Posts tagged as:

Indonesia

Religion: Ramadan Karim! رمضان كريم!

August 22, 2009

Guest Post from Dragoman

Today marks the beginning of the month of Ramadan, throughout which Muslims fast from sunrise to sunset. The fasting period culminates in the celebration of the festival عيد الفطر :Īd al-Fiṭr‎ (Romanized as Idul Fitri in Indonesia and Aidilfitri in Malaysia), which is also known as Hari Raya (Malay for “The Grand Day”) in [...]

Read the full article →

Link: The Economist’s Banyan on Burma and Indonesia

August 20, 2009

This week’s opinion column on Asia in the Economist highlighted the ways Burma and Indonesia became fellow travelers in matters of military control of their society and how the two countries have parted ways in terms of development.
I was highly interested in this excellent piece because it echoes certain things that I argued in another [...]

Read the full article →

Travel: Yogyakarta, Indonesia

August 1, 2009

When we boarded the plane from Singapore to Jogjakarta, I could not wait to jump on a sepeda motor and hit the town. It was my first time heading back to the Javanese cultural centers since my first visit two years ago. I was excited to see the changes, show my friends the sites, test [...]

Read the full article →

Politics: Indonesia’s Parliamentary Elections: What’s Next?

May 23, 2009

Guest Post from Dragoman
The official results of Indonesia’s legislative elections were recently announced in Jakarta, indicating that President Yudhoyono’s Democratic Party (PD), with 150 seats out of the total 560, will hold the largest number of seats in the upcoming parliamentary session. Golkar will hold 107 seats, while Megawati’s Indonesian Democratic Party—Struggle (PDI-P), with 95 [...]

Read the full article →

Politics: Indonesia’s Embrace of Democracy and the Future “Asian Values” Debate

May 11, 2009

Guest Post from Dragoman
More than ten years ago, popular agitation in Indonesia, particularly in Jakarta, led to the downfall of post-colonial Southeast Asia’s longest-ruling strongman Soeharto. Since May 1998, Indonesia has moved from soft authoritarianism to being a thriving regional democracy with the experience of three relatively orderly and popularly legitimate general elections. With the [...]

Read the full article →

Religion: A Yoga Ban in Indonesia

February 3, 2009

Well, they finally decided. From the Associated Press:

Indonesia’s top Islamic body, the Ulema Council, barred Muslims from practicing yoga that contains Hindu rituals like chanting, the chairman of the group said Monday, citing concerns that it would corrupt their faith. The council issued the ruling after weekend talks by hundreds of theological experts in [...]

Read the full article →

Link: Eassays on Chinese Indonesians

January 26, 2009

Inside Indonesia’s most recent edition has a collection of essays on Chinese Indonesians ten years after reformas.

Read the full article →

Religion: After Malaysia, Indonesia Considers Yoga Ban

November 28, 2008

I had a feeling this would happen. After the fatwa on yoga in Malaysia, Indonesia is now considering a ban.
Here is an excerpt from the Straits Times:

JAKARTA: The Indonesian Council of Ulama (MUI) will investigate the practice of yoga in the country, which has the largest Muslim population in the world, before issuing an [...]

Read the full article →

Politics: Singapore on Obama

November 6, 2008

*Updated*
The United States’ influence and power has never been clearer to me than it has the past two days. As an International Relations major, I studied the theories, and I read the news. When I spent time abroad in China and Indonesia, I noticed the attention papers and news channels placed on the United States. [...]

Read the full article →

Life: Heading Home – An End to My Summer in Indonesia

August 19, 2007

Greetings from the Singapore airport. I have been here for about 7 hours, and I have to say – if you ever have to stay in an airport for 11 hours, this is the place to do it. Just a few more hours of free entertainment and good food before I head back to America.
The [...]

Read the full article →

← Previous Entries