Still Samba, Not Sambal
Kenneth Yeung looks at why football-crazy Indonesia still can’t reach the World Cup. Indonesia has long languished in the global...
Kenneth Yeung
Top 10 Stories From Indonesia in 2025
Kenneth Yeung looks back at some of the year’s top stories, another year older but no wiser. August Riots Mass...
Book Review: The Bard, the Bad and the Ugly
Kenneth Yeung reviews a poet’s prosaic recollection of expat life in Jakarta. In 2013, a 53-year-old, divorced New Zealand man...
Mixed Marriage in Indonesia: The Good, The Bad and The Ugly
Mixed Marriage in Indonesia: The Good, The Bad and The Ugly On setting out to write about “mixed race marriage”,...
Top 10 Times Asterix was Relevant to Indonesia
Kenneth Yeung looks at why Asterix is enduringly popular in Indonesia. French comic book hero Asterix was first translated into...
Manufacturing Hatred
Punishing those who propagate radical hate-speech is not enough. Their ultimate paymasters must be named and brought to justice. President...
Police Bust Bogus Bruneian Businessman Scam
Beware of helping friendly strangers wanting to use your bank account for business or charitable purposes, especially if they try...
The Root of All Evil
A travel agency has scammed millions of dollars from Muslims who wanted to visit Mecca. Victims are now clamouring for...
King Con Gets 18 Years for Murders
Notorious conman and cult leader Taat Pribadi, who gave himself the noble-sounding title of Dimas Kanjeng, has been sentenced to...
Taking Leaf of Their Sanity
A conman has been arrested near Jakarta after fleecing at least Rp.1 billion (US$75,000) from people who believed his “religious...
Elaborate Blackjack Scam Targets Unwary Expats
Tourists in Bali are still getting invited to houses and ensnared in card games in which they lose big-time. How...
German Expat and Indonesian Wife Jailed for Bali Resort Swindle
A German and his Indonesian wife convinced an Australian and his Indonesian wife to invest over US$700,000 in the expansion...
Aura Explorers Abusing Girls
Is negative energy preventing you from achieving your goals or passing a test? Do you want to be more attractive...
Online Dating Deception
Love and lust, facilitated by dating apps, can make people blind to fraud. Indonesia’s dating scene has changed big time...
New Year, Old Cons
Despite repeated calls for a national ‘mental revolution’, Indonesia remains ripe for scams perpetrated by self-styled holy men claiming magical...
Dirty Money
When buying votes or buying sex, some people resort to using counterfeit cash. Results can be fatal. The precise amount...
The Old School Swindle
Police in Jakarta have busted a syndicate that tricked parents into believing their children had been involved in accidents, requiring...
Opinion: Rent-a-Mobs & Religious Red Herrings
(Note: The views, anecdotes and opinions in this article belong to the writer and do not necessarily reflect those of...
Pulling Your Leg
Some creative beggars are posing as amputees in order to elicit more sympathy. Meanwhile, one gang is kidnapping children and...
King Con: How Dimas Kanjeng Graduated from Tricks to Murder
A con man who pretended he could magically double people’s money was just operating a Ponzi scheme cloaked in religious...
The Sexual Gymnastics of Women in Madura
Madura women are famed for their ability to enhance sex by clenching their vaginal muscles. Some even take sexual gymnastics...