Talking Indonesia

Many of the big challenges humanity faces today – especially when we talk about environmental problems – can only be understood from a global perspective. This is definitely the case with sand. According to a report from the UN, sand is the second most exploited natural resource in the world after water. About 40-50 billion metric tons of it are used every year. Indonesia, as an archipelago, has a...

Jarrah Sastrawan - Natural Disasters and Ancient Beliefs Indonesia is no stranger to natural disasters and it is not surprising that societies throughout the ages have attached political and social significance to these displays of natural power. In this episode, Dr Elisabeth Kramer speaks with Dr Wayan Jarrah Sastrawan to understand how societies in Java and Bali have understood the significance...

In 2015 and 2019 massive forest fires in Indonesia shrouded its neighbours in smoke. The haze caused respiratory and other heath problems for residents of Singapore and Malaysia, and the carbon and heat emitted from these fires pushed the achievement of Indonesia’s international greenhouse gas emissions targets further out of reach. 80% of Indonesia’s total emissions come from forest degradation a...

Indonesia's general election in 2024 will be a big one.  Young voters have helped decide the last two general elections. It was millennials behind online movements, like Kawal Pemilu, which helped young Indonesians closely monitor the election results in 2014 and 2019.  However, this time, a new generation comes of age: Generation Z. And with them, a new online movement has emerged in the form of...

Indonesia is an important global hub for minerals and resource extraction. The value of its metallic minerals and coal industry in 2020 was the ninth-largest in the world. Indonesia’s extractive sector accounts for 25 percent of exports and it is also an important source of economic growth, government revenue, employment and technology transfer. But, at the same time, scholarship has documented ho...

Talking Indonesia’s guest this week, Kevin O’Rourke, has been watching Indonesia closely for many years. He dodged tanks in his Toyota Kijang during the May 1998 riots, started the Reformasi Weekly newsletter in 2003, and launched the podcast Reformasi Dispatch with journalist Jeff Hutton in 2021. Podcasting is becoming an important medium in Indonesia, and we like to think Talking Indonesia and R...

Indonesian literature in translation In recent years the international profile of Indonesian literature has been given a substantial boost. Indonesian authors and their work was highlighted at major book fairs in Europe and given a special place within the cultural and commercial programs at these events, and also backed by funding from the Ministry for Education and Culture and the Agency for Cre...

Associate Professor Eka Permanasari - Building the New Capital In late February, Joko Widodo’s official social media feed showed him conducting the affairs of state from a small hut set amongst a forest of trees. This was his second overnight stay on the site of the future Presidential Palace in the yet to be built new capital city (Ibu Kota Negara, IKN). Since announcing the move from Jakarta to...

ronmental Program has identified Indonesia as one of 17 "megadiverse" countries, making it highly vulnerable to the impacts of climate change. Yet the country also ranks among the top-10 emitters of greenhouse gases in the world, largely because of its forestry, land use and energy sectors. The Indonesian Constitution provides for environmental protection, and sustainability is critical to its Nat...

The cryptocurrency market in Indonesia is booming. In 2022, the country recorded 14 million cryptocurrency investors, much higher than the number of Indonesians who invest in the stock market. Last month, President Joko Widodo signed off on a new law that aims to provide greater clarity on how cryptocurrency is regulated. The new law transfers cryptocurrency regulatory powers from the commodities...

On 11 January, President Joko Widodo gave a national address in which he acknowledged gross violations of human rights had occurred in Indonesia and expressed his regret and sympathy for the victims. He referred to 12 incidents involving historical rights violations, including the 1965-66 killings, the extrajudicial killings of criminals in the 1980s (known as Petrus), kidnappings and disappearanc...

Indonesia has expressed persistent reservations about AUKUS, the security pact reached in secret between Australia, the US and the UK and announced in September 2021. Under the pact, the three allies will share defence capabilities, with the initial headline item being Australia’s acquisition of a fleet of nuclear-powered but conventionally-armed submarines. When AUKUS was announced, Indonesia's F...

On 6 December, Indonesia’s House of Representatives (DPR) passed a long-awaited new Criminal Code (KUHP), in an act the government described as one of decolonisation and modernisation of the Indonesian nation-state. Revised and re-drafted over several years, the new code replaces the 1918 version inherited from the Dutch and incorporated into the law of a newly independent Indonesia in 1946. Civil...

This year, the Indonesian government has replaced more than 110 local elected leaders for appointed caretaker leaders. By 2024, almost all district and provincial leaders will be appointments from Jakarta. The government says that this is a technocratic fix. The plan is to hold all district, provincial and national elections on the same day, and to fill the gap between the electoral terms of these...

There are many Indonesian researchers conducting important and path-breaking research, both within Indonesia and around the world. But many of these Indonesian scholars often find it difficult to distribute and share the results of their research projects with the global public.  The reasons for Indonesian researchers' underrepresentation on the global stage are varied, and include lack of access...

Preliminary investigations into the events at Kanjuruhan Stadium on 1 October, which claimed the lives of 135 people, have found that the use of tear gas by police was the primary cause of the tragedy. This and other recent high-profile scandals involving the Indonesian National Police (Polri) have led to a renewed focus on the failures of police reform.  It is two decades since the police separat...

It is often said that it is easy to start a podcast. But not many make it to 200 episodes. Many factors have played a part in making Talking Indonesia special and helping us reach this important milestone, from the podcast's various co-hosts, its listeners (thank you!), its many supporters, and, most of all, its amazing guests, who have shared their fascinating insights into the latest research an...

Indonesian football experienced its darkest day on 1 October, when more than 130 spectators were killed – including 35 children – after police fired tear gas into the crowd at the conclusion of a match between local rivals Arema Malang and Persebaya Surabaya at Kanjuruhan Stadium in Malang. Fans fleeing the tear gas, which police fired after some fans entered the playing field, were killed in the...

In April 2017, Indonesian Muslim women did something quite revolutionary: they successfully held the first Congress of Indonesian Women Muslim Scholars (Kongres Ulama Perempuan Indonesia, KUPI). The inaugural congress of Muslim women scholars (or ulama), held in Cirebon, West Java, resulted in three fatwas on what attendees considered the biggest challenges faced by Muslim women: sexual violence,...

The #MeToo movement has led to a global reckoning on sexual violence, including in Indonesia. After a series of high profile sexual assault scandals, activists won a landmark legal battle against sexual violence earlier this year, with the passage of Law No. 12 of 2022 on the Crime of Sexual Violence, or UU TPKS. But milestones aren’t achieved overnight. In this episode of Talking Indonesia, Dr Ja...

Environment and climate ministers from G20 nations gathered in Bali last week. Indonesian Minister for Forestry and the Environment Siti Nurbaya Bakar told the gathering the world was already in the midst of a climate crisis and called on G20 members to work together to bring down global temperatures. Despite these strong statements, Indonesian environmental groups have been highly critical of the...

US House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi's visit to Taiwan in early August inflamed tensions with China and put Taiwan, and its implications for regional stability, in the spotlight. In response to Pelosi's visit, China conducted extensive military drills around Taiwan, which included firing ballistic missiles over the country. A potential invasion of Taiwan by China would have broad inter...

Dr Wulan Dirgantoro and Dr Elly Kent - art and offence Indonesian art collective Taring Padi made headlines around the world last month. The collective's 8x10 metre banner, "People's Justice" (2002), on display as part of the prestigious art exhibition documenta 15 in Kassel, Germany, was dramatically covered and subsequently taken down. The decision to remove the banner from its prominent positio...

Indonesia's longest-standing and most prominent "cause lawyering" organisation, the Legal Aid Institute or LBH, was founded in the early days of Soeharto's authoritarian regime in 1970. Cause lawyering broadly refers to using the law to achieve social change. Throughout much of its history, LBH has faced the challenge of pursuing this mission in a context in which victory in the courtroom has been...

Rapid growth in internet penetration in Indonesia over the past decade has altered the local media landscape and the ways in which news is produced and consumed. Over the past few years, several new broadcasting and digital media outlets have emerged, such as Tirto.id, Asumsi, Narasi TV, and Kumparan. One of these new digital players is the American-Canadian company VICE, which opened a Jakarta bu...