ASIA INSTITUTE Public Lecture: Indonesia, politics and underdevelopment.

“The crisis to come: Indonesia and the politics of 21st century underdevelopment”.  ASIA INSTITUTE Public Lecture – Speaker: Max Lane University of Melbourne Thursday 15 April, 6.30pm –  Theatre A, Elisabeth Murdoch Building Admission is free. Bookings are required. Seating is limited. For further information or to register: click here  

EVENT: Indonesia in 2010: what kind of neighbourhood?

Anti-government protest, Jogja, 2010 Indonesia in 2010: what kind of neighbourhood? 18 Feb, 6pm for 6.30pm  GLEEBOOKS, Glebe Point Rd., Glebe ALL WELCOME at above time and place. You can help by RSVPing to: morgan@gleebooks.com.au An “In Conversation” discussion flowing from Max Lane’s book: UNFINISHED NATION: Indonesia before and after Suharto, (Verso, 2008). Max Lane […]

INDONESIA: Book bannings spur struggle for political liberty

On December 23, the Indonesian Attorney General’s Department announced the banning of five books. Soon afterwards, it became known that the attorney general is looking at possibly banning another 20 titles. This follows the banning of the film Balibo, which tells the story of Suharto’s invasion of East Timor and the suppression of history textbooks […]

INDONESIA: Abdurrahman Wahid: contradictions of an unsuccessful democrat

Abdurrahman Wahid, the president of Indonesia between 1999 and 2001, died on December 30, aged 69. His death was met by a wave of commentary and discussion praising his contribution to Indonesian society, especially from the humanitarian and liberal democratic sectors: intellectuals, NGOS and human rights advocates. These sectors, with some justification, lamented his death […]

INDONESIA: Links and more reports on January 28 actions

Below are links to a few more reports – in English – on the lead up to the January 28 protests in Indonesia. As indicated in an earlier posting on this blog the main progressive alliance mobilising in Jakarta was FOR INDONESIA (Front Opposisi Rakyat Indonesia). From perusing the media it seems that different progressive […]

INDONESIA: PHOTOS/REPORTS: FOR INDONESIA January 28 protest actions

INDONESIAN PEOPLES OPPOSITION FRONT (FOR INDONESIA) prepares to march on January 28 (yesterday) protesting the failure of the Yudhoyono government to improve the plight of the people and calling for a united peoples government. January 28 was the anniversary on the first 100 days of Yudhoyono’s second term and was a day of protest by […]

INDONESIA: Politics: New progessive activists alliance

New Indonesian activists alliance calls for national protest action  A new alliance or united front organization was formed in January in Indonesia to fight the current neo-liberal policies of the Indonesian government. Its leaflet calling for a January 28 protest action lists 17 organisations. These include student and trade union organizations (including transport and electricity […]

INDONESIA: Education and social inequality

From the 1986-2006 cohort of students who entered first year of primary school in 1986: 27% did not finish primary school; 55.8% did not finish junior high school; 75.5 did not finish senior high school.  (ESR, World Bank, 2007) Only 7 % of student who finished school came from the poorest 20% of the population. […]