The number of provinces of Indonesia has tended to increase as new provinces have been split from existing territories. As of January 2003 there appear to be 28 provinces (propinsi-propinsi, singular - propinsi), 2 special regions* (daerah-daerah istimewa, singular - daerah istimewa), and 1 special capital city district** (daerah khusus ibukota)
Papua, renamed from Irian Jaya in December 2001. A proposal to split this into Papua Barat (West Papua), Papua Tengah (Central Papua) and Papua Timur (East Papua) appears to have not been implemented.
