May 25, 2019 Last Updated 3:09 PM, May 22, 2019

Inside Indonesia

Politics

Politics of the Indonesian city

Jakarta governor Basuki 'Ahok' Tjahaja Purnama. (Credit: Gerald Sipahutar)

York University professor Abidin Kusno shares reflections on Ahok's leadership

A parliamentary free-for-all

The DPR/MPR building

Indonesia’s political parties have lost control over the national budgeting process, as members of parliament prioritise their constituencies – and themselves.

Esai: Mencari identitas, memetik I.N.D.O.N.E.S.I.A

Protesters against fuel price hike at UIN Jogja (Source: Vito Adriono, Flickr CC)

Essay: Redefining Indonesia

Protesters against fuel price hike at UIN Jogja (Source: Vito Adriono, Flickr CC)

Almost twenty years after reformasi, journalist and novelist Leila S. Chudori ponders on the successes and failures of this historic period for Indonesia

Review: Troubled transit

Asylum seekers stuck in Indonesia

Staging local identity in West Java

Traditional performers on stage with Iwan Fals in Tasikmalaya - Credit: Komunitas Cermin

Performance groups negotiate between Islam and Sundanese tradition

OzAsia and beyond

Cry Jailolo dancers - Credit: Claude Raschella/OzAsia

OzAsia festival illuminates the world of Indonesian performance and its social concerns

Rengat, 1949 (Part 2)

Source: Anne-Lot Hoek

The people of Rengat, the Dutch archives and Dutch authorities have always known about the massacre of January 1949. Why then is the Dutch public not aware?

Rengat, 1949 (Bagian 2)

Source: Anne-Lot Hoek

Orang-orang di Rengat dan arsip-arsip di Belanda, kedua-duanya tahu adanya pembantaian di bulan Januari 1949. Lalu, mengapa masyarakat umum Belanda tidak tahu itu?

Rengat, 1949 (Part 1)

Dutch paratroopers massacred hundreds, perhaps thousands, in a Sumatran town during the Indonesian Revolution, yet nobody outside Rengat seems to know.

Rengat, 1949 (Bagian 1)

Pasukan payung Belanda membunuhratusan, bahkan mungkin ribuan orang di Rengat, sebuah kota Sumatra, pada masa Revolusi Nasional Indonesia, tapi kelihatannya orang-orang di luar Rengat tidak tahu itu.

Review: A life beyond boundaries

Benedict Anderson’s memoir showcases a broad-minded approach to the world and Indonesia Source: Verso

Benedict Anderson’s memoir showcases a broad-minded approach to the world and Indonesia

The forgotten killings

Monumen Bambu Runcing (Bamboo Spear Monument), Surabaya Credit: Lidya Mewengkang

The slaughter of Indonesians by young nationalists has been hidden by romantic narratives of the independence struggle

Islamic cyber-activism

The yufid.com search engine provides potential followers with a search filter limited to approved Salafi sources

Yogyakartan Salafi youth are turning to social media to promote their faith

Book Review: Inventing Imam Samudra

Book Cover

Book Review: Imam Samudra’s Revenge, by Angus McIntyre

Justice denied?

Source: Lexy Rambadeta

The Indonesian way of confronting the past underestimates the importance of truth and justice

Interview with an activist: Soe Tjen Marching

Soe Tjen Marching at Frankfurt Bookfair 2015 Source: Angus NIcholls

Standing up in the name of truth and justice

Reading for pleasure, 15 minutes a day

The National Book Committee Team - Courtesy of National Book Committee

Indonesia’s struggle to create a culture of reading

The pattern of a batik revival

Batik Showroom with specially dressed Parkir - Credit: Tod Jones

How UNESCO’s Intangible Cultural Heritage program transformed the batik neighbourhood of Laweyan

Cultural heritage: The politics of pictures of Indonesia

Kaibon Palace in Banten Lama - Credit: Tine Suartina, Courtesy of LIPI (Lembaga Ilmu Pengetahuan Indonesia)

When visitors take pictures of Indonesia, they tend to photograph Indonesia’s cultural heritage. These pictures share certain qualities. They seem harmonious and to be of activities or places that have remained the same for generations or centuries. They also often exclude people or represent them as bound by history and relics of a past era

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