History - Indonesia at Melbourne

Farewell Richard Chauvel (1946–2022)

Edward Aspinall reflects on the life and career of the much-respected scholar of eastern Indonesia, Richard Chauvel, who died on 1 April.

Talking Indonesia: transnational human rights activism

History, Human Rights, Talking Indonesia

In Talking Indonesia this week, Dr Dirk Tomsa chats to Dr Vannessa Hearman about the letter-writing friendships that political prisoners under Soeharto developed with supporters and human rights activists overseas.

The Australian left is known for backing Papuan independence – but it wasn’t always this way

Analysis, Foreign Policy, History, Human Rights, Politics

Dominique Tasevski examines the history of the Australian Communist Party’s problematic and inconsistent position on Indonesian control over West Papua.

Learning (or failing to learn) from the lessons of the 1918 Spanish Flu

Analysis, History, Politics, Public health

Ravando Lie looks at what lessons the colonial government's experience with the 1918 Spanish Flu could provide for Indonesia as it struggles to get on top of Covid-19.

Talking Indonesia: China, Indonesia and the Cold War

Foreign Policy, History, Society, Talking Indonesia

What was Chinas role, if any, in the events of 1965? How did transnational ethnic ties and the daily practices of the ethnic Chinese influence state-to-state diplomacy at the time? Dr Charlotte Setijadi discusses these issues and more with Dr Taomo Zhou in Talking Indonesia.

Forced atonement? Dutch apologies and compensation for colonial era rights violations

Analysis, History, Human Rights, Politics

Olivia Tasevski examines the Dutch government's limited efforts to acknowledge and provide compensation for abuses committed by its forces during the colonial period.

Could violence against the ethnic Chinese in Indonesia happen again?

20 Years After Soeharto, Analysis, History, Politics, Society

This month marks 20 years since the riots and violence that erupted in cities including Jakarta, Medan and Solo, and mainly targeted Indonesia's ethnic Chinese population. In light of the recent surge in anti-Chinese sentiment in Indonesia, Dr Jemma Purdey questions whether violence like that of May 1998 could happen again.

Telegrams confirm scale of US complicity in 1965 genocide

Analysis, History, Human Rights

On 17 October, dozens of declassified files confirmed that the United States had detailed knowledge of and actively supported Indonesian military efforts to destroy the Indonesian Communist Party (PKI) and its alleged sympathisers. Dr Jess Melvin, who was involved in the declassification project, looks at the most significant revelations.

Locating the historical Kartini

Analysis, Gender, History

Over the past century, Kartini has been mythologised, misused and misread. Dr Joost Coté, a researcher and adviser on the recent film bearing her name, writes that despite her status as a national feminist icon, there is actually little factual historical information about Kartini.

Posted in: History