Jakarta will always sit at the centre of how we imagine Indonesian urban life. But many of the country’s most consequential urban stories are unfolding elsewhere – in Solo, Denpasar, Pekalongan, ...

Another youth initiative, Nurturang, echoes the reclaiming of public spaces, but this time the public space is Bali’s history ...

Through these depictions, Surabaya’s identity as an advanced colonial port city or battlefield of resistance is reimagined as ...

Benteng Kedung Cowek in Surabaya has become known less for its military history and more for its angker, sinister, aura. The fort was a vital site for the Battle of Surabaya on 10 November 1945.

Gestapu An abbreviation invented by army propagandists in early October 1965 to refer to the 30 September Movement (Gerakan Tiga Puluh September). Although it did not accurately abbreviate the ...

Three decades after Suharto fell, the army is back. On the night of 8 May 2026, a screening of the documentary film Pesta ...

According to local resident Om Nono Muma, most of residents in the small West Sumatran town of Sawahlunto are descendants from migrants who came from other parts of Indonesia, particularly Java, to ...

The collapse of the New Order during the Asian financial crisis paved the way for many political and economic reforms in Indonesia. In exchange for development aid, multilateral donor agencies such as ...

A business alliance forged in 2008 between Joko Widodo and Luhut Pandjaitan formed the basis for a major axis in his presidency As Coordinating Minister for Maritime Affairs and Investment Luhut ...

Pro-reformasi demonstrators in Solo, May 1998 / Sunaryo Haryo Bayu, Solopos, 1998. Hearing about my mother's experiences in May 1998 became a pivotal moment that has shaped my life. ‘Every second, I ...

In the past two years race and racism has come to the forefront of political and social debate in many countries, including Indonesia. America’s #BlackLivesMatter movement resonated globally and ...

How do we explain victories of neo-strongmen at recent democratic elections? There is no single answer to this question, but one aspect that requires our attention is the changing nature of election ...