https://www.scmp.com/rss/326084/feed en https://assets.i-scmp.com/static/img/icons/scmp-meta-1200x630.png https://www.scmp.com Wili Lo spent all afternoon in the backstage area of a music festival in Bogor, a satellite city just outside the Indonesian capital, Jakarta, last Saturday. A picture of concentration, he recited an incantation as he held both his hands in the air. He then knelt down, slowly moving his hands, before bringing them together while looking up at the sky. Lo then proceeded to walk in a circle, anticlockwise. It rained briefly that afternoon, something Lo was not too happy about. He stuck with his... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/family-relationships/article/3048875/weather-men-how-indonesias-rain-masters-keep-skies?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/family-relationships/article/3048875/weather-men-how-indonesias-rain-masters-keep-skies?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 05 Feb 2020 09:30:06 +0000 Every Friday night at a house in the Indonesian capital of Jakarta, a church group meets to discuss issues surrounding gender and sexuality. There are usually 12 to 15 people, but only a handful attend regularly. One of them is Calpin Yeremia, who has been dropping by every week since last year. Yeremia is currently studying to become a pastor at a theological school in the city. But there is one problem – he is transgender and there are no such pastors in the Muslim-majority nation. Born a... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/family-relationships/article/3021586/lgbt-indonesia-how-first-church-welcome-queer?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/family-relationships/article/3021586/lgbt-indonesia-how-first-church-welcome-queer?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 07 Aug 2019 00:30:07 +0000 Rows of motorcycles are parked neatly at the entrance of an alley near Tugu railway station, in the Indonesian city of Yogyakarta. A surly bouncer sits in front of a small desk, collecting a spurious “cleanliness and security” fee from patrons entering the dimly lit passageway. The alley leads to Bong Suwung. It is a red-light area, or “lokalisasi” in the Indonesian language. Tucked away behind the railway station – the city’s largest – it stays under the radar of most members of the... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/article/2169172/how-prostitutes-benefit-union-indonesia-sex-workers-protected-and-taught?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/article/2169172/how-prostitutes-benefit-union-indonesia-sex-workers-protected-and-taught?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 22 Oct 2018 00:45:45 +0000 Rianti’s childhood dream was to serve in the Indonesian National Armed Forces. So when she turned 20 last year, she signed up for entry tests for a military posting in Jayapura, the provincial capital of Papua. She was told that the first day involved only administrative paperwork. When she saw women walking in and out of a small room in the test centre, though, she became curious. “I didn’t know why they were being called into the room, but I remember the women’s expressions when they walked... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/article/2160023/virginity-tests-put-indonesian-women-military-service-often-performed-men?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/article/2160023/virginity-tests-put-indonesian-women-military-service-often-performed-men?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 18 Aug 2018 06:45:30 +0000 The upcoming 2018 Asian Games, to be held in Indonesia, is the largest event of the year for any sports fan in Asia. The Indonesian government has spent 45 trillion rupiah (US$3.2 billion) on infrastructure, logistics and advertising for the two-week-long, pan-Asian multi-sport event, which starts on August 18. Teams from 45 countries will compete in 40 sports in two cities, Palembang and the capital, Jakarta. Is Jakarta becoming one of the world’s great coffee capitals? Most events, and the... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/travel-leisure/article/2154414/2018-asian-games-five-things-see-jakarta-and-where-stay-if?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/travel-leisure/article/2154414/2018-asian-games-five-things-see-jakarta-and-where-stay-if?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 10 Jul 2018 00:45:45 +0000 Arifuddin Lako never had formal training in filmmaking, but in February he released a 40-minute film in the Indonesian capital, Jakarta. Titled Jalan Pulang (The Way Home), it tells the story of an Islamist militant combatant and former prisoner’s attempts to repent for his past mistakes. The story draws on Arifuddin’s personal experiences. Also known as Iin Brur, Arifuddin is a former militant. Now 40, he grew up in Poso, in Indonesia’s Central Sulawesi province. In 1998, just after he... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/article/2152756/islamist-militant-prisoners-freed-indonesia-turn-new-leaf-schemes-change?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/article/2152756/islamist-militant-prisoners-freed-indonesia-turn-new-leaf-schemes-change?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 29 Jun 2018 00:46:24 +0000 Bloody chunks of shark meat are laid out for display at a seafood market in the Tanjung Luar regency of Lombok, the popular Indonesian tourist island next to Bali. A few men kneel down with sharp knives in their hands, adeptly slicing the carcasses on the floor. Jackie Chan, Yao Ming back ad campaign against ivory, shark fin and rhino horn trade Nazuruddin, a local fisherman, has just offloaded his catch. The 53-year-old has fished for sharks from an early age, following in his father’s... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/article/2141537/indonesias-fishermen-turn-shark-finning-satisfy-demand-sharks-fin-soup-and?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/article/2141537/indonesias-fishermen-turn-shark-finning-satisfy-demand-sharks-fin-soup-and?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 15 Apr 2018 11:19:02 +0000 A plan by Indonesia’s House of Representatives to revise the country’s criminal code has sparked fear and debate about human rights across the Southeast Asian nation. If passed, amendments to the document, known as Kitab Undang-Undang Hukum Pidana (KUHP), would criminalise same-sex relations and extramarital sex. The changes would also limit free speech and sex education, critics say. Civil society organisations and human rights observers have expressed serious concerns about the... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/article/2139268/indonesia-criminalise-homosexual-and-extramarital-sex-under-proposed-law?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/article/2139268/indonesia-criminalise-homosexual-and-extramarital-sex-under-proposed-law?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 29 Mar 2018 12:00:47 +0000 At a small restaurant close to her office in central Jakarta, locals are becoming used to the sight of Tri Ningtyas Anggraeni clad in an all-black niqab, an Islamic garment that covers the body and face, leaving just the hands and eyes exposed. It’s rare to see a niqab worn in secular Indonesia, even though the majority Muslim population numbers more than 225 million. Most women wear either a hijab – a loose-fitting headscarf or a variation that covers the chest – or no headscarf at all. A 2015... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/fashion-luxury/article/2133570/why-niqab-being-worn-more-muslim-women-indonesia-and?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/fashion-luxury/article/2133570/why-niqab-being-worn-more-muslim-women-indonesia-and?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 19 Feb 2018 00:45:15 +0000 It may not have been so unusual to hear earlier this year that the Indonesian Broadcasting Commission (KPI) had issued a warning letter to a television station for airing a programme featuring a kissing scene. It was not, though, part of a sexually charged, passionate embrace. The offending scene appeared in an episode of Shaun the Sheep, the British animated children’s series and spin-off of the popular Wallace and Gromit franchise. Headbangers in hijabs: inside Indonesia’s heavy metal... https://www.scmp.com/culture/film-tv/article/2126007/indonesian-tv-censorship-cartoons-cut-athletes-blurred-conservative?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/culture/film-tv/article/2126007/indonesian-tv-censorship-cartoons-cut-athletes-blurred-conservative?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 31 Dec 2017 01:17:33 +0000 When Lifi Nurfitriyah was sentenced to nine months in a Singapore jail, after admitting to six counts of theft, she became the latest in a string of overseas domestic workers to make headlines this year. Lifi, 26, was found guilty in September of withdrawing S$9,400 (US$6,970) from her employer’s bank account using a stolen ATM card. A month earlier attention fell on Siti Nur Sopiyati, another Indonesian helper in the city state, who was handed a jail sentence of 12 months for stealing more than... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/article/2125179/plight-domestic-helpers-falsely-accused-crimes-unscrupulous-employers?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/article/2125179/plight-domestic-helpers-falsely-accused-crimes-unscrupulous-employers?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 22 Dec 2017 00:03:40 +0000