Jul 13, 2020 Last Updated 11:50 PM, Jul 2, 2020

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

A generation of resistance

Jun 26, 2020 - IVO MATEUS GONCALVES

Students demonstrate at Santa Cruz cemetery, 12 November 1991 / Author

East Timor’s student movement and the struggle against oppression

Essay: Celebrating Imlek, Catholic style

Jun 22, 2020 - JOSH STENBERG

/ Josh Stenberg

Practices such as Imlek masses are a welcome example of tolerance and plurality

West Papua and Black Lives Matter

Jun 17, 2020 - SOPHIE CHAO

We are not monkeys / Twitter

A movement seeking justice, healing, and freedom for Black people has become a powerful rallying call for Indigenous West Papuans

Artists seek assistance

Jun 14, 2020 - RAHMADI FAJAR HIMAWAN

Several pesinden accompanying a wayang performance / Rahmadi Fajar Himawan

Javanese traditional musicians are among the many artists and performers struggling to survive, or qualify for government payments under COVID restrictions

A house of cards?

Jun 02, 2020 - YULIDA PANGASTUTI

ANTARA FOTO/Saiful Bahri/wsj

The COVID-19 crisis has highlighted the exploitation of non-formal early childhood educators

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