Swapping shirts with Plato: Kicking the Atlantis Football Around
cIn contrast, popular publishers love it, as its inclusion in a book title is a powerful selling point. Recently there...
History/Culture
The Big Apple and the Spice Islands
For whatever reason, New York picked up the appellation ‘Big Apple’ – is it even appropriate? Unbeknownst to most people,...
West of the South-Eastern Islands
Nusa Tenggara Barat (NTB) is one of Indonesia’s 34 provinces. Wedged between Bali and the tiny island of Komodo, it...
Ende, Flores: The Womb that Conceived Indonesia
Grace Susetyo takes a trip to Ende, where Indonesia’s first president, Sukarno, was exiled between 1934-1938. President Sukarno used his...
Going, Going, Gone: In Search of the Ultimate Longhouse
Along with blowpipes, traditional tattooing, mastery of plaiting crafts, canoe-building and the custom of wearing huge bunches of metal earrings...
The Mysterious, Phantasmagoric World of Javanese Wayang Theatre
The morality and messages conveyed in Wayang Kulit plays still permeate Javanese thought and daily life. The spellbound audience is...
Operation Starfish: The Untold Story of Australian Commandos in Lombok, 1945
The Lombok Strait averages about a thousand metres in depth, though in places it is far deeper. And not only...
The Pasola Festival of Sumba | When the Worms Didn’t Come
In 1994, when travel journalist Ron Gluckman observed the Pasola ritual in Sumba, all of the “signs” were good –...
Sins of the Father
“The son shall not bear the iniquity of the father.” – Bible: Ezekiel 18:20 When I was 17 in mid-sixties...
Roehana Koeddoes: A Heroine of Education and Journalism
In Indonesia, Mother’s Day is celebrated on 22 December. Although it is neither a major celebration nor part of the...
Galungan: Biggest Day of the Year
Celebrating the creation of the world by the supreme god and the victory of goodness or virtue (dharma) over evil...
Comedy, Comics and Sketches of Real Life
You might already be familiar with Sacha Stevenson’s How to Act Indonesian YouTube videos in which Sacha makes some astute,...
Changing Faces of Batik
I first met Serbian artist Mikro Kosmos (Miroslav Dukic) in Borneo earlier this year. He played a didgeridoo which he...
Java’s First Photographer: Kassian Cephas (1845-1912)
The first rather rambling title for this article ran nearly three lines as it tried to convey that Kassian Cephas...
The History of Coffee in Indonesia
Imagine a world without coffee! Even if you are not a coffee drinker, imagine the shopping centres and high streets...
Embracing the Spirit of Ramadhan
The Muslim fasting month of Ramadhan is now in full swing. For recently arrived non-Muslim expatriates in Indonesia, it can...
Lutfi the Law Clerk: Finding Peace at Ramadhan
Sahur, the pre-dawn meal Muslims take before the first call to prayer during Ramadhan is tricky. Most Indonesians wake...
Lempad, a Timeless Balinese Master
Thirty six years after his death at the age of 116, the first complete presentation of the works of I...
South Solok: a Place with One Thousand Rumah Gadang
South Solok, located along mountain ranges of Sumatra, has a cool climate. While taking a trip from Padang city to...
The Salvador Dali Quest
After living in Southeast Asia back and forth for over twenty years, I have come to realize that most of...
Sailing the Spice Islands
The great arc of the Indonesian archipelago starts north of the island of Sumatra and curves south and east until...