Indonesian Wikipedia
[id] Indonesian-language edition of Wikipedia
The Indonesian Wikipedia (Indonesian: Wikipedia bahasa Indonesia, WBI for short) is the Indonesian-language edition of Wikipedia. It ranks 23rd in terms of depth among Wikipedias. Its first article was written on 30 May 2003, yet its main page was created six months later, on 29 November 2003.
There are 796,842 articles in the Indonesian Wikipedia. In April 2016, there were 462 editors who made at least five edits in that month.
Background
Although the Indonesian language is similar to the Malay language, the Indonesian Wikipedia remains separate from the Malay Wikipedia (initiated in October 2002) because they were started separately by two different user groups within six months of each other. In 2009, Andrew Lih wrote "Because these groups are drawn on national boundaries, merging is not likely to happen soon."
Indonesian is a normative form of the Malay language, an Austronesian (or Malayo-Polynesian) language which had been used as a lingua franca in the Indonesian archipelago for centuries, and was elevated to the status of an official language with the Indonesian Declaration of Independence in 1945, drawing inspiration from the Sumpah Pemuda (Youth Pledge) event in 1928. Although it is very similar to the official Malaysian form of the language, it does differ from the Malaysian form in some ways, with key differences in pronunciation and vocabulary, due in large part to the many Dutch words in the Indonesian vocabulary. It is spoken as a mother tongue by only about 7% of the population in Indonesia, but altogether more than 200 million people speak it. The Malay language is spoken by ethnic groups who reside in the Malay Peninsula, southern Thailand, parts of the Philippines, and Singapore.
Begin with the source’s own compact description: “Indonesian Wikipedia” is [id] Indonesian-language edition of Wikipedia. The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through Indonesian, Wikipedia and Indonesian-language, not as a finished interpretation.
Why this record matters
The phrase “[id] Indonesian-language edition of Wikipedia” supplies a clear boundary for inquiry. It also exposes the unanswered questions: who defined that boundary, when it became stable and which sources sit outside it.
The citation trail is more important than the brevity of the summary: it shows where individual claims can be examined in context. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 19, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q155214. 1 of 2 selected statements include explicit references; 1 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 2003, 2016, 2002 and 2009.
Overview language is designed for orientation and should not be treated as a substitute for the evidence cited beneath it. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Use the entry as an orientation point, then follow its citations and revision history. Names, dates and institutional relationships should be checked against the original record.
- Subject orientation
- Search vocabulary
- Locating named sources
The closest primary source, responsible institution and strongest cited specialist reference.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Indonesian Wikipedia”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Indonesian Wikipedia primary sources, Indonesian Wikipedia archive and Indonesian research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Indonesian Wikipedia”?
- Which cited source is closest to the event, object or claim?
- What terminology or title could unlock a more precise catalogue search?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Indonesian Wikipedia” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.