Jul 27, 2024 Last Updated 4:48 AM, Jul 27, 2024

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Reframing the demon

Lapindo mudflow victims are drawing on ritual to battle their politically untouchable oppressor

A complex relationship

1965 collaborators and victims living side by side silently negotiate between past and present

Fiction: Pasung

  His gaze is fixated on an indeterminate spot behind me, his arms hang loosely by his sides. Wearing nothing but a pair of faded black shorts, his ribs and collar bones rise above his cavernous stomach. His bulging eyes stand out. A ray of afternoon sun penetrates through a few holes on the attap roof above us, shining on some part of his left arm and shoulder. Sitting on the ground of this six-by-eight-metre hut with his back leaning against the wall, his dark brown skin blends in with the soil underneath us and the bamboo wall surrounding us.

Contraception at a crossroads

Indonesia’s 50-year-old family planning program has been a great success but is struggling to adapt with women’s needs

Hunger and culture in West Papua

Oil palm projects are causing hunger in Merauke, both literal and symbolic

Drugs and drug policy

Drug use in Indonesia has a long history

Crystal meth users in Indonesia

Not all users of sabu-sabu are dependant on it, but their experiences are ignored by the law

Drugs and the death penalty

Indonesia’s ill-informed war on drugs endangers and ends lives rather than saving them

Criminal patients

People who use drugs occupy an ambiguous position in Indonesian government rhetoric

Photo essay: Woman to woman

A unique drug rehabilitation centre in Bogor helps women regain their independence

Populism versus justice

Indonesia’s legal system is too flawed to sentence people to death

Cannabis, for starters

The growing support for cannabis decriminalisation in Indonesia could both help and hinder broader drug reform

Essay: Letter from Jakarta

Living in the midst of uncertainty

Mapping the 1965-66 killings in East Java

In the first of a series of articles we present recent work by demographers and genocide scholars at Michigan State University's Asian Studies Centre on the 1965-1966 killings. Their analysis takes the form of a collection of infographics tracing population numbers across East Java at this time.

Untreated trauma in Nduga

The plight of Papua’s internally displaced persons is not being recognised by the Indonesian government

The waste emergency

Government, producers and the public must all cooperate to tackle Indonesia’s waste problems

Bogus redemption

Mudik forms a bogus redemption for many precarious workers amid a lack of decent jobs in both rural and urban areas

Bangun! Banjir!

Seorang antropolog Belanda tinggal di permukiman kumuh di bantaran kali Jakarta untuk memahami bagaimana warga di sana hidup berdampingan dengan banjir

Religious idioms of vulnerability

Years after the tsunami, people in Aceh articulate the fragility of life through religious idioms

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