The people of Indonesia & their culture, politics, economy and environment - Inside Indonesia: The peoples and cultures of Indonesia

Land Rights

A 150-year old obstacle to land rights

The Dutch colonialists adopted the concept of domein verklaring (domain declaration) to claim control over a large part of Indonesia’s land. This act lives on in modern-day Indonesia, causing conflict and poverty.

Distance matters: social housing for the poor

For Jakarta’s most vulnerable, vertical social housing creates more problems than it solves

Social exclusion in a state urban mega-development

Indonesia’s first 'new city' may not be addressing the urban problems it was supposed to

Stories from Sulawesi

An elderly woman stands in a grass field in a rural dwelling, looking to the side.

The 2009 mining law and the community benefit in Sulawesi

‘We are natural-born children, you are adopted’

A small wooden boat is docked on the shore, with two others in the background, in Malifut, North Halmahera. (Yefta Christiono)

Locals contest national citizenship rights in North Maluku

Comes with the territory

A sign next to a dirt road reads in Indonesian, ‘Welcome to the territory of the Kiyu customary forest under Constitutional Court Decree No. 35/PUU-X/2012. THIS IS OUR CUSTOMARY FOREST, NOT STATE FOREST.’

Compromises must be made in the quest for indigeneity among the Dayak Meratus

Book extract: Sarongge

Lontar Modern Indonesia: ‘But that is, after all, the relationship between land and power... Whoever holds power will impose their view.’

Petikan buku: Sarongge

Lontar Modern Indonesia: ‘Siapa yang pegang kuasa, akan paksakan pandangannya tentang bagaimana cara mengatur aset alam itu.’

Samarinda’s deadly mining pits

A GSM plaintiff and a farmer stand on the edge of her mined land in Samarinda - Armin Hari

The end of the boom has not meant an end to the perilous impact of coal mining in East Kalimantan

The Sultan of development?

Return to the rules of the Palace” on a busy street in Yogyakarta - Cally Colbron

Succession within the Sultanate of Yogyakarta decides who will own vast tracts of land

An agrarian reform agenda for Jokowi

Community members in Central Kalimantan attempt to prevent the planting of palm oil on land they claim as their own - Save Our Borneo

Jokowi must accommodate customary rights lest his development agenda spur land conflicts

Balancing business

Indonesia’s unions are engaging in electoral politics in unprecedented ways in an attempt to balance the influence of business

Dealing with social exclusion

Illegal squatters in Jakarta struggle for recognition of their homes and livelihoods

Art for the people

Taring Padi takes stock of a more than a decade fighting the political establishment – with art as its weapon

Resistance through memory

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

Prosperity denied

Mining is booming in East Nusa Tenggara, but where is the wealth going?

Land and social justice

Communities struggle for access while reforms run aground

Land titles do not equal agrarian reform

Activists split with Indonesia’s government over whether land registration helps the rural poor

A city without social justice

Jakarta needs more green space, but not at the expense of the poor

Development for the rich

Gated communities are built with little concern for their social and environmental impacts

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Lontar Modern Indonesia

A selection of stories from the Indonesian classics and modern writers, periodically published free for Inside Indonesia readers, courtesy of Lontar.