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 […]
Indonesian Politics After the Widodo-Prabowo Rapprochement by Max Lane
Indonesian Politics After the Widodo-Prabowo Rapprochement by Max Lane “With the end of this rhetorical contestation and sense of polarisation, the ‘penny has dropped’ that there is no counter-force to Widodo’s government or its policies. Widodo has, and has always had, a relatively free hand to drive his trategic socioeconomic agenda — one that is […]
China is not a rich country, it’s poor! – Article by Dr Sam King
(Published at Internationalist Notebook Internationalist perspectives on anti imperialism, revolutionary struggle and social change.) *** If you were asked to compare the average Chinese income with the average income in the USA, what would you say? 80%? 60%? 30%? If we judged by the establishment propaganda campaign, Chinese income would be fast approaching that of the USA, […]
Books and Articles on Indonesia (and East Timor) by Max Lane published by ISEAS
Books and Articles on Indonesia (and East Timor) by Max Lane published by the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies – Yusof Isak Institute, Singapore. Max Lane, An Introduction to the Politics of Indonesian Unions, ISEAS, 2019. Max Lane, Decentralization and Its Discontents: An Essay on Class, Political Agency and National Perspective in Indonesian Politics, ISEAS, […]
“President Joko Widodo’s New Cabinet: Some Implications for Indonesian Politics” by Max Lane
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY • While the composition of President Widodo’s Cabinet indicates continuity in economic policy, recent developments suggest that the new Cabinet’s has political implications. • The rapprochement between Prabowo Subianto and Megawati Sukarnoputri and Joko Widodo, and Prabowo’s appointment as Minister of Defence have deflated the perception that the political elite had become ideologically […]
