Jan 17, 2020 Last Updated 7:13 AM, Jan 16, 2020

Inside Indonesia

Economy

Mining the land, mining people

A mining base, with a pipe running across the foreground and some wooden structures.

Irrespective of location or commodity, peasants now compete with multinational mining companies on the mineral-rich tracts of Indonesia

Multiplier effects on the Bombana goldfields

A photo of the front of a Toyota dealership.

Benefits ripple outwards but local government struggles to regulate the process

Mining mercury in an Indonesian periphery

A child worker in a squatting position, burning mercury amalgam while smoking a cigarette.

Improved market chain monitoring and recognition of sociocultural dynamics are important for central mercury control

Community mining in West Timor

A group of miners stand near a community manganese mine, South Central Timor.

Small-scale manganese mining supports livelihood diversity

From mother to citizen

A woman measures the height of a toddler under a tree, surrounded by other women and children. (Vita Febriany)

The New Order actively promoted citizenship of a particular kind for women

Review: Beyond decent work

Garment workers working at a factory

A new book examines Indonesian labour struggles through the lens of international political economy theory

Old and poor

An old woman walks down the street.

Indonesia’s welfare schemes are failing to support older citizens

Book extract: Sarongge

(Agus Andrianto for CIFOR, via Flickr)

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

Petikan buku: Sarongge

(Agus Andrianto for CIFOR, via Flickr)

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

Safe water at a premium

Home-delivered gallons of drinking water. (Credit: Ikhlasul Amal)

The UN’s claim that 87 per cent of Indonesians have access to safe drinking water seems exaggerated

In the name of food security

A banner in front of a military outpost in Langkahan village, North Aceh. The banner reads ‘Together with the people the TNI will be stronger’. Emirza Adi Syailendra

The army’s over-immersion in civilian affairs is being encouraged by its role in food security projects

The Go-Jek effect

Go-Jek’s green helmets are now a fixture on Indonesia’s streets

Has this phenomenally successful app-based transport service improved the lives of the motorcycle workers it employs?

Food sovereignty and peasant activism

Farmers and would-be farmers in Lombok are fighting a land-rights battle against the tourism industry

Good intentions, mixed realities

Danau Beratan, Bali (2007) - Credit: Leyla Stevens

Bali’s World Heritage listing has put its rice-farming culture under stress

Religious conflict and heritage management in Banten Lama

Great Mosque of Banten - Credit: Tod Jones

An ongoing struggle to control a historic Mosque disrupts a heritage region

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

A room of one’s own

Source: Brigitta Isabella

Mobile libraries and writers clubs reveal a rich reading and writing culture among Indonesian migrant workers in Hong Kong

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

In sickness and in wealth

Double-storey modern house funded by a migrant in Hong Kong - Carol Chan

Village morality complicates our assumptions about what it means to ‘succeed’ as a migrant worker

Cash for the cashless

Buffalo are a traditional source of wealth and social status in Sumba - Jacqueline Vel, Sumba, November 2014

The new Village Law pumps money directly into subsistence villages: a crazy idea, or new development paradigm?

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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