How did Indonesia’s Economy Come Around?
Studying the Indonesian economy from a historical perspective is essential. A deep understanding of history is needed to support sustainable...
history
Kota Tua – A Stroll through Jakarta’s Historical Property
Jakarta is not just high-rise buildings and malls. The capital city is home to a multitude of grand buildings with...
Surabaya: A Journey Through Time
Have you ever wondered why Surabaya is nicknamed the City of Heroes? Well, here are two historical places in the...
Success in the Sky: The KLM Story (Part One)
The letters most commonly associated with the history of Dutch aviation are “K.L.M.,” which stand for Koninklijke Luchtvaart Maatschappij (“Royal...
The Role of Contemporary Art Museums in Indonesian Society
With the recent opening of the Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art in Jakarta, its Director Aaron Seeto reflects on...
The Dutch Pioneering Voyage to the East Indies
By Bartele Gallery Jakarta The last decade of the sixteenth century heralded the emergence of the Dutch as the colonial...
What the Temples of Indonesia Tell Us
We live in a vast archipelago nation alongside 129 active volcanoes. Traditional wooden houses in this region have withstood the...
Rockefeller and the Demise of Ibu Pertiwi
It was towards the end of my tour at the Australian Embassy in Jakarta when, in 1969, West Papua became...
Indonesia Through the Eyes of Rio Helmi
Best known for his large format photo books Memories of the Sacred (2011) and River of Gems (1991, with Lorne...
Indonesia’s old manuscripts are waiting to be deciphered
Mehamat Boru Karo Sekalu, a lady working in North Sumatra Museum reads an ancient book written in Batak letters, eloquently....
Borobudur Reliefs Tell Wise Tales
Borobudur Temple was built in the eighth century and has more than 2,670 reliefs. Each set of reliefs tells a...
Trouble in Paradise: Komodo Island, Tourism and Conservation
With Komodo Island gaining popularity in recent years as a favourite expat destination, it’s easy to only come for the...
Alfred Raquez’s Trip to Batavia
“Alfred Raquez” is the pseudonym of Joseph Gervais, a bankrupt French lawyer who fled to the Far East in the...
Tambora: Mysteries of a Lost Civilization
In addition to changing the global climate through “The Year Without Summer” and losing nearly half of its original altitude,...
Rebuilding Bima: An Expat’s Perspective on Resilience in the Face of Disaster
After encountering generous and passionate locals in the historical royal city of Bima in October of 2016, Grace Susetyo was...
Opinion: Saving Indonesia from the Mistakes of the West
Indonesia is a place that travellers speak of as a paradise. Advertisements for leisure travel depict pristine white sand beaches,...
Recruit To Revolution
John Coast was 31 when he flew to Bukittinggi in 1948. His life’s journey until that point had been one...
British Bengkulu: A Forgotten Imperial Outpost
Bengkulu, October 1685: The fort stood atop a small hillock on the banks of a coffee-coloured creek. To the west...
Cangkuang, West Java’s Small and Mystical Hindu Temple
Discovering one of the few Hindu-Buddhist relics ever to be discovered in West Java. One Tuesday morning, a gang of...
Life Back Then
Author of Olivia & Sophie, Rosie Milne, explores what expat life was like 200 years ago. My novel Olivia &...
The Influence of Javanese Music on Early Jazz
“Jazz has borrowed from other genres of music and also has lent itself to other genres of music.” – Herbie...