“As Covid year 2020 ends, so too does the first year of the second and final term of the presidency of Joko Widodo. One year in, all the sheen of being the “hope” for Indonesia has vanished. No longer viral are the iconic silhouettes of Jokowi’s head, copying the famed style of the silhouette of […]
Protests Against the Omnibus Law and the Evolution of Indonesia’s Social Opposition
by Max Lane “On October 8, unionised workers as well as university and high school students protested for the repeal of the Omnibus for Work Creation Law (Omnibus Law) that had been passed by Indonesia’s House of Representatives on October 5, 3 days earlier than expected. Some small protests took place immediately on October 5, […]
Thousands take to Indonesia’s streets in angry protests against pro-business law
by James Balowksi. “Tens of thousands of people took to the streets across Indonesia last week in a series of angry and sometimes violence protests against the passage of the government’s widely unpopular Omnibus Law on Job Creation, which will further deepen attacks on working conditions and the environment. On October 5, […]
Nation-wide Protests against Anti-People Laws in Indonesia
by Pipin Jamson. Read here.
Read RED ANT Blog yet? Here are August’s articles.
August articles in RED ANT: Woolworths’ Workers Walkout over Covid19 By Thomas Edwardson August 3 Thoughts Under Lock-down: a Socialist Housing Policy By Andrew Martin August 6 Mauritian Oil Disaster: Urgent Solidarity Needed By RED ANT August 12 Trump Plans to Sabotage Elections to Retain Power By Barry Sheppard August 14 Reflections on a political […]
Reflections on a political journey
by Max Lane It is five years since John Percy passed away from illness. I knew John for a long time and I knew him very well from about 1991. In 1991 he was National Secretary of the Democratic Socialist Party (DSP), a task he performed for almost 15 years. After that his main task […]
COVID-19’s Impact on Indonesia’s Social Opposition: The Examples of Labour Rights and the Papuan Question
Singapore | 11 August 2020 ISEAS Perspective by Max Lane “While the rapprochement between President Widodo and his rival Prabowo Subianto has subdued the sense of polarisation among the Indonesian elite, signs of a polarisation between critical sections of civil society and the government and parliament continue to grow.” To read the article, […]
Review Essay: The Party and International Solidarity: by Nick D.
John Percy’s book, Keeping the Red Flag Flying was published in 2020 by Interventions. It focuses on the 1990s and early 2000s when the Democratic Socialist Party (DSP) was the largest revolutionary socialist group on the Australian left. As it follows Percy’s two books, A History of the Democratic Socialist Party and Resistance, Volume 1: 1965-72 (2005) and, Against the Stream, […]
Indonesia’s State Ideology Bill: A Brewing Controversy – by Max Lane
Since June, a controversy has erupted over the “Pancasila Guidelines Bill” (RUU HIP, Haluan Ideologi Pancasila) now being discussed in parliament. This Bill sets out to interpret the Panca Sila, a set of five principles attached to the Indonesian constitution. The five principles are often summarised to be: belief in one God, humanity, national unity, […]
The Politics of National and Local Responses to the COVID-19 Pandemic in Indonesia
by Max Lane (ISEAS Perspective : ISSUE: 2020 No. 46, Singapore | 15 May 2020) INTRODUCTION On March 31, President Joko Widodo issued Government Regulation No 21/2020 allowing Large Scale Social Restriction (Pembatasan Sosial Berskala Besar – PSBB) aimed at limiting the spread of COVID-19.1 The event marked the beginning of a relatively stable approach […]
