Indonesia’s historical baggage over the last century and a half means that as we tip headlong into this new fangled thing people call globalization, Indonesia’s educational infrastructure is struggling to catch up to the 1970s. Forget concepts like the Internet, creative thinking and meritocracy, many students are still being sat in lines to learn rote [...]

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She was promised a well paying job as a waitress-receptionist in Batam. The establishment, although Chinese-owned, was fully halal, so, no need to worry. A few weeks later she was “liberated” when the police raided the place and arrested the owner for trafficking. She was angry. “Prostitution!” she exclaimed. “For that I could have stayed [...]

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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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Little is known of the Sriwijaya Empire, a polity that in its prime spread its tentacles across much of Southeast Asia from Central Java to the narrow Thai peninsula. From its centre in Palembang, Sriwijaya controlled the strategically vital Melaka Straits, levying tolls on the vessels that traded between China and India. Long before business [...]

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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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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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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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Batavia, as Jakarta was called during the colonial days, was once styled the “Queen of the East”. This label was lost in the early years of the 19th century when it became known as the “Cemetery of the Europeans”. After the Dutch East India Company, VOC, went bankrupt because of mismanagement and corruption, and was [...]

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Bandung, with its factory outlets and bakeries selling the ubiquitous brownie, this city has long been a favourite destination for Jakarta folk looking for a cooler shopping experience. Now, of course, with the advent of budget airlines it’s not only Indonesians flocking to splash the cash. People from Malaysia and Singapore are discovering it makes [...]

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The English, bless our little cotton buds, have always loved a gallant loser. Years of feeble cricket and football performances have assured us that we may not be, at the moment, the world power we assume we once were. But this is no recent phenomenon. Oh no, we’ve long been able to lose in the [...]

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