National

Playing with the past

Critics say it’s just a fad but some young upper middle-class Indonesians are rediscovering forgotten histories

Art for Allah’s sake

A unique pesantren, founded and led by an internationally recognised Indonesian calligrapher, attracts men and women from all over the archipelago

Transcending personality politics

The election of Anas Urbaningrum suggests Partai Demokrat can survive without its founder, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono

Theatre of life

A new generation of Indonesian theatre activists is staging performances based on the everyday experiences of local communities

Resistance through memory

The victims of the Lapindo mudflow disaster continue to assert their rights to compensation

Stopping the flow

Lapindo Brantas’ involvement in the Surabaya Post has restricted the way journalists report on the mudflow

A terrible legacy

Indonesian doctors have been persecuted for providing safe abortions for almost a century

The triumph of jamu

European interest in Indonesian traditional healing has had its ups and downs, but in Java jamu reigns supreme, as it has for a long, long time

New leadership, new policies?

The Nahdlatul Ulama congress in Makassar arrests the slide away from liberal views but shows the organisation's vulnerability to outside political interference

Homophobia on the rise

Recent attacks on lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender meetings reveal the growing influence of Islamist groups and highlight unequal protection of citizenship rights

A storm in a bank vault

The much publicised ‘Bank Century’ case is unlikely to do any lasting damage to SBY

Snatching victory

When Indonesia’ s National Police took on the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) over the Bank Century case, the KPK won

Costly inducements

Pocket money given to intending migrant domestic workers comes at a price

Passports optional

Indonesian migrant workers without visas - or sometimes even passports - rely on the help of middlemen to get past immigration checkpoints into East Malaysia

A matter of luck

Migrant domestic workers aspire to more than their home communities can offer and are willing to take risks to change their lives

American dreams

Undocumented Indonesian migrant labourers - known locally as kuli dollar - work long hours in difficult conditions in search of prosperity in Philadelphia