Society

Rich, Asian and all-natural
Indonesia’s wealthy partake of a booming spa tourism industry, joining a pan-Asian community of well-to-do consumers of the ‘non-west’
Living like kings
Working-class Singaporeans travel to Indonesia’s Riau Islands in search of a fantasy built around sex
Tourism in question
In our new edition, Inside Indonesia explores different perspectives on tourism
Postcards from a wasteland
Despite being a scene of destruction and heartache, there is a strange beauty in the new landscape created in the wake of the Sidoarjo mud disaster.
Un-natural disaster
An unstoppable flow of mud from an explosion in a gas well in Sidoarjo, East Java, has unleashed a plethora of political issues.
Eight years after 1999
Displaced East Timorese children go hungry in Indonesian West Timor
Making democracy work, Islamically
Indonesia’s Muslim educators support democracy, but grapple with how to make that commitment consistent with Islamic law.
Aa Gym
The rise, fall, and re-branding of a celebrity preacher
Festival Mata Air
A community takes a fresh look at water
Starting early
New programs of compulsory religious education for Muslim children in West Sumatra have received little publicity outside that province. Is this a new phase in the Islamisation of Indonesia?
Shifting faultlines
In the aftermath of religious conflict, ethnic difference is becoming more prominent in Ambon
Fight for survival
Ring deaths leave Indonesian boxing on the ropes.
Behind the jamboree
Direct local elections give Jakartans a say in their city’s future
Modern gay men in Indonesia learn to live alongside traditional concepts of homosexuality. DEDE OETOMO explains.
Many foreigners have learned Indonesian on the green campus of Satya Wacana University in Salatiga, Central Java. Since 1993 it has been in the news for a different reason. BUDI KURNIAWAN reports that serious conflicts between the campus community and the university board have reduced the prestigious campus to a shadow of its former self.