ANTJE MISSBACH asks whether regional ‘solutions’ are the answer to managing the influx of refugees and asylum seekers. It took the foreign ministers of Malaysia, Indonesia and Thailand more than 10 days to finally come to a joint agreement that would allow the rescue of thousands of dehydrated and starving Rohingya and Bangladeshis who had
Stopping the boats: in search of a regional ‘solution’ Read More »
The observations of Indonesia by the famous African-American novelist Richard Wright during the 1955 Bandung Conference deserve to be read alongside Indonesian accounts, argue KEITH FOULCHER and BRIAN RUSSELL ROBERTS. In December of 1954, while living in self-imposed exile in France, the famous African-American novelist Richard Wright picked up an evening newspaper and gazed in
Richard Wright and the Bandung Conference Read More »
After ignoring international outrage and desperate pleas over the executions of foreign drug smugglers, including two Australians, JAMES GIGGACHER asks if Jokowi can ever win back a place in our hearts. As Andrew Chan, Myuran Sukumaran and six other men stared down their executioners on Indonesia’s prison island, Nusakambangan, in the early hours of Wednesday,
The power of redemption Read More »
Being pretty and having a good body are key recruitment attributes for policewomen in Indonesia, writes SHARYN GRAHAM DAVIES. Late in 2014, Al Jazeera ran a story entitled ‘Virginity tests on Indonesia police condemned: Rights group says female police required to strip and undergo “two-finger test” to prove virginity before recruitment.’ The story, based on
Beautiful virgins: the hard road to becoming an Indonesian policewoman Read More »
Popular culture in Indonesia exposes divorced or widowed women to prejudice and stigmatisation, writes NICHOLAS HERRIMAN. One of the most popular and enduring images of femininity in Indonesia is the janda. The term refers to either a widow or a divorcee because, in the popular imagination, how she has become unmarried is not particularly relevant.
The ‘shame’ of Indonesia’s widows and divorcees Read More »
Indonesia’s protest over the execution of one of its citizens this week by Saudi Arabia has raised questions about its consistency in relation to its own policy on the death penalty, writes COLIN BROWN. Siti Zaenab was beheaded in Saudi Arabia on 14 April, having been sentenced to death for murdering the wife of her
Jokowi on the death penalty: hypocritical or consistent? Read More »
