Early timekeeping

The first regulation of time was implemented in 1908 at the request of the Staatsspoorwegen Dutch railway company in Java during the time of the Dutch East Indies. The time in Central Java was set at 12 minutes later than the capital, Batavia, which used GMT +7 hours. This regulation, which came into effect on 1 May 1908, applied only to Java and Madura. Time in the rest of the archipelago remained unregulated.[2][3]

Ten years later, on 22 February 1918, time in Padang, Sumatra was set at 39 minutes ahead of Central Java, while time in Palembang was set at 8 hours and 20 minutes ahead of Greenwich Mean Time. Then, on 1 January 1924, times for various locations were set as follows:[2][3]

LocationTime
Central JavaGMT +7:20
Tapanoeli ResidencyCentral Java -45 minutes
PadangCentral Java -7 minutes
Bali and LombokCentral Java +22 minutes
MakassarCentral Java +38 minutes

Standardised Time Zones

In 1932, the Dutch colonial government through a Governments Besluit dated 27 July published in Staatsblad No. 412, divided the entire colony into six time zones separated by 30 minutes as follows:

time zonein DutchUTC
offset		locations
Northern Sumatra TimeNord-Sumatra tijdUTC+06:30Aceh, Padang, and Medan.
Southern Sumatra TimeZuid-Sumatra tijdUTC+07:00Bengkulu, Palembang, and Lampung.
Java TimeJava tijdUTC+07:30Java, Bali, Madura and Kalimantan.
Celebes TimeCelebes tijdUTC+08:00Sulawesi and Lesser Sunda Islands.
Moluccan TimeMolukken tijdUTC+08:30Ternate, Namlea, Ambon, and Banda.
New Guinea TimeNieuw-Guinea tijdUTC+09:00West Irian. Observed from1 November 1932 to 31 August 1944.[4]
Dutch New Guinea TimeNederlandse Nieuw-Guinea tijdUTC+09:30West Irian, then still named Dutch New Guinea was still controlled by the Dutch. Observed from 1 September 1944 to 31 December 1963.[5]

During the Japanese occupation of the Dutch East Indies, from 27 March 1942 to 24 September 1945, both western and central parts of Indonesia used Japan Standard Time (JST) (UTC+09:00) for the sake of the effectiveness of Japanese military operations in Indonesia.[6][3]

Timezones post-independence
The time zones in effect from 1932-1942 and 1950-1963

When the Dutch returned in 1945, they reimposed three time zones (GMT +6, +7 and +8), with a separate GMT +9 time zone for Dutch New Guinea. Following Dutch recognition of Indonesian sovereignty, a presidential regulation came into effect on 1 May 1950 once again dividing the country into six time zones separated by half an hour. Then, on 1 January 1964, another presidential decree came into effect, imposing the current system of three time zones. The final change came on 1 January 1988 when Bali was moved out of the West Indonesia time zone in to the Central Indonesia timezone, and West and Central Kalimantan were transferred from Central to West Indonesian Time.[1][2]

Proposal for a single time zone

On 12 March 2012, Coordinating Minister for the Economy Hatta Rajasa said: "According to research, with a single time zone the country could cut costs by trillions of rupiah."[7]Two months later, The Jakarta Post reported that a single time zone using UTC+08:00 may start on 28 October 2012.[8] However in August, the Jakarta Globe reported that the plan was now on hold.[9] In January 2013, a deputy minister said the idea had been abandoned after missing two target dates: 17 August (Independence day) and 28 October 2012 (Youth Pledge day).[10] Later that year, Rajasa claimed that the plan had not been abandoned, although there was no deadline for implementation.[11]

IANA time zone database

In the IANA time zone database, Indonesia is given four zones in the file zone.tab: Asia/Jakarta serving Sumatra and Java; Asia/Pontianak serving West and Central Kalimantan; Asia/Makassar serving East Kalimantan, South Kalimantan, the Lesser Sunda Islands, and Sulawesi; and Asia/Jayapura serving the Maluku Islands, Papua, and West Papua. The first two zones use WIB, while the third and last use WITA and WIT, respectively.[12]

See also

Notes
  1. BAPPENAS 1987, p. 2.
  2. Hendaru Tri Hanggoro 2021.
  3. vivi.co.id 2023.
  4. tiamanddate.com nd.
  5. "Time Zone in Jayapura, Papua, Indonesia". timeanddate.com. Retrieved 9 April 2016.
  6. Post et al. 2023, pp. 50, 614.
  7. Jakarta Post 2012a.
  8. Jakarta Post 2012b.
  9. Tito Summa Siahaan 2012.
  10. Iwan Kurniawan & Raden Jihad Akbar 2013.
  11. Okzone 2013.
  12. "Asia (2023 edition)". tz database. Internet Assigned Numbers Authority. Retrieved 11 October 2023.

References
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