Sep 19, 2021 Last Updated 10:51 AM, Sep 1, 2021

Inside Indonesia

Economy

The life and death of Indonesia’s mineral export ban

President Joko Widodo speaks at a podium, with a red banner as a backdrop.

The Jokowi government’s policy shift contributes to pervasive regulatory ambiguity in Indonesia’s mining sector

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

Resource nationalism as imperialism

A worker at a mining site points to the low-hanging clouds.

Foreign investment in large-scale mining has encountered serious obstacles

Has resource extraction reduced poverty?

A child worker pushes a wheelbarrow of harvest along in an oil palm plantation.

The benefits of more concentrated natural resources are less likely to be spread

Mining and equitable development

A car drives along a concrete road among tall crop fields.

Mining dominates East Luwu GDP but development of agriculture underpins equitable development

Small-scale mining in Central Kalimantan

A car zooms by on a road in a barren landscape.

After reformasi, Kereng Pangi, Kalimantan became the site of a gold rush

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

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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