Society 2 - Indonesia at Melbourne

In ‘spiritual’ Bali, women are not getting mental health care

Bali is world-famous as a centre of cultural and spiritual tourism that offers visitors spiritual healing and inner/outer balance - the ‘Eat, Pray, Love’ phenomenon. But the mental health of the Balinese is rarely talked about, especially when women are afflicted.

Talking Indonesia: gender transformation in rural Java

Gender, Society, Talking Indonesia

In this episode, recorded in the spirit of International Women's Day, Dr Clara Siagian chats with Dr Linda Susilowati about generational shifts in rural Javanese women's lives, the enduring weight of 'kodrat' (predetermined nature) and 'kewajiban' (obligation), and how Julia Suryakusuma's concept of State Ibuism appears in contemporary Indonesia.

Will Indonesia ever fully embrace its ‘cultural citizens’ worldwide?

Analysis, Policies, Society

Many in the diaspora, particularly those without Indonesian passports, feel that government initiatives to engage the diaspora, including the Global Citizenship of Indonesia (GCI), do not address core concerns such as property rights, political participation, and full recognition of their enduring ties to Indonesia.

Talking Indonesia: resilient patriarchies

Society, Talking Indonesia

Timor-Leste became independent from Indonesia in 2002, after 24 painful years of Indonesian occupation built on centuries of Portuguese colonisation. Both regimes were deeply violent and extractive and drew Timorese society into different forms of a valorised armed masculinity that would have repercussions well after Timor’s independence.

Laughing at power: the political significance of Pandji Pragiwaksono's ‘Mens Rea’

Analysis, Politics, Society

Mens Rea is filled with jokes that, in the context of Indonesian stand-up comedy, are often called materi pinggir jurang (cliff-edge material). They are dangeorous jokes, given the increasing risk of criminalisation that accompanies any critical expression in Indonesia.

The rise of new Muhammadiyah progressives under Prabowo

Environment, Religion, Society

Unlike JIMM activists, these new progressives advocate social and environmental justice and are heavily critical of Muhammadiyah’s venture into mining.

A year of protests: what 2025 says about Indonesian democracy

Politics, Review, Society

Indonesia’s pro-democracy forces cannot afford to remain divided. 2026 will not be easy for them. Whether Prabowo succeeds in consolidating his power or whether his bid to centralise political and economic power is met with opposition from other elites, the country is in for another tumultuous year.

Soeharto vis-à-vis Duterte: two opposite tales

Analysis, Politics, Society

In Jakarta, Soeharto’s portrait now hangs in the Hall of Heroes. In The Hague, Duterte’s mugshot sits in the ICC archive. Both images capture the same paradox: nations struggling to live with their dictators, yet unable to live without them.

Nahdlatul Ulama, mining and oligarchs

Analysis, Religion, Society

NU is now facing two grim prospects: first, the possibility of a protracted stalemate in which both sides run competing administrations; and second, that one or both of the opposing parties will take the matter to court, leading to drawn-out and expensive legal proceedings, deepening divisions rather than healing them.

Posted in: Society