The civilisation of Java boasts of intricately artistic traditional architecture that stands the test of time. But people often forget that Java is not only home to the Javanese and the Sundanese. One of these lesser-known ethnic groups is the Osing of Banyuwangi. After a temple-hopping journey across Java, I ended up in Banyuwangi—my final [...]

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When it comes to ostentatious shows of wealth, no one does it better than the Europeans. Backed by generations of inherited riches, the elites of England, France and Germany would express their affluence the only way they knew how; building bigger, better, brasher country estates that screamed ‘look at me’ at their neighbours, peers and [...]

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There are a number of versions to this story. Depending on the narrator, the good people of Batavia were saved from a horrendous fate, or the matrix, the super system if you wish, rids itself of the awkward outsider and troublemaker. But whatever the twist given by the chroniclers, the storyline is simple:  Pieter Erberveld [...]

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As the “ancestral homeland” of over 300 ethnic groups, Indonesia is one of the most multicultural countries in the non-Western world. 8.8 million Indonesians are ethnic Chinese. Except that their “ancestral homeland” is not even here. My paternal ancestors come from Fujian province, PRC, but we’ve settled in Central Java for centuries. For other Chinese-Indonesians, [...]

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It is said that in life only two things are certain: death and taxes. But if you live in Jakarta, you can add two more to that list: macet and banjir. Government officials come and go, and it seems like none of them can keep floods out of Jakarta. Even award-winning Governor Joko “Jokowi” Widodo–who [...]

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Most of us have heard of India’s Kama Sutra and Tunisia’s Perfumed Garden. Every ancient agricultural society has its own celebration of fertility, sensual pleasure, and romance. Java is no exception. But with the advent of sociopolitical conservatism in Indonesia, it is hard to imagine the existence of a Javanese sex book that “keeps it [...]

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Located on the 17th floor of Sentral Senayan 1, a square office tower next to the Sogo side of Plaza Senayan, this rather dull and uninteresting building does not do justice to the exciting activities taking place inside. The three words of the title will mostly be read as Indonesian Heritage society, that is, the [...]

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The recent flooding followed by the inevitable Jakarta traffic grid-lock must make us look back wistfully to a time when Jakarta really was a big village and the commute to the office was not something to be dreaded. We need to go back to the 1970s for such luxury, but even then urban Jakarta had [...]

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Raffles and the British Invasion of Java Tim Hannigan Monsoon Books 2012 368pp ISBN 978-981-4358-85-9 As a lad growing up in post-World War II London, I was force-fed a history diet which told me that Britain was great because it once had an Empire. I was taught that as an island nation, we had fought [...]

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Being the multicultural country that it is, there are many ways of celebrating Christmas in Indonesia. Even the weather is a departure from the Northern Hemisphere’s white winters. And the customs pose surprises. They range from gala dinners in fancy hotels to charity runs in shantytowns, from unfamiliar carols in exotic languages to Hillsong-style megachurch [...]

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If I were to ask you, who Stamford Raffles was, you would most likely answer: the founder of Singapore. In fact, I have asked this question on several occasions and apart from the answer mentioned, I also got answers such as: the founder of the Raffles Hotel in Singapore, and, the chap who concocted the [...]

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Tugu means memorial and memorial is an apt name for this old suburb up in North East Jakarta by the port for this may well be the longest inhabited community in Jakarta. Shards of pots and pans, the sort of thing that gets archaeologists all excited while boring the pants off many museum visitors, have [...]

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The Wali Songo are revered throughout Indonesia as the wise men who brought Islam initially to Java but ultimately throughout the isles. Wali, which is used today to denote a civic leader as in Wali Kota or Mayor, Songo means nine. History though likes to play tricks with us and while their legacy is clear [...]

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As job titles go it is difficult to think of any more crass, more cynical than ‘comfort woman’. To the uninitiated it conjures up images of fair maidens, perhaps with a flower in their hair, permanent white smile, pandering to the needs of a weary traveller perhaps in an airport lounge or at an upmarket [...]

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