Posted in: Society

Talking Indonesia: Indonesia's new protest movements

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Ibu Ana, a housewife in Jakarta, caught the national mood when she was photographed in the rain in thongs and a pink headscarf, facing down a cordon of heavily armed police officers with the Indonesian flag on a bamboo pole. Who are these protestors? How did they mobilise so fast? What do they want and how will they achieve it?

‘Aura farming’: how my ancestral village in Riau sparked a global trend

The Indonesian Internet has strange taste. It is predisposed to producing deep-fried, offbeat memes that feel like they're formulated to implode the minds of older and getting-older people.

Talking Indonesia: school violence and bullying  

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In recent months, Indonesians have grown increasingly concerned and indeed outraged following several reports of deadly violence involving children as young as elementary school age. In a case in Riau in May, an eight-year-old boy died after complications due to a ruptured appendix, which his parents believe was the result of beatings he suffered at the hands of fellow students aged 11-13 years.

‘Sound horeg’: when public noise isn’t the people’s voice

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In Indonesia’s villages and small towns, a growing phenomenon is reshaping the public soundscape. Known as sound horeg—a colloquial term for ultra-loud mobile sound systems—these setups often feature towering stacks of homemade speakers, roaring subwoofers, and music blasted well into the night. They accompany everything from weddings to street parades, religious processions and secular celebrations.

Gangster populism: political impediment or strategic asset for Prabowo?

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Paramilitary mass organisations (ormas) have re-emerged in recent months as volatile high-profile actors, prompting concerns over the potential resurgence of informal coercive practices under Prabowo’s presidency.

‘Mysterious’ bamboo fence off Tangerang coast spotlights uneven urban development

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The Tangerang bamboo sea fence has sparked public controversy. For weeks, the public were left in the dark over the identity of the parties responsible. Who erected this 6 meter-high sea fence in the Java Sea? And why?

2024 year-end review: Winter is coming for Indonesia’s civil society forces 

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If what transpired in 2024 is any indication of what to come, we can safely say that 2025 will not be a democratic spring for Indonesia.

Talking Indonesia: revitalising Dutch colonial spaces

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In this episode, Tito Ambyo speaks with Remco Vermeulen, a PhD candidate at Erasmus University Rotterdam and coordinator of international cooperation in collection management at the Cultural Heritage Agency of the Netherlands.

Why the Brazil vs. Elon Musk saga is a red flag for Indonesia’s digital activists

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The Brazil-Musk conflict should be a wake-up call for Indonesian digital activists. The risk of X being blocked is real, and it highlights the fragility of relying on a single, privately owned platform.

Indonesia at Melbourne is supported by:

Melbourne Law School Asia Institute Centre for Indonesian Law, Islam and Society Indonesia Forum Faculty of Arts Indonesia Democracy Hallmark Research Initiative

Indonesia at Melbourne

Room 726, Level 7, 185 Pelham St,
The University of Melbourne
Parkville 3010 VIC Australia

Phone: +61 3 83448581

Email:  indo-at-melb@unimelb.edu.au

Date created: 1 July 2015

Editor: Ary Hermawan

Editorial board: 
Professor Tim Lindsey
Dr Tim Mann
Aron Corbett

We acknowledge and pay respect to the Traditional Owners of the lands upon which our campuses are situated.

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