Contesting Rights in Urban Development
Contesting Rights in Urban Development: A Case Study on Air Pollution in Greater Jakarta, Indonesia Author: Wira Agung Swadana Many people have stopped wearing masks because of the Covid-19 pandemic. The WHO Director-General has declared the end of the Covid-19 pandemic as a global public health emergency in early May 2023 (UN News, 2023). The Indonesian […]
NI SIQUIERA SÉ SI ÉL AÚN ESTÁ VIVO O NO”: DESAPARICIONES FORZADAS EN INDONESIA
“I don’t even know whether he is still alive or not”: Enforced disappearances in Indonesia Author: Aldo Marchiano Kaligis “Until today, I still keep my son’s National Identity Card and his name on the Family Card. So how can I forget him? How can the government forget him?“ When I was working for Amnesty International […]
The Indonesian Election and Peace in Aceh: an example worth following
The Indonesian Election and Peace in Aceh: an example worth following Author: Michael Vatikiotis Originally Published at Peace and Conflict Monitor on: 04/22/2009 The recently held general election in Indonesia demonstrated convincingly that plural societies in Southeast Asia can be trusted to express their popular will without resorting to violent conflict. For many years it […]
Peace in Aceh
Three years after the historic Memorandum of Understanding was signed, Endro Kristanto discusses the long standing struggle between Aceh independence advocates and the Indonesian government, the current challenges to peace, and the necessities of building trust, protecting human rights, and moving towards political reconciliation.
Waiting for the Rain
During my travels across Indonesia, I saw the ongoing devastation that these two bombings, along with other worldwide incidents have had on the people of Indonesia. I have traveled in Indonesia off and on, since 1997, just as Indonesia was undergoing the first pangs of its financial crisis and subsequent political upheaval. Strangely, most times I visited the country it was either facing elections or it was right in the middle of them so in the past there was certainly a thick air of tension. However, nothing I encountered in the past comes close to the feeling that now seems to sit in the deep burrows of its people. In most voices there is a sound of grief, confusion, and distress – yet, the innate resilence and optimism of the Indonesians also shines though; it is this smile, and its acknowledgement of hope that I have always loved coming back to.