Dec 07, 2019 Last Updated 11:46 PM, Dec 3, 2019

Inside Indonesia

Bali

Traditional village institutions and the Village Law

Villagers staging a protest in Bali - Source: Agung Wardana

The Village Law provides recognition for traditional village institutions, but villagers in Bali and Mentawai are not interested

Good intentions, mixed realities

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

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

Punkrock and global protest culture

Tolak reklamasi posters set up in Bali’s villages and neighborhoods - Birgit Bräuchler

An environmental movement is generating new forms of resistance by fusing traditional and contemporary Balinese art with social media

Certification: curse or blessing?

Coffee tree in Lampung province - Ron Cörvers

At a workshop in Bali, experts reflect on the sustainable production of Indonesia’s cash crops

Review: Sites, Bodies and Stories

Sites, Bodies and Stories: Imagining Indonesian History - Cover Image

History and heritage in the Indonesian imagination

Press representation of the ‘Bali Nine’ in Indonesia and Australia

A survey reveals that reporting of the Australians on death row did not foster better understanding of each country’s point of view

T-shirt cosmopolitanism

Nanoe Biroe’s t-shirt designs feature words and phrases in large letters, as if they were being yelled. This one reads ‘YOU THINK YOU’RE SMART? I AM STUPID AND IT DOESN’T MATTER! I’D RATHER BE STUPID THAN CONCEITED!’ (credit: U-Rock Bali)

Popular forms of writing in public reveal the richness of Balinese revitalisation

Palm-leaf manuscripts in today’s Bali

Ida Dewa Gede Catra engraving a lontar in Amlapura. (Andrea Acri)

The world of lontar will likely continue side by side with the new technologies of our digital age

Film review: Bitter Honey

Film review: Bitter Honey

Robert Lemelson’s latest documentary film takes his audience inside the lives of the women, men and children living in polygamous families in Bali

Wild West Batur

Resource stripping in Batur, Bali - Graeme MacRae

Beyond the tourism and real estate frontiers in Bali is a small branch of the global resource frontier.

Barking mad, biting back

Barking mad, biting back

Cultural clashes emerge as Bali struggles to eradicate rabies

Floating World

Nilan and Artini

See the world and be exploited

More than a fatal attraction

More than a fatal attraction

Outsiders see arak consumption as a highly dangerous activity, but arak plays an important role in Balinese society

Rock music and social activism on the internet

Rock music and social activism on the internet

Bali rockers Navicula find a platform for social change in online social media

Time bomb in Bali

Time bomb in Bali

A culture that suppresses conflict disguises decades-long tensions in Balinese communities

Stars and stereotypes

Stars and stereotypes

The big business of Indo celebrities creates illusory expectations but things may be changing

In search of sustainable farming

In search of sustainable farming

Bali-based NGOs are an important part of Indonesia’s growing sustainable agriculture movement

Not just an elite game

Not just an elite game

In Bali, it’s neither policy, parties nor entrenched elites, but image-savvy politicians and an all-powerful media that are dominating the new electoral landscape

The election as a Karya Agung ritual

The election as a Karya Agung ritual

Listening to the grassroots explain the 2009 general election in Bali

Keeping Bali strong?

Keeping Bali strong?

Hindu-Muslim tensions have mounted, but not to boiling point

Latest Articles

Fiction: Pasung

Nov 22, 2019 - MAYESTICA DE JONG

/ Andrea Star Reese for Human Rights Watch

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...

Contraception at a crossroads

Nov 11, 2019 - LOUISA-ANNE BUWALDA

Adam Cohn @Flickr

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

Oct 30, 2019 - SOPHIE CHAO

Indigenous Marind in rural Merauke have traditionally depended on the forest for their subsistence / Sophie Chao

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

Book reviews: Telling the Dutch colonial wars in Aceh and South Sulawesi

Oct 08, 2019 - JOOST COTE

Essay: Letter from Jakarta

Sep 29, 2019 - ABDUL SAMAD HAIDARI

Refugees protest in Makassar, February 2018 / Ali Froghi

Living in the midst of uncertainty

Subscribe to Inside Indonesia

Receive Inside Indonesia's latest articles and quarterly editions in your inbox.

Lontar Modern Indonesia

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