Talking Indonesia

The Papal Visit In early September, Pope Francis visited Indonesia as part of a tour of the region. It was the third papal visit to the country after tours by Pope Paul VI in 1970 and Pope John Paul II in 1989. This trip included Indonesia, Timor Leste, Papua New Guinea and Singapore. The theme of this visit to the world’s largest Muslim nation was ‘Faith, Fraternity and Compassion’ and appeared t...

Corruption in Indonesia is widely acknowledged as a complex issue, with some even suggesting it as something that is deeply entrenched in Indonesian culture. However, this perspective overlooks the generally accepted notion among historians of colonialism that corruption in Indonesia and other post-colonial nations is, at least partially, rooted in colonialism and the abuses of power and wealth du...

Some of the most challenging issues post-colonial societies face involve managing the physical remnants of their colonial histories. In Indonesia, centuries of colonialism left many buildings and spaces with strong colonial identities. While some of these spaces are now abandoned and forgotten, others are being remembered and revitalised. In this episode, Tito Ambyo speaks with Remco Vermeulen, a...

Starting a Start Up Starting a small business is a challenge in any context, but what about if you're a foreigner looking to establish a restaurant in Indonesia? What's it like to move to Indonesia, knowing little to nothing about the country, and then go on to start a successful online food business? What is it about the business context in Indonesia that facilitates or blocks small businesses, e...

Digital Populism Just as we were recording this podcast, the hashtag #daruratdemokrasi (democratic emergency) went viral across Indonesian social media. The alert was prompted by the latest example of Indonesia’s parliament (DPR) attempting to override or block a ruling by the Constitutional Court related to the eligibility of candidates to run in regional elections. The online campaign quickly tu...

One of the signature campaign promises of the Prabowo Subianto presidency is free lunches and milk for Indonesian school kids. This plan is linked to a much wider set of reforms to the way Indonesia’s produces and organises its agriculture sector, including the modernization of agriculture and converting land to plantations. The details are still pretty scant but this is not a thought bubble, food...

The Indonesian music scene is currently experiencing a vibrant period of experimentation, where musicians are blending vernacular Indonesian music traditions with elements from diverse global influences and historical periods. This fusion has led to the emergence of groundbreaking acts like Senyawa, who have successfully captured international attention. While the creative landscape pushes forward...

Antje Missbach - Refugees growing up in limbo Indonesia is currently home to over 13,000 refugees and asylum seekers, a majority of them young people who are stuck in limbo waiting for their futures to be determined. For most, it takes years, sometimes more than a decade, for resettlement to become an option. In the meantime, for those who arrive in Indonesia as children and teenagers this means t...

Teaching Indonesian as a second language comes with challenges. In Australia, there is a wide gulf between the government's rhetoric about the importance of learning Indonesian and the realities faced by teachers on the ground. In the absence of centralised resources, Indonesian teachers often have to work creatively to devise their own materials and deliver quality instruction. Today's guests on...

Bivitri Susanti - Dirty Vote The frenzied final weeks of campaigning leading up to the presidential election on 14 February 2024 were packed with promises, symbols, celebrity and cash. When the dance literally stopped a few days before the polls opened, in the traditional cooling off period, a documentary film, Dirty Vote, dropped on YouTube. The work of activist filmmaker, Dandhy Laksono, the fil...

In November 2023, a unique event occured. Eight gamelan groups - Gamelan DanAnda, Kacapi Suling Melbourne, Mahindra Bali Gamelan, Melbourne Community Gamelan, Mugi Rahayu, Putra Panji Asmara, Talo Balak, Selonding Sapta Nugraha - came together to perform at a small church in Northcote, a suburb in North Melbourne. The gathering was dedicated to the memory of Pak Poedijono, a master Javanese dhalan...

The talk on the street is all about electric cars and scooters as Indonesia strives to become a regional centre for manufacturing electric vehicles. At the heart of that goal is constructing a national supply chain of locally built battery hubs to drive the transition to electric. But as my current guest reminds us, harnessing electricity has always been at the centre of Indonesia’s dreams of deve...

There are many things that drive migration to other countries, and one of them is romantic relationships and marriages. But Asian women who are developing relationships with men from Western countries, like Australia, be it through snail mails, online sites or other means, often have to face the stereotype of the ‘subservient woman’.  This stereotype has a history that still haunts us. In the case...

Indonesia has one of the highest smoking rates in the world - approximately two thirds of Indonesian men are classified as smokers. This is in spite of anti-smoking discourses and tobacco control policies becoming more and more prominent across the globe, at least in many middle and high-income countries. In this episode of Talking Indonesia Elisabeth Kramer chats with Dr Marina Welker about her n...

Indonesians have a saying that you’re not properly satisfied until you’ve eaten rice (belum kenyang kalau belum makan nasi). But in recent weeks the price of rice has hit record highs, meaning that this daily serving of rice is becoming out of reach for some. In 2023 an EL Niño weather pattern across Indonesia made it the hottest year on record, leading to drought conditions and impacting rice pro...

How do religious minorities fare under the constitution and blasphemy laws in Indonesia? The Indonesia Constitution seems to guarantee religious freedom so long as you believe in an almighty god. However, there are many real-life cases where it seems this is not enough. Add to this blasphemy laws, which have existed since the 1960s, and we can see that Indonesia has legal tools that can be easily...

In the early 20th century in Sumatra, a movement of young women writers were finding new ways to express their identities, build communities and achieve their dreams. Soenting Melajoe was the first newspaper for women published in West Sumatra during the colonial era in the Dutch East Indies. The newspaper was a part of a larger constellation of people working together to help women find education...

Energy transition In the recent national elections, the candidates paid surprisingly little attention to one of the greatest challenges Indonesia and the world at large is currently facing – that of climate change. At the same time, for more and more Indonesians, climate change induced natural disasters like droughts, storms and floods are increasingly impacting their lives. Indonesia has committe...

Prabowo has exceeded expectations to claim victory in 2024 Indonesian presidential election. What do our Talking Indonesia's co-hosts think about the result? Who are the winners and losers? What were the most interesting aspects of the campaign behind Prabowo’s success? And how did a pack of cigarettes save our co-host, Tito Ambyo, from possible jail time in the Suharto era? In this episode of Tal...

Faris Al Fadhat - Big Business Conglomerates are the main players in the Indonesian economy, controlling core industries like agribusiness, banking and property and telecommunications. They are often built over multiple generations of a single, often ethnic Chinese, family. Indonesia’s biggest conglomerates - Sinar Mas Group, Royal Golden Eagle, Lippo group and Salim group - and their their owners...

With the election just weeks away the campaign for the presidency is in full flight. The three candidates – Prabowo Subianto, Ganjar Pranowo and Anies Baswedan – are proven campaigners and already familiar faces, but as has been the case in Indonesian politics for a while now, it is the coalitions they form around their tickets that will prove decisive on election day and in the government they ul...

Since the most recent conflict erupted between Israel and Gaza following the October 7 Hamas’ attacks and Israel’s subsequent mass bombings of the Gaza strip, the Indonesian public and government have overwhelmingly condemned Israel's actions. Like most Muslim nations around the world, Indonesia’s solidarity with Palestine is long-standing and deeply felt. Large solidarity gatherings held over the...

The Indonesian word ‘pemuda’, or young person, has a complex meaning and history. Like in other languages and cultures, the term conjures up images of change and vitality. But in Indonesia, it also carries militaristic and masculine connotations which are coloured by the way it was used during the New Order era. In his PhD thesis at the University of Melbourne, Jonathan Tehusijarana traces the ter...

The choice by Indonesians to become a foreign overseas worker, known as Tenaga Kerja Indonesia (TKI), is viewed primarily as an economic one. Working in countries such as Malaysia, Singapore, Taiwan, Hong Kong or further afield in the Middle East, is perceived to offer possibilities beyond what they might hope for back home. The Indonesian government itself recognises the crucial role played by ov...

Kate McGregor - Activism, Memory and Sexual Violence During its Occupation of East Asian and Southeast Asian countries in World War II, including the Netherlands Indies, the Japanese military installed a system of enforced prostitution, known euphemistically as the ‘comfort women’ system. Today these crimes are relatively well-known and condemned. In 1993 the Japanese state issued an apology known...