Dec 04, 2024 Last Updated 2:20 AM, Oct 31, 2024

Economy

Prosperity denied

Mining is booming in East Nusa Tenggara, but where is the wealth going?

Sympathy for the Devil

Pining for the certainty of the Suharto era

Religious Bandung

Bandung’s government opts for a religious program that matches the city’s character

Eager to work

The value of children’s paid work on Lombok’s tobacco plantations presents a challenge to emotive arguments for the wholesale banning of child labour

Snatching victory

When Indonesia’ s National Police took on the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) over the Bank Century case, the KPK won

Token gestures

Despite recent government negotiations, Indonesian migrant workers in Malaysia remain disempowered

Oppressed and they know it

Indonesian fishers in Taiwan are beginning to fight back

Costly inducements

Pocket money given to intending migrant domestic workers comes at a price

A matter of luck

Migrant domestic workers aspire to more than their home communities can offer and are willing to take risks to change their lives

Leaving Indonesia

As this edition shows, the choices faced by those who leave Indonesia for work are anything but simple

Learning to lead

Against the odds, Indonesian domestic workers have achieved real change in Hong Kong

American dreams

Undocumented Indonesian migrant labourers - known locally as kuli dollar - work long hours in difficult conditions in search of prosperity in Philadelphia

Passports optional

Indonesian migrant workers without visas - or sometimes even passports - rely on the help of middlemen to get past immigration checkpoints into East Malaysia

Land, ethnicity and politics

Direct local elections have led to new developments in the struggle for land rights in East Kalimantan

Fighting over the land and forest

Century-old conflicts persist in the vast tracts of Indonesia that are designated as state forest

The trouble with oil palm

Conflicts between villagers and plantation companies in Sumatra are still unresolved

Too precious to mine

Central Java farmers refuse to get stuck in cement

Social justice by design

Architect Antonio Ismael Risianto promotes planning for the urban poor

Land titles do not equal agrarian reform

Activists split with Indonesia’s government over whether land registration helps the rural poor

Development for the rich

Gated communities are built with little concern for their social and environmental impacts

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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.