WHEN WILL WE  TREAT INDONESIA SERIOUSLY?Guarantee: This report is free of US political toxins. The contents are purely local.The title question deserves a cynic’s response:… Read More

 FACTS SACRED,  PACTS NOTIt's a hoary oldie publicity hook: Imagine something improbable  and feed off the controversy.Launching a balloon’s a common tactic in domestic… Read More

 WHO RUNS INDONESIA?  TAKE A WHIFF\Indonesian politicians are getting in a righteous tizzy over child protection. Their target is online pornography and gambling, and their condemn… Read More

COPING WITH A GO-ALONG TO GET-ALONG SOCIETY          Joe Kirk doesn’t use the words “foreigner” or “bule”… Read More

STOP TELLING, START LISTENING:  Owen's Guide for Do-GoodersThe 1998 Jakarta riots, the fall of President Soeharto and his 32-year-old authoritarian Orde Baru (New Order)  rule and… Read More

CONTROL THE PAST -THEN THE FUTURE. THUS SPOKE ORWELL            It’s been argued that Indonesia’s next President may be good for Australian int… Read More

  ETHICS FOR NEWSLETTER EDITORS  RESPOND: If  you invite submissions; acknowledge receipt and say when you’ll reply.DISCIPLINE: Stick to the response date.READ… Read More

 THE PAST IN INDONESIA IS NOT ANOTHER COUNTRYAs it is with all legends, the more distant the memory, the greater the reverence and the sketchier the details.This pithy observation comes… Read More

 RUNNING LOW ON CASH AND TIME                    At the end of 2023, there were three clear signs that Indonesia's new capita… Read More

 A BETTER  SERVICE MAY NEVER  BE TRANSMITTED                     The Indonesian government's TVRI channel is suppos… Read More

  The ABC has a number of MOUs with public sector and state-funded media across the Indo-Pacific region.   These complement the content distributions agreements unde… Read More

 HOW TO DO THE RIGHT THINGAustralian Duncan Graham originally wanted to be an Anglican priest. Then he was rescued by journalism. Now in mainly Muslim Indonesia with the call to prayer… Read More

 THE MILITARIST AS MILKMAN                 ABC TV’s Landline programme has declared that “Australia's dairy industry i… Read More

 THE X GANG AND A GHOST BOAT               They’re among Australia’s most wanted, but what police call the ‘X gang led by… Read More

 TRADE UP, BUT TRICKLES DOWN               Pic: Oxfam: "Growing inequality is undermining the fight against poverty… Read More

 THE LEARNED SOLUTION: FIX PROBLEMS WITH VIOLENCEAre you well-armed, fired up, pitchfork to hand?  The quarry is elusive, his background suspect but we know his name - DV. Are we g… Read More

 THE COURT DECIDES, THE DOOM FOLLOWS?         As predicted in Pearls & Irritations earlier this month, an appeal by the two losing candidates in t… Read More

 WRITE-UP TO WRITE DOWN: NICKEL DIVES DEEP21 workers died in an accident at a Chinese nickel smelter on Sulawesi island.  Most were Indonesians.Indonesia’s incoming leader, t… Read More

 SO THERE, ALLAH, WE PASSED YOUR TEST                         There are five major and hundreds of minor religions in th… Read More

 AUSTRALIA’S BORDER FARCE                      A small group of presumed asylum… Read More

 LOSERS WHINGE, WINNERS RULE From left:  Winner, then losers   Credit KompasA tip to take a wee shot at understanding the way of doing politics in Indonesia:  Suspen… Read More

 ANYHOW, HAVE AN ENVELOPE                                          &nb… Read More

 CLIVE OF INDONESIA KEEPS MUM First a confession:  I’d heard of Australian Clive Williams the late President Soeharto’s enigmatic intermediary and started searching. &n… Read More

 UNALIGNED - OR UNDECIDED?  PRABOWO,  CHINA AND USThe pic that should stir Washington.  The pious general and the godless leaderThis week Prabowo Subianto has been in Bei… Read More

 THE KRAKEN WAKES - CLOSE BY  O Judgment ! Thou art fled to brutish beasts, and men have lost their reason. ― William Shakespeare, Julius CaesarThe cross-eyed sidek… Read More

THINGS UNSAID, PEOPLE UNSEEN            The irony was thick as lard, yet seemingly ignored by legacy media.. What an indigestible image for International Women… Read More

 INDIFFERENCE KILLING DEMOCRACYA reason for Indonesians overwhelmingly supporting cashiered general Prabowo Subianto and a likely military dictatorship is because the electorate rarely… Read More

A PARADE OF TALK GOING NOWHERE Count the womenASEAN has been around for so long media outlets rarely spell the full name - Association of Southeast Asian Nations.  That sounds significa… Read More

WE’RE HERE TO HELP -  TRUST US Photo:  DeTik.comDefence Minister Richard Marles telling Indonesians of “shared collective security” is irony rich. In February ne… Read More

 THE COMING OF FEAR If liberty means anything at all, it means the right to tell people what they don’t want to hear. ― George Orwell (Eric Blair) Later this year it&rs… Read More

 KEEPING IT IN THE FAMILYWhy did well over half the 200-plus million Indonesian registered electors choose disgraced general Prabowo Subianto as their next President?  Duncan… Read More

 INDONESIA CHOOSES - BACK TO THE PAST               First, the good news from Jakarta on the day after the national election.The asphalt wi… Read More

FAREWELL DEMOCRACY There’ll be a good indicator - if not a firm result - by the time most Australians go to bed tonight.  Then we’ll know if the ferociously ambitious P… Read More

 COMING SOON - D(ECISION) DAYTis the season to be electing: In 2024  four billion will pick leaders in the US, India, South Africa and 70 others. Among the first is Indonesia. … Read More

 LOVE ME, LOVE MY VOTE                            … Read More

 SHAFTED BY ETIQUETTE Just a fortnight to Indonesia’s big 14 February election and the mood is shifting as more than 200 million electors realise the reality - they’re being… Read More

 SEX AND THE SEA:  SLUGS NOT FOR SHARING       Australians ended 2023 to shock-horror reports of "the largest cohort of foreign fishers to be detained in o… Read More

 Click the YouTube here: https://youtu.be/V_9-zWDihTg?si=6X2I1lJTZ8ag0xGK Read More

 THE DELIGHTFUL DUOIt looks like a student parody of two pretenders to the throne, but this is from a street poster promoting candidates for the Gerindra Party, cashiered former general… Read More

 FIVE REASONS WHY INDONESIA’S EV PLAN IS POWERLESS   Duncan GrahamTo an Indonesian conservationist all lights look green.The wondrous 16,000-island archipelago has nicke… Read More

 YAWNING DEMOCRACY IN INDONESIA Is it possible to overdose on politics?  In Indonesia, yes. There’s a month left before the 14 February deciding date - and the road signs are… Read More

 TAKING THE FOREIGN OUT OF AFFAIRS                     How to get the young involved in current affairs? Politicians shy from the… Read More

 GOODISH GUY IN BAD COMPANY Gibran Rakabuming Raka is smarter than his stolid Dad Joko 'Jokowi' Widodo, President of our huge neighbour since 2014.  As Vice President Gibran c… Read More

  BOAT BOY SHAME  MORE THAN A MINOR MATTER   The Federal Court is set to endorse a Commonwealth payout to settle a 13-year scandal.About 220 Indonesian men will shar… Read More

  Equality is risky - best stay with blokes                       &nbs… Read More

 BOAT PEOPLE’S HOPES BEACHEDThe Monsoon rains are moving south and the people smugglers are back in business. Duncan Graham reports from a remote beach in northwest Indonesia… Read More

 REVENGE OF THE JUNGLE LOOMSIndonesia’s biggest-ever civil engineering project deep in Borneo’s equatorial jungle should supposedly address a serious  social and enviro… Read More

FASCISM -THE FEAR THAT’S NEAR Credit:  Inside Indonesia Could Australia face a fascist leader next door after the Indonesian Presidential election in February? That&rsqu… Read More

 SAYING IT IN STONE  - OR PLASTER Visitors to Bali will have admired the statues of events from Hindu ancestry - or just playful advertising.  Either way the sculpture sk… Read More

 At last - the Oz media recognises IndonesiaWhadya reckon - an update on the bruising election campaign? A thoughtful piece about Indonesia's US$22 billion debt to China? A serious conc… Read More

 BACK WHERE THEY DON’T BELONG                        In Indonesia old soldiers never die; they just infi… Read More

THE GHOSTS IN THE VOTE MACHINE                           &nb… Read More

 THE CLUMSY NATION CAN’T GET TRADE TRACTION We claim to be traders but less than four per cent of our goods head to Southeast Asia - a market of more than 688 million. Trade… Read More

 IN THE BEGINNING WAS THE WORD - AND IT WAS UWRFUWRF founder and energiser Janet DeNeefe Was this year’s Ubud Writers and Readers Festival worthwhile? My word - the peop… Read More

 HOW TO CHOKE EV USE - CAR FIRST, SERVICES LATER The High Court striking down Victoria’s electric vehicle levy shows policies around the technology are a dog’s breakfas… Read More

 The making of a dynasty and unmaking of democracy                     Indonesian politics are played hard. Corruption i… Read More

 MUD LADY MAKES CONSERVATION COOL               She’s Indonesia’s Greta Thunberg minus the environmental activist’s Swedis… Read More

 WHAT ELSE DO WE NEED TO NO?                                         The ke… Read More

 The final question: Bury or burn?Joe's burial in Blitar Many tourists in Bali will have witnessed Ngaben, the open-air Hindu cremations. Those for the rich and famous can be spect… Read More

 TROUBLES NEXT DOOR? NOT OUR PROBLEM                         An Australian academic is risking an eruptio… Read More

 NO WORRIES, THEY’RE ONLY PASSING BY             In the early 1960s, the then USSR started building missile sites in Cu… Read More

 INDONESIA HAS WHAT WE LACK - A DAY OF UNITY                        &n… Read More

   AUSTRALIAN UNIVERSITIES RUSH  TO “EDUCATE” INDONESIA Despite a lack of solid results, a growing number of Australian universities are rushing to set u… Read More

INDONESIA ALERT: THE COLONIALISTS ARE COMING        Credit:  USNI  Did colonialism ever die? Distant major powers are making life-and-death… Read More

 MEDIA STATEMENTFederated Australian Scriptural Christians In Secular TimesWe now have firm evidence that the Holy Book was seized by global Satanic forces and mistranslated centuries a… Read More

He came, he saw, he wandered                                             &n… Read More

 WHAT YOU HEAR MAY NOT BE WHAT THEY SAY     A Bill-free meeting I can’t tell you Bill’s real  name, but can authenticate he was a hIgh-level Au… Read More

                      IT'S A DOLL'S LIFE  Geo-politics is played on a world chessboard often by sad oldies in sober… Read More

 A  genocide howling for an apology gets ‘regrets' Before he left for a brief trip to Sydney, Indonesian President Joko ‘Jokowi’ Widodo took a stab… Read More

  A white elephant in the jungle needs a diet of dollars              Joko ‘Jokowi’ Widodo is scheduled to visit Australia… Read More

 Better hate than never                            … Read More

 Hawks only become doves in election season                           Any plan to try and end the Ukraine war… Read More

Distorting the news          Damn the Chinese - who do think they are, shoving Aussies around? Their latest arrogance after banning our barley an… Read More

Be a man, consume till it kills. It will                                         &nbs… Read More

 Compromise worked in Aceh - why not Papua?             There are parallels between Indonesia’s Aceh where an Ozzi… Read More

      DOING LOTS WITH LITTLE ON MAGIC ISLAND             Our Jakarta Embassy is the ’world’s largest Australian diplom… Read More

 INDONESIANS EMBRACE DEMOCRACY - BUT DO ITS LEADERS?   Prabowo, Anies, Ganjar.   Source: Straits Times                 … Read More

   SNUBBING THE NEIGHBOURS  Seen from Indonesia, Australia’s increasing closeness to the Anglosphere corrodes the view ‘that Asia is where our future sub… Read More

Rubbishing our reputation Here’s a rough guide to Westerners visiting Indonesia.Ambassador Penny Williams (Embassy) Bali gets chosen for its cheap packaged holidays… Read More

 The Jakarta Cup’s favourites train in Oz                            … Read More

               Indonesian politics scores an own goal135 fans died here after a game It’s the biggest story next door but barged offside by… Read More

 Butchering the BardWarning:  Some readers may find the details below offensive, as they involve dismemberment.This is a story of a murder, the torture and despatch of our beloved… Read More

            Wake in fright but fear not; Ramadan’s hereCredit: Anadolu Agency It’s 1444 on the Islamic calendar and the holy month of… Read More

 A story likely to end badly - then continue  Picture released by kidnappersIt’s the decades-long human rights tragedy next door that Australia avoids. Abuses in Myanmar… Read More

SLANK SPECIALCopy this link and click to watch and hear President Joko Widodo's favourite group with our song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-gkGKdwbcAMIgnore the ads at the startSlan… Read More

     Indonesia’s untouchables stay that way The outcome of a massive police-caused tragedy on Indonesia’s Java Island  got less media coverage than a sil… Read More

 BLASTS FROM THE PAST                 Wellington 26 January 2035: Ten years ago this week the first nuclear-armed missile landed on Aus… Read More

WANT TO CHANGE BAD WAYS?  SHOW HOW Yong Ardinal doesn’t have to roll up his trousers and wade into the brown stream.  He’s an entrepreneur employing many locals to do t… Read More

 Lock up your resources, the Aussies are comingIgnorance and fear can be effective weapons in a manipulative politician’s arsenal.  They’re guaranteed to pierce the arm… Read More

Warm fuzzies, blizzards of bland but no treaty           Marles, Prabowo, Wong, RetnoAre Australia and Indonesia heading towards a security agreement / treaty m… Read More

 Visit Malang Where Satire’s Real DepositphotosThis story was going to start by saying Beyoncé winning the Grammys was a godsend to the Indonesian media, but on reflection… Read More

 Stranger danger? The neighbour we know nowt aboutCredit:  Detik.comHe’s an enigma and a tease, a knotty man difficult for outsiders to unravel. Just when rationalists though… Read More

 The ABC of talking to neighbours  Image:  ABCDo we care how others see us? Not much if our prime showcase ABC Australia is a guide. It seems Corporation managers take a… Read More

     What’s in a name?  EverythingCredit:  British VogueIn the applause showered on Jacinda Ardern at the close of her term there’s one credit missing: T… Read More

  King-maker queen could call our neighbour’s pres Credit: PDIPIndonesia is a republic, though that’s hard to believe when a queen will decide who’s likely to be the… Read More

   Sorry business should be sooner and sincereWhen is a purge a genocide? When a young Australian researcher finds solid   evidence that’s long eluded international scho… Read More

How an Australian freed an unfinished nation’s history   Our relationships with Indonesia are usually measured through stories of terror and disaster, aid and trade, rarely anythi… Read More

 The searcher who cared and sharedJohn Darling making Lempad of Bali Through special visas Sandiago Uno wants access to the wallets of ‘digital nomads’, Gen Zedders wit… Read More

  Season’s Fearings Will it be safe for Christians this Saturday night in Indonesia?  The signs of the festive season used to be plastic mistletoe and corflute Santas in shop… Read More

 The darling buds of Bali           Bali is so unlike the rest of Indonesia it seems unmoored from the archipelago.   Before the island was scarred b… Read More