https://www.scmp.com/rss/326650/feed Randy Mulyanto is an Indonesia-based freelance journalist who previously reported out of Taipei. His work has appeared in Al Jazeera, BBC, Nikkei Asia and The Telegraph. en https://assets.i-scmp.com/static/img/icons/scmp-meta-1200x630.png https://www.scmp.com Penang is one of Malaysia’s top tourist destinations, attracting foreigners not only with its celebrated Peranakan culture and cuisine but, increasingly, its medical services. Medical tourism has become a major source of revenue for the state and it aims to fuel further growth by targeting Chinese nationals who are searching for treatment options abroad. Malaysia’s medical tourism industry rebounded quickly after pandemic travel restrictions were lifted last year, reaching 1.3 billion ringgit... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/health-environment/article/3241916/malaysias-penang-hopes-hook-chinese-medical-tourists-healing-holidays?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/health-environment/article/3241916/malaysias-penang-hopes-hook-chinese-medical-tourists-healing-holidays?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 19 Nov 2023 01:30:07 +0000 East Timor President Jose Ramos-Horta is hoping Indonesia will play a crucial role in pushing through his country’s long-standing plan to become the Association of Southeast Asian Nations’ 11th member state. Raising awareness about Dili’s bid to join the regional bloc and strengthening ties with Jakarta have been Ramos-Horta’s key objectives during his ongoing visit to Indonesia. The 72-year-old is on his first overseas visit since he was elected in April to the presidency he previously held... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/3186158/east-timors-president-jose-ramos-horta-hopes-indonesia-will-aid?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/3186158/east-timors-president-jose-ramos-horta-hopes-indonesia-will-aid?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 22 Jul 2022 02:32:23 +0000 With a career spanning more than half a century, Indonesian-Chinese writer Marga T is one of the country’s most prolific authors. Born in Jakarta to ethnic Chinese parents in 1943, she showed an early gift for writing, with her first two novels, the romance titles Karmila and Badai Pasti Berlalu (The Storm Will Surely Pass), being instant hits. Among the 69 books she’s published, her work has touched on science fiction, tales of mystery, children’s stories, and dark chapters of history. The... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/people/article/3178472/indonesian-chinese-writer-marga-t-guilt-having-been-born-girl-it?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/people/article/3178472/indonesian-chinese-writer-marga-t-guilt-having-been-born-girl-it?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 22 May 2022 00:30:13 +0000 Singkawang in Indonesia’s West Kalimantan province – which has a sizeable Chinese population – was the most tolerant place in the nation in 2021, a Jakarta-based research and advocacy non-governmental organisation found. Singkawang is home of more than 235,000 residents and maintains its status of being among the most inclusive places in a country of more than 270 million people in recent years. Setara Institute for Democracy and Peace late last month launched its Tolerant Cities Index 2021 –... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/article/3174306/indonesias-singkawang-its-ethnic-chinese-population-muslim-majority?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/article/3174306/indonesias-singkawang-its-ethnic-chinese-population-muslim-majority?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 15 Apr 2022 01:00:29 +0000 The Indonesian narrator utters the words, “Taiwan is not as beautiful as profile pictures on Facebook”. That thought is followed by another proclamation. “Sponsors [labour brokers] and PJTKI (Indonesian migrant worker placement companies) always have sweet promises to spread persuasion. Promises sometimes contradict reality [in Taiwan].” The lines were spoken by Tari Sasha, the main character of the 17-minute long animated documentary Homebound. It continues the stories explored in the... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/lifestyle-culture/article/3170950/indonesian-migrant-workers-taiwan-face-struggles?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/lifestyle-culture/article/3170950/indonesian-migrant-workers-taiwan-face-struggles?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 20 Mar 2022 09:00:18 +0000 Budianto has been helping his family sell bowls of bakmi ayam (chicken noodles) in Jakarta, the capital of Southeast Asia’s largest economy, since he was a little boy. His father started selling the noodles on a cart in 1969, later renting a garage in which he set up Bakmi Ayam Acang, or Acang’s chicken noodles. Budianto then took over the business when his father retired in 2014. It’s been a profitable business for the Chinese-Indonesian family, thanks in part to the loyal customers from a... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/people/article/3165860/how-indonesian-chinese-dishes-bakmi-ayam-and-laksa-bogor-flavour?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/people/article/3165860/how-indonesian-chinese-dishes-bakmi-ayam-and-laksa-bogor-flavour?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 06 Feb 2022 05:00:30 +0000 The Lunar New Year is typically a festival of abundance and excess. But three years into the pandemic, food prices have risen across the globe thanks to a confluence of pandemic-induced supply chain constraints, bad weather that decimated crops and surging energy prices have also affected the cost of fertilisers. The UN Food and Agriculture Organization’s food price index reached a 10-year high last year and the World Food Programme estimates that 272 million people worldwide are at risk of... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/economics/article/3165001/singapore-thailand-higher-food-costs-hit-lunar-new-year-reunion?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/economics/article/3165001/singapore-thailand-higher-food-costs-hit-lunar-new-year-reunion?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 28 Jan 2022 05:00:27 +0000 When Sim Tze Wei began working to raise awareness of the Hokkien language, he never expected he would be accused of trying to divide the Chinese people. “Han Chinese nationalists everywhere are keen to equate Mandarin to [real] Chinese,” said Sim, adding that there are those who find ethnic Chinese people speaking in Chinese languages other than Mandarin “as a sign of disunity and weakness”. The Malaysian-Chinese linguist, who is in his mid-30s, is president of the Hokkien Language Association... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/lifestyle-culture/article/3118919/meet-malaysian-mission-make-hokkien-great-again-amid?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/lifestyle-culture/article/3118919/meet-malaysian-mission-make-hokkien-great-again-amid?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 24 Jan 2021 07:00:18 +0000 Entrepreneur Huihan Lie, 42, grew up in the Dutch provinces of Gelderland and Groningen and found it “just strange” when he realised he was the only student of Chinese descent in his class who spoke fluent Dutch and had an Indonesian background – compared with some other students at his school or in his village who had migrated from mainland China and had parents speaking Mandarin or other Chinese languages at home with them. His Surabaya-born father and Jakarta-born mother had migrated to the... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/lifestyle-culture/article/3116160/chinese-indonesians-netherlands-still-feel-pull-home?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/lifestyle-culture/article/3116160/chinese-indonesians-netherlands-still-feel-pull-home?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 03 Jan 2021 07:00:18 +0000 Sutikno Djiyanto is, like his father before him, the Chinese-Indonesian caretaker of a derelict, two-storey mansion in Indonesia’s second-largest city, Surabaya, that’s supposedly haunted. Two centuries old and widely known as Gedung Setan – or Satan’s Building – because it was once surrounded by graveyards, the mansion sheltered refugees from a violent communist rebellion in 1948. Sutikno’s late father took refuge in the building that year, and Sutikno himself was born there in 1957. Long... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/family-relationships/article/3114933/haunted-mansion-where-citys-poor-live-rent-free-and?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/family-relationships/article/3114933/haunted-mansion-where-citys-poor-live-rent-free-and?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 24 Dec 2020 00:15:09 +0000 The Covid‑19 pandemic is upending the economic futures of young people across the Asia-Pacific. As economies across the region plunge into their worst recessions in generations, workers in their 20s and 30s are facing the brunt of lay-offs as workplaces shed employees on a last-in, first-out basis. The Asian Development Bank and the International Labour Organisation have predicted that up to 15 million youth jobs in the region’s 13 countries will disappear in 2020. Those who can find work face... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/3109535/generation-c-young-asians-coronavirus-defines-bleak-new-era?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/3109535/generation-c-young-asians-coronavirus-defines-bleak-new-era?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 15 Nov 2020 00:00:14 +0000 For Tran Thi Khanh Trang, who holds an MBA degree from Colorado State University in the US, going into farming was not exactly a trendy career option in an agrarian country where parents typically expect their university-educated children to score urban jobs. For Andreas Ismar, a 38-year-old Indonesian financial journalist, quitting the city for country life was just the ticket he needed to realise his dreams. Both Trang, who is Vietnamese, and Andreas are among a wave of younger, educated... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/economics/article/3108845/young-asian-entrepreneurs-embrace-green-collar-lives-technology?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/economics/article/3108845/young-asian-entrepreneurs-embrace-green-collar-lives-technology?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 08 Nov 2020 02:00:09 +0000 An activist group has called on Jakarta to take action against the increasing encroachment of Vietnamese fishing boats into Indonesia’s territorial waters, highlighting the complex nature of maritime disputes in the region that go beyond China’s claim to most of the South China Sea. Vietnamese ships made up 21 of the 31 foreign-flagged vessels that carried out illegal fishing in Indonesia’s North Natuna Sea from June to October, according to Destructive Fishing Watch (DFW) Indonesia. None were... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/3108079/its-not-just-south-china-sea-vietnamese-vessels-indonesian?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/3108079/its-not-just-south-china-sea-vietnamese-vessels-indonesian?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 02 Nov 2020 08:06:20 +0000 An Indonesian group has alleged that migrant workers who illegally entered or stayed in the Malaysian state of Sabah mainly to work at oil palm plantations were inhumanely treated when they were caught and placed in immigration detention centres. The Coalition of Sovereign Migrant Workers (KBMB), which is made up of seven groups – one in Hong Kong and six in Indonesia – said it had launched an investigation into the lived experiences of Indonesian migrant workers after stories of abuse were... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/people/article/3104575/indonesian-group-blames-malaysia-inhumane-treatment-illegal?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/people/article/3104575/indonesian-group-blames-malaysia-inhumane-treatment-illegal?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 07 Oct 2020 13:00:21 +0000 An Indonesian diplomat’s rebuke of calls from Vanuatu for an investigation into human rights abuses in West Papua has cast a spotlight on how Pacific island nations are banding together to speak out against Jakarta’s handling of its restive easternmost provinces, where there are calls for independence by some groups. Silvany Austin Pasaribu, a representative from Indonesia’s permanent mission to the United Nations, on Saturday at a meeting of the 75th session of the UN General Assembly... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/3103553/indonesian-diplomat-rebukes-vanuatu-pm-over-papua-comments?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/3103553/indonesian-diplomat-rebukes-vanuatu-pm-over-papua-comments?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 29 Sep 2020 13:30:27 +0000 Since Indonesia’s capital Jakarta reimposed social-distancing restrictions last Monday, motorcycle ride-hailing driver Yosef has seen his daily income decrease by more than 80 per cent – some days, he only takes home around 50,000 rupiah (US$3.40). Under the stricter regulations, known locally by the acronym PSBB, most workplaces have to keep the bulk of their employees at home, and while shopping centres can remain open, no dining in is allowed. Residents caught outside without masks will be... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/health-environment/article/3102437/coronavirus-indonesia-can-jakarta-get-its-raging-covid?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/health-environment/article/3102437/coronavirus-indonesia-can-jakarta-get-its-raging-covid?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 22 Sep 2020 01:30:12 +0000 Randy Mulyanto Randy Mulyanto At a farm in Greensburg, a town of 15,000 in the US state of Indiana, Indonesian-born Mayasari Effendi has been producing some 150 packets of tempeh – the Indonesian traditional fermented soybean cake – every week for the past five years. A rise in health consciousness and home cooking during the Covid-19 pandemic boosted demand for her tempeh, which is sold in packets of about 230 grams each, and the 49-year-old now plans to set up a factory that can produce 1.6 million packets a week. Mayasari... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/economics/article/3100824/not-just-china-indonesia-loves-us-soybeans-too-tempeh?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/economics/article/3100824/not-just-china-indonesia-loves-us-soybeans-too-tempeh?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 13 Sep 2020 14:00:13 +0000 Indonesian-Chinese mum Shinta Lie, 33, has been trying to make ends meet by selling fish crackers and facial tissues for about US$1 in Jakarta, with her husband and three young children in tow. The sole breadwinner has no choice but to take them along. Her husband, 40, lost his sight four years ago, and there is no one to look after the family if she leaves them at home. As the coronavirus ravages Indonesia – which has recorded some 194,100 cases and Southeast Asia’s highest death toll of more... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/people/article/3099986/coronavirus-exposes-hidden-struggles-poor-indonesian-chinese?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/people/article/3099986/coronavirus-exposes-hidden-struggles-poor-indonesian-chinese?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 07 Sep 2020 01:00:17 +0000 Jocelyn Luo has sat watching the daily news with her father since she was a child, hoping to understand more about Indonesian political issues. The Chinese-Indonesian high school student knows how important it is for minorities to stay in touch with the tides of national feeling. Originally from Tanjung Pinang in the Riau Islands province, the 17-year-old Hakka descendant is aware many traditional Chinese-Indonesian families frown on direct involvement in the country’s political affairs,... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/family-relationships/article/3098554/how-chinese-indonesians-hope-help-guide-country?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/family-relationships/article/3098554/how-chinese-indonesians-hope-help-guide-country?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 25 Aug 2020 09:15:09 +0000 When Indonesia’s central bank launched a new 75,000 rupiah (about US$5) banknote this month to commemorate the 75th anniversary of the country’s independence, it could not have expected that its bid to showcase the archipelagic nation’s cultural diversity would spiral into an anti-China hoax. The new note featured children from nine of Indonesia’s 34 provinces in traditional outfits. But one child – who wore a costume from the Tidung tribe in North Kalimantan province, which borders Malaysia –... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/3098192/indonesias-new-75000-rupiah-banknote-coins-another-anti-china?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/3098192/indonesias-new-75000-rupiah-banknote-coins-another-anti-china?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 20 Aug 2020 12:30:18 +0000 Indonesia’s President Joko Widodo said in his state of the union address last week that the coronavirus pandemic should be a time to reform Southeast Asia’s largest economy after it contracted by 5.32 per cent in the second quarter, amid fears of an imminent recession. Central to Widodo’s reforms is the Omnibus Law, also known as the jobs creation bill, which would simplify overlapping regulations as a means of attracting more foreign investment and boosting the economy. But it has sparked... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/explained/article/3098094/indonesia-says-omnibus-law-will-create-jobs-attract-foreign?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/explained/article/3098094/indonesia-says-omnibus-law-will-create-jobs-attract-foreign?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 20 Aug 2020 06:00:19 +0000 A London-based NGO has published accounts of human rights abuses suffered by Indonesian workers, as well as illegal fishing, aboard Taiwanese vessels – which make up one of the world’s largest distant-water fishing fleets. The Environmental Justice Foundation (EJF), which says it has been investigating the activities of Taiwan’s fishing fleet since 2016, last month released a report based on interviews with 71 Indonesian crew members from 62 vessels that were conducted from August 2018 to... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/economics/article/3096355/taiwanese-ships-indonesian-workers-abused-illegal-fishing?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/economics/article/3096355/taiwanese-ships-indonesian-workers-abused-illegal-fishing?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 07 Aug 2020 01:30:06 +0000 The spectre of communism still looms large in two of Southeast Asia’s most vibrant democracies. In the Philippines, the army is keen to use a new anti-terror law to end Asia’s longest running insurgency by labelling communists as terrorists. In Indonesia, where the Communist Party of Indonesia (PKI) has been outlawed, fears of communism have recently resurfaced due to mudslinging by semi-anonymous online trolls and Islamic hardliners. They have alleged that a bill proposed by the Indonesian... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/explained/article/3095661/why-fears-communism-anti-china-sentiment-are-potent-mix?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/explained/article/3095661/why-fears-communism-anti-china-sentiment-are-potent-mix?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 02 Aug 2020 05:00:13 +0000 The Covid-19 pandemic has ripped into Indonesia with more than 81,600 cases of the viral disease shaking the nation and deaths topping 3,800, the highest registered death toll in East Asia outside China. Besides the immediate trauma, the deadly virus will continue to have far-reaching effects in a country where a number of provinces are largely dependent on tourism. Indonesia’s borders have been closed to international tourists since April, and many attractions have been shut. Experts believe... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/travel-leisure/article/3093252/how-indonesias-tourism-industry-adapting-pandemic?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/travel-leisure/article/3093252/how-indonesias-tourism-industry-adapting-pandemic?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 16 Jul 2020 23:30:15 +0000 China’s state news agency Xinhua sparked an online uproar and unwittingly waded into a long-running rivalry between Indonesia and Malaysia, when it shared a video on Sunday that described batik – the art of decorating textiles with wax and dye – as a “traditional craft common among ethnic groups in China”. The post on Twitter, which came with a 49-second video, said the craft was practised by “ethnic minority groups living in Guizhou and Yunnan”, referring to two of China’s southwestern... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/lifestyle-culture/article/3093104/xinhuas-batik-claim-indonesian-uproar-harks-back-old?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/lifestyle-culture/article/3093104/xinhuas-batik-claim-indonesian-uproar-harks-back-old?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 14 Jul 2020 09:30:13 +0000 Indonesia’s agriculture ministry says it has developed an “aromatherapy necklace” containing eucalyptus that can prevent the spread of Covid-19. The necklace, which is to be mass-produced next month, would be worn like a lanyard and name tag and contain powdered eucalyptus for the user to inhale. Roll-on and inhaler-style versions are also being produced. Agriculture minister Syahrul Yasin Limpo on Friday claimed the necklace could “kill” 42 per cent of the virus if worn for 15 minutes, or up to... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/health-environment/article/3092226/coronavirus-can-be-killed-eucalyptus-necklace?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/health-environment/article/3092226/coronavirus-can-be-killed-eucalyptus-necklace?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 08 Jul 2020 00:30:18 +0000 Last week, the Indonesian government said it was looking to reopen its borders to travellers from China, South Korea, Japan, and Australia, leaving many online commentators in disbelief as coronavirus cases in the country of 270 million have shown no signs of slowing down. On Wednesday, Indonesia reported 1,031 new coronavirus infections, taking its total number to 41,431. And it reported 45 more deaths, with a total of 2,276 fatalities. Indonesia now has the highest number of Covid-19 cases in... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/explained/article/3089447/indonesia-reopen-economy-coronavirus-cases-surge-it-ready?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/explained/article/3089447/indonesia-reopen-economy-coronavirus-cases-surge-it-ready?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 18 Jun 2020 00:00:11 +0000 When Chinese tourist Jingjing Zang arrived in the Indonesian holiday island of Bali last August for a scuba diving course, the 28-year-old did not expect to be stuck there almost a year later after a pandemic had closed borders and caused massive disruption to global travel. The English teacher from Beijing initially entered the country visa-free, which Chinese passport holders can do for 30 days, with the occasional visit to neighbouring Malaysia or Singapore before the coronavirus hit to renew... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/health-environment/article/3088087/indonesias-bali-becomes-coronavirus-hideout-foreigners?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/health-environment/article/3088087/indonesias-bali-becomes-coronavirus-hideout-foreigners?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 09 Jun 2020 03:00:08 +0000 The deaths of four Indonesians after working on Chinese fishing vessels – which came to light last month after footage emerged showing one of their bodies being dumped into the sea – has sparked calls in Indonesia for tighter rules or even a moratorium on the recruitment of seafarers for such ships. Moh Abdi Suhufan, national coordinator for activist group Destructive Fishing Watch Indonesia, said the moratorium was necessary while Beijing and Jakarta undertake investigations into what occurred... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/3087796/indonesia-urged-impose-tighter-rules-chinese-fishing-vessel?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/3087796/indonesia-urged-impose-tighter-rules-chinese-fishing-vessel?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 06 Jun 2020 05:30:16 +0000 A village rich in Portuguese tradition, beautiful Dutch graveyards, and Little India are among tourist attractions in the Indonesian capital, Jakarta, visitors like to explore on foot. That’s not possible amid the coronavirus pandemic, so an enterprising tour company has created virtual tours of them instead. This month Wisata Kreatif Jakarta (also known as Jakarta Food Traveller) launched 60 themed virtual tours of these lesser known destinations in Jakarta, and of nearby cities, using the... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/travel-leisure/article/3084819/offbeat-tours-jakarta-village-portuguese-slave-descendants?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/travel-leisure/article/3084819/offbeat-tours-jakarta-village-portuguese-slave-descendants?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 19 May 2020 09:30:12 +0000 Ratri Anindyajati had plenty of things to worry about when she, her sister and her mother became the first three people in Indonesia to catch the coronavirus. Little did she know that personal abuse and social stigma would be among them. But that was exactly what came her way after President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo revealed to a stunned nation on March 2 that Indonesia had recorded its first two infections. Though he did not name the victims, their details soon leaked out; Anindyajati’s younger... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/health-environment/article/3083508/coronavirus-survivors-they-called-us-prostitutes?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/health-environment/article/3083508/coronavirus-survivors-they-called-us-prostitutes?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 09 May 2020 00:30:13 +0000 Freelance writer Sylvie Tanaga, 33, has been learning Mandarin since she was a little girl – but her first lessons were held secretly in a church in Bandung, as Indonesia’s second president, Suharto, had for decades banned Chinese Indonesians from publicly expressing their culture. Tanaga’s paternal grandfather and her maternal grandparents were born in China before migrating to Indonesia, which inspired the family to make sure she kept learning the language. Her fascination with China and... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/3079446/after-70-years-ties-china-and-indonesia-have-fruitful?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/3079446/after-70-years-ties-china-and-indonesia-have-fruitful?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 12 Apr 2020 01:30:15 +0000 Randy Mulyanto Randy Mulyanto In a pitch black auditorium in South Jakarta, about a hundred people – a mix of men and women in their 20s and older parents with children – are laughing at the antics of the puppets on stage. Wayang potehi, or glove puppet theatre, was first brought to Indonesia in the 16th century by Chinese immigrants, and for hundreds of years the stories of traditional Chinese legends were performed in their temples. Now, Indonesian performing arts group Rumah Cinwa (Cinwa House) has given these traditional... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/arts-culture/article/3078258/modernising-indonesian-puppet-shows-millennials-whatsapp?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/arts-culture/article/3078258/modernising-indonesian-puppet-shows-millennials-whatsapp?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 05 Apr 2020 23:45:10 +0000 Paediatrician Agnes Tri Harjaningrum is on the front lines in Indonesia in determining who will or will not be treated in suspected cases of coronavirus, in a country with a combined capacity of just 132 referral hospitals to combat the Covid-19 disease – a number seen as being far from adequate. One of her patients in the Jakarta hospital she works in is a 3-month-old boy, who receives oxygen therapy and antibiotics or other medicines twice or more each day, depending on his condition.... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/health-environment/article/3077339/coronavirus-choice-indonesian-nurses-used-hazmat-suit?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/health-environment/article/3077339/coronavirus-choice-indonesian-nurses-used-hazmat-suit?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 29 Mar 2020 04:45:12 +0000 I Gusti Ngurah Adi Mahendra, the owner of a tour agency in the Indonesian holiday island of Bali, has lost 80 per cent of his income after receiving mass cancellations from clients amid the ongoing coronavirus outbreak. About 98 per cent of people who book tours at his Bali OneTwo Trip tour agency are from Australia, New Zealand, the United States, Western European countries and others, and many have postponed their holidays for “an indefinite period of time”. Although the 27-year-old... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/health-environment/article/3076168/coronavirus-bali-tourism-almost-paralysed-flow-chinese?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/health-environment/article/3076168/coronavirus-bali-tourism-almost-paralysed-flow-chinese?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 21 Mar 2020 07:30:10 +0000 At a freight forwarding company in the Indonesian capital of Jakarta, rooms once piled high with alternators, diesel engines and audio equipment from China have emptied, to be replaced by similar products from Europe, the United States and Singapore. The reason? “China has halted its production” in the wake of the coronavirus outbreak, said 24-year-old employee Erianti, who asked that her full name not be used. Before the outbreak, in an average month Erianti’s company would have orders for as... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/economics/article/3074624/china-reliant-indonesia-feels-economic-bite-coronavirus-its?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/economics/article/3074624/china-reliant-indonesia-feels-economic-bite-coronavirus-its?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 12 Mar 2020 00:00:12 +0000 Two Indonesians have tested positive for the coronavirus after being in contact with an infected Japanese national, Indonesian President Joko Widodo revealed on Monday, marking the first confirmed cases in the world’s fourth most populous country. The two people had been hospitalised in Jakarta, Widodo told reporters at the presidential palace in the capital. The president said a 64-year-old woman and her 31-year-old daughter had tested positive after being in contact with a Japanese national... https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/southeast-asia/article/3064575/coronavirus-indonesia-confirms-first-cases-says-they-are?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/southeast-asia/article/3064575/coronavirus-indonesia-confirms-first-cases-says-they-are?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 02 Mar 2020 05:49:11 +0000 Eva Taibe is scared to leave her home in Wuhan, the Chinese city at the centre of a coronavirus outbreak that has already killed more than 100 people and infected thousands. While the Chinese authorities are still allowing residents to leave their houses on foot, public buses and subways have been ordered to stop operating, unnerving the Indonesian doctoral student. The streets are eerily quiet, though the stillness is punctuated by the sound of sirens as ambulances go “back and forth” around... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/health-environment/article/3047872/trapped-wuhan-indonesian-students-centre-coronavirus?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/health-environment/article/3047872/trapped-wuhan-indonesian-students-centre-coronavirus?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 28 Jan 2020 05:35:36 +0000 Since arriving in Taipei last year on a Taiwanese government scholarship, Indonesian journalist Teddy Tri Setio Berty, 25, has learned about 300 Mandarin words and can even ask for directions and order food. The Jakarta-based reporter said he applied for the six-month language course at Taiwan’s Soochow University to experience life abroad. “I want to feel more of what has been felt by those who live in an environment with different religious, racial or ethnic backgrounds,” said Berty, a... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/3045612/taiwan-votes-will-there-be-any-shift-ties-indonesia?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/3045612/taiwan-votes-will-there-be-any-shift-ties-indonesia?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 11 Jan 2020 00:30:08 +0000 Chinese-Indonesian Eri Widoera, 24, decided to study Mandarin as he saw more Chinese companies entering Indonesia.  “If you can speak Mandarin, Indonesian and English, certainly your competitiveness in the market [will be much higher],” he said. He also felt the need to reconnect with his Chinese roots, even though he describes himself as a proud third-generation Indonesian. In recent years, more Chinese-Indonesians have decided to learn Mandarin and send their children to Chinese-medium... https://www.scmp.com/society/indonesians-studying-mandarin-seek-immersion-and-lifestyle-taiwan/article/3043225?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/society/indonesians-studying-mandarin-seek-immersion-and-lifestyle-taiwan/article/3043225?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 23 Dec 2019 10:32:12 +0000 Chinese Indonesian Eri Widoera, 24, decided to study Mandarin as he saw more Chinese companies entering Indonesia and felt the need to reconnect with his Chinese roots, even though he describes himself as a proud third-generation Indonesian. “If you can speak Mandarin, Indonesian and English, certainly your competitiveness in the market [will be much higher],” he said. He chose to study in Taiwan and spent 18 months at National Taiwan Normal University’s Mandarin Training Centre (MTC) in Taipei,... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/lifestyle-culture/article/3042974/indonesians-studying-mandarin-look-taiwan-language?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/lifestyle-culture/article/3042974/indonesians-studying-mandarin-look-taiwan-language?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 22 Dec 2019 05:00:10 +0000 Inside the premises of the Indonesia Overseas Chinese Association in New Taipei City, the Republic of China (ROC) flag and a portrait of its founding president Sun Yat-sen are hung against the wall. They are a reminder of the Chinese civil war, which ended in 1949 with the creation of the People’s Republic of China. The seat of government of the ROC, Taiwan’s official name, was relocated to Taipei after the nationalists lost to the communists. Around this time, anti-Chinese sentiment began... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/people/article/3037890/taiwan-or-communism-chinese-who-fled-indonesia-and-had-choose?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/people/article/3037890/taiwan-or-communism-chinese-who-fled-indonesia-and-had-choose?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 16 Nov 2019 05:15:13 +0000 It’s early Monday morning in a village in Quanzhou, Fujian province, and a group of Chinese men are sitting around playing dominoes. As they joke and smoke and bet small sums of money, there is little to distinguish their merry chatter from that going on in countless other villages across the country. Except for one small detail: they are talking to each other in Balinese. Welcome to Kampung Bali Nansan, one of many settlements built in China in the 1950s and 1960s to rehouse tens of thousands... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/3037931/chinese-who-fled-sukarnos-indonesia-build-new-bali-under-mao?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/3037931/chinese-who-fled-sukarnos-indonesia-build-new-bali-under-mao?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 16 Nov 2019 03:00:11 +0000 It’s not hard to eat well in Glodok, Jakarta’s Chinatown and one of the oldest neighbourhoods in the bustling Indonesian capital. Designated as an enclave for Chinese residents by the Dutch East India Company in 1740, these days Glodok offers visitors a variety of Chinese, Indonesian and fusion dishes. A foodie could spend a whole day – from breakfast to supper – eating and drinking to their heart’s content in the area. Here’s one possible itinerary: 7am: Bakmi Ahong For a Chinese noodle... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/article/3032978/eat-your-way-through-chinatown-jakarta-morning-until-night-steamed?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/article/3032978/eat-your-way-through-chinatown-jakarta-morning-until-night-steamed?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 15 Oct 2019 23:45:05 +0000 Fong Kui Kong, the head of the only Chinese temple in East Timor’s capital, Dili, welcomes visitors who come seeking blessings for their children’s health or the new business they want to start up. Known as Cina Maromak, the temple is a beacon both for East Timorese of Chinese descent and citizens with no ties to China. Fong uses “fortune sticks”, similar to those used in Hong Kong’s Taoist temples, to forecast the future. The ritual of using numbered sticks, known as qiu qian in Chinese, to ask... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/family-relationships/article/3030631/chinese-east-timor-former-portuguese-colony-model?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/family-relationships/article/3030631/chinese-east-timor-former-portuguese-colony-model?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 30 Sep 2019 00:15:13 +0000 Two Indonesian university students have died after a week of nationwide demonstrations against controversial legal reforms, prompting calls from activists to investigate police use of force and leading President Joko Widodo to promise an investigation into the deaths. The students, both men, were in Kendari on Sulawesi island, where one died of blunt-force head injuries and the other by a live bullet. Police insisted the officers deployed against thousands of protesters were not equipped with... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/3030736/indonesias-joko-widodo-promises-probe-after-violent-unrest?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/3030736/indonesias-joko-widodo-promises-probe-after-violent-unrest?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 28 Sep 2019 00:00:12 +0000 Indonesian computer studies student T.A., 23, was blasted by police water cannons on Tuesday in the East Javanese city of Malang, when he and hundreds of students took to the streets to protest controversial changes to the national criminal code. The Brawijaya University student, who did not want to give his full name, was among the thousands of people – mostly students – from Medan in western Indonesia to Gorontalo in the northern part of the archipelago who united to reject sweeping... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/3030368/indonesia-student-clashes-police-over-new-laws-spark-comparisons?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/3030368/indonesia-student-clashes-police-over-new-laws-spark-comparisons?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 25 Sep 2019 13:43:02 +0000 A tulou may seem an unlikely home for a museum. The large, round, earthen buildings favoured by Hakka Chinese can house dozens of people, sometimes hundreds, under the same roof. They are commonly found in the mountainous areas of Yongding district in China’s Fujian province, and tend to be fortified and enclosed within extremely thick exterior walls. Tulou are rarely seen in a city as cosmopolitan as Indonesia’s capital, Jakarta. Yet the Indonesian Hakka Museum in the city’s east is housed in a... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/travel-leisure/article/3026482/how-hakka-chinese-helped-build-indonesia-overcoming?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/travel-leisure/article/3026482/how-hakka-chinese-helped-build-indonesia-overcoming?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 11 Sep 2019 00:15:13 +0000 Walking through Timor Plaza, the largest shopping centre in East Timor, it’s hard to ignore the number of Chinese-owned stores – a sign of the steady increase in mainland migrants who started to arrive after China became the first country to officially recognise East Timor’s independence in 2002. One of the store owners is Ma Liyu, 54, originally from Ningde city in China’s Fujian province. She sells tea leaves and mobile phone accessories, with items in the store costing anywhere between US$13... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/economics/article/3024940/chinese-migrants-east-timor-long-home-say-dili-better-earning?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/economics/article/3024940/chinese-migrants-east-timor-long-home-say-dili-better-earning?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 30 Aug 2019 04:57:22 +0000 East Timor wants to cooperate with China in the oil and gas industry, but reports that Dili would borrow US$16 billion from China’s Export-Import Bank to finance one such project were a “hoax”, the country’s Foreign Minister Dionísio da Costa Babo Soares declared. Reports of the loan were “blown up by politically motivated people around the region”, Soares said, adding that East Timor actually needs much less to tap some of its last remaining oil and gas resources in the offshore Greater Sunrise... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/geopolitics/article/3023973/us16-billion-hoax-reports-chinese-loan-east-timor-gas-project?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/geopolitics/article/3023973/us16-billion-hoax-reports-chinese-loan-east-timor-gas-project?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 23 Aug 2019 03:00:11 +0000