https://www.scmp.com/rss/323112/feed en https://assets.i-scmp.com/static/img/icons/scmp-meta-1200x630.png https://www.scmp.com Sprawled out on a hotel sofa in a dramatic black jumpsuit, a plunging neckline on show, Susi Pudjiastuti was in need of advice: should she take the cabinet post offered to her by Indonesian President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo “when I don’t work well with other people”? Two days later, on October 26, 2014, the one-time fish trader and owner of the country’s largest small-plane airline was named fisheries minister, one of the more eye-catching choices among the eight women in Widodo’s 34-strong... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/3038952/chinese-fishermen-hook-indonesia-now-pudjiastutis-gone?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/3038952/chinese-fishermen-hook-indonesia-now-pudjiastutis-gone?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 24 Nov 2019 04:00:18 +0000 American photojournalist Charlie Cole, whose career will forever be associated with an iconic photograph of the “Tank Man”, the Chinese office worker facing down a column of tanks during the 1989 Tiananmen Square crackdown, died in Bali last week. Cole, 64, a Bali resident for more than 15 years, was one of four cameramen who took similar shots of the scene – his taken with a telephoto lens from a Beijing Hotel balcony – but it was his tight framing of the event that is believed to have won him... https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/article/3026967/tiananmen-square-tank-man-photographer-charlie-cole-dies-bali?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/article/3026967/tiananmen-square-tank-man-photographer-charlie-cole-dies-bali?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 12 Sep 2019 17:30:08 +0000 The recent death of ageing Harlem gangster Frank “Superfly” Lucas, who embellished his otherwise colourful life with a litany of lies, revives the story of the so-called Cadaver Connection. Despite being portrayed as fact in the 2008 film American Gangster, starring Russell Crowe and Denzel Washington, this tale of a plot to smuggle heroin out of Thailand in the coffins of US servicemen who had died in the Vietnam war never actually happened. It was based on Lucas’ own fanciful recollections,... https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/southeast-asia/article/3012795/heroin-filled-coffins-death-american-gangster-frank-lucas?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/southeast-asia/article/3012795/heroin-filled-coffins-death-american-gangster-frank-lucas?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 02 Jun 2019 12:15:31 +0000 The North Jakarta District Court’s May 9 decision to sentence ethnic Chinese Jakarta Governor Basuki “Ahok” Purnama to two years’ imprisonment has turned him into a martyr for minority groups who are now wondering whether they belong to the country called Indonesia. It isn’t just the way the panel of judges ignored the downgrading of the blasphemy charge, contentious as it still was, but by ordering Purnama’s immediate arrest they deprived him of serving out his last six months in office while... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/2093980/ethnic-chinese-governors-jail-term-insulting-islam-stokes?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/2093980/ethnic-chinese-governors-jail-term-insulting-islam-stokes?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 11 May 2017 09:45:00 +0000 Appearing before foreign correspondents a few days ago, wealthy businessman Sandiaga Uno, the running mate of Jakarta gubernatorial candidate Anies Basweden, sought to convince his sceptical audience that next week’s election was all about unemployment, education and basic living costs. If only that was true. When Jakarta goes to the polls on Wednesday, upper- and middle-class citizens may look beyond religion, but the average voter will still be swayed by the ongoing blasphemy trial of... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/2087358/indonesias-ethnic-chinese-leader-over-hump?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/2087358/indonesias-ethnic-chinese-leader-over-hump?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 16 Apr 2017 04:15:00 +0000 After years of skirmishing with the Indonesian government, American mining giant Freeport McMoRan Copper & Gold has finally issued a 120-day ultimatum, saying it will go to arbitration over violations to the Contract of Work (CoW) it signed with President Suharto’s New Order regime 26 years ago. Drawing a line in the sand, Freeport McMoRan CEO Richard Adkerson told Mines and Energy Minister Ignasius Jonan during a torrid February 12 meeting that the firm would not budge from the sanctity of its... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/business/article/2073860/has-mining-giant-freeport-had-enough-indonesia?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/business/article/2073860/has-mining-giant-freeport-had-enough-indonesia?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 27 Feb 2017 00:30:00 +0000 JAKARTA THIS WEEK will vote for its next governor in an election that will be a crucial test of Indonesia’s secular credentials as hardline Islamist groups continue their rolling protests against alleged blasphemy by the ethnic-Chinese Christian incumbent. Wednesday’s election is unlikely to throw up a clear winner. More likely, Basuki Tjahaja Purnama, the 50-year-old governor, will fall short of the required 50 per cent majority and have to wait until April for a run-off against either former... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/2069931/will-race-and-religion-decide-jakartas-vote-ethnic-chinese?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/2069931/will-race-and-religion-decide-jakartas-vote-ethnic-chinese?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 12 Feb 2017 03:30:47 +0000 Indonesia’s corruption fighters are back in the depths of despair after the arrest on bribery charges of a justice of the Constitutional Court, the country’s highest legal institution, once considered a success story of the democratic era. Former National Mandate Party politician Patrialis Akbar, 58, was taken into custody by the Anti-Corruption Commission (KPK) last week, two and a half years after former Constitutional Court chief justice Akil Mochtar received a life sentence for the same... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/2067210/how-indonesia-found-itself-facing-constitutional-crisis?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/2067210/how-indonesia-found-itself-facing-constitutional-crisis?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 04 Feb 2017 12:00:15 +0000 The Indonesian Armed Forces commander General Gatot Nurmantyo is a blowback to another era, a variation on the Cold War warrior who, instead of Reds, sees Americans and Australians under every bed. He believes US Marines training in northern Australia are there for the eventual takeover of Papua, he suspects some of his own overseas-trained officers may be agents of influence and he thinks foreigners in general are engaged in a proxy war to undermine Indonesia. The debacle over his recent... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/2062023/widodo-his-paranoid-general-and-rotting-situation-indonesia?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/2062023/widodo-his-paranoid-general-and-rotting-situation-indonesia?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 15 Jan 2017 11:00:45 +0000 It is turning out to be a storm in a smaller-than-usual teacup, but the latest spat between Jakarta and Canberra over what was perceived to be insulting content in military training materials underlines once again the sensitivities surrounding Indonesia’s often brutal past. It also speaks to the current state of Jakarta’s domestic politics, with government sources revealing that President Joko Widodo didn’t know armed forces chief General Gatot Nurmantyo had suspended all military cooperation... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/opinion/article/2060039/how-australian-sas-raised-ghosts-indonesias-brutal-past?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/opinion/article/2060039/how-australian-sas-raised-ghosts-indonesias-brutal-past?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 08 Jan 2017 05:00:30 +0000 For years, politicians and media luminaries alike warned successive Indonesian democratic governments that removing fuel subsidies would lead to widespread civil unrest, similar to that which eventually triggered the downfall of the long-serving President Suharto. No-one seemed to notice when new President Joko Widodo did just that soon after coming to power in November 2014, nothing happened, not even a few burning tyres which had once scared off his predecessor, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono. So... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/2055299/why-do-indonesians-pay-three-times-much-food-tax-europeans?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/2055299/why-do-indonesians-pay-three-times-much-food-tax-europeans?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 18 Dec 2016 10:30:38 +0000 China’s signature US$5.1 billion Jakarta-Bandung high-speed rail project has been shelved for now. But Chinese infrastructure developers are still taking a dominant position in Indonesia’s ambitious 35,000MW electricity expansion. That’s surprising, given the disastrous 10,000-megawatt (MW) “crash” power programme, which finished years behind schedule and left state-run power supplier PLN with serious maintenance and performance issues. The crash programme started under the previous Susilo... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/geopolitics/article/2053395/why-does-indonesia-cling-its-plagued-chinese-infrastructure?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/geopolitics/article/2053395/why-does-indonesia-cling-its-plagued-chinese-infrastructure?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 11 Dec 2016 05:00:00 +0000 In all my half-century of drinking, I have only once encountered a pub with no beer. Ironically, that was the Macbeth Arms in the small Scottish village of Lumphanan, where my hallowed ancestor was slain by Malcolm III in 1057. There was a reason, of course. It was inconveniently closed for renovations. Imagine my horror then, when on a road trip along the northern Java coast to cover Indonesia’s 2014 presidential elections, I inadvertently stopped for the night at what turned out to be a TOWN... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/society/article/2047366/indonesias-got-drinking-problem-muslim-hardliners-who-want-ban?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/society/article/2047366/indonesias-got-drinking-problem-muslim-hardliners-who-want-ban?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 19 Nov 2016 08:00:00 +0000 Historically, Indonesia has always favoured the Republican Party. That’s mostly because of its trade policies, but Indonesians also remember it was President George W. Bush who finally ended the 15-year military embargo imposed on their country for the bloodshed in East Timor. President Barack Obama changed all that because of his childhood connections to Indonesia – and Donald Trump has only strengthened those sentiments with his anti-Muslim rhetoric, which left Hillary Clinton the clear... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/2044454/gloom-indonesia-it-prepares-difficult-donald-trump-presidency?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/2044454/gloom-indonesia-it-prepares-difficult-donald-trump-presidency?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 09 Nov 2016 10:30:45 +0000 Religion and politics appear to be developing into an explosive mix as Indonesia once again finds itself grappling with an overarching issue where conservative interpretations of Islamic teachings are at variance with the country’s constitutional dictates. When Jakarta Governor Basuki Purnama told voters they shouldn’t allow themselves to be fooled by the common interpretation of a Koranic verse instructing them not to vote for non-Muslim leaders, he gave Islamic extremists the opportunity they... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/opinion/article/2043137/why-ethnic-chinese-leader-indonesia-sitting-tinder-box-religion?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/opinion/article/2043137/why-ethnic-chinese-leader-indonesia-sitting-tinder-box-religion?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 05 Nov 2016 04:00:15 +0000 President Rodrigo Duterte’s calculated estrangement from the United States could have a profound impact on the Southeast Asian region’s struggle against Islamic terrorism at a time when cooperation appears to be deepening among extremist groups loyal to the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS). ISIS may be in its death throes in Iraq as a government-led task force closes in on its Mosul headquarters, but Institute of Policy Analysis (IPAC) director Sidney Jones said it could only increase the... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/geopolitics/article/2040581/dutertes-us-split-threatens-weaken-southeast-asias-struggle?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/geopolitics/article/2040581/dutertes-us-split-threatens-weaken-southeast-asias-struggle?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 27 Oct 2016 06:15:00 +0000 When Washington Post correspondent Keith Richburg paid a call on Davao City police chief Franco Calida in 1987, he found himself following a trail of blood up the wooden stairs to the Philippine Constabulary colonel’s second floor office. There, piled up like cordwood outside the office door were the bodies of suspected members of the New People’s Army (NPA) – the armed wing of the Communist Party of the Philippines – who had been killed the night before by a rag-tag vigilante force known as... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/geopolitics/article/2038320/duterte-always-loved-communists-except-when-he-was-killing?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/geopolitics/article/2038320/duterte-always-loved-communists-except-when-he-was-killing?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 19 Oct 2016 11:00:30 +0000 Indonesia’s unprecedented tax amnesty has so far sucked less than US$1.2 billion out of Hong Kong and China and persuaded Indonesians to declare a similar amount in previously undisclosed assets, but after the first three-month phase it is already clear the country’s elite is intent on keeping much of their wealth abroad. That means paying a four per cent tax on what they hold in overseas bank accounts, compared with the lighter two per cent penalty if they bring the money back and stash it in... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/business/article/2026148/can-tax-amnesty-coax-indonesians-baring-their-assets?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/business/article/2026148/can-tax-amnesty-coax-indonesians-baring-their-assets?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 09 Oct 2016 00:01:40 +0000 Acabinet reshuffle in Indonesia by President Joko Widodo that puts his former chief security minister and right-hand man Luhut Panjaitan in charge of maritime affairs is more about striking a political balance in the coalition government than adopting a harder line with China over disputed fishing rights in the South China Sea. Read more from This Week in Asia Widodo’s July 27 reshuffle, in which 13 of his 34 ministers were either replaced or moved sideways, came weeks after he held a cabinet... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/geopolitics/article/1999595/indonesia-has-these-bigger-fish-fry-south-china-sea?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/geopolitics/article/1999595/indonesia-has-these-bigger-fish-fry-south-china-sea?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 06 Aug 2016 08:02:36 +0000