https://www.scmp.com/rss/328155/feed en https://assets.i-scmp.com/static/img/icons/scmp-meta-1200x630.png https://www.scmp.com With plans for dozens of gleaming skyscrapers that could eventually house a million residents, the megacity development Meikarta was sold to aspirational Indonesians as the antidote to Jakarta, the country’s notoriously congested and polluted capital. The development was dubbed “the Shenzhen of Indonesia” in admiration of China’s innovative metropolis, while advertising slogans promised “the future is already here”. But the future of the US$21 billion real estate project, in Bekasi, West Java,... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/economics/article/2169205/has-corruption-stalled-shenzhen-indonesia?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/economics/article/2169205/has-corruption-stalled-shenzhen-indonesia?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 19 Oct 2018 03:30:00 +0000 Susi Pudjiastuti, Indonesia’s minister for fisheries and maritime affairs, has a strong message for China, owner of the world’s largest fishing fleet. “What they are doing is not fishing, it is transnational organised crime,” she tells This Week in Asia after a press conference in Jakarta. “You should write that. They need to understand.” The straight-talking, self-made businesswoman, who is known as much for her chain-smoking and tattoos as her no-nonsense approach to policy, has been holding... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/geopolitics/article/2169153/china-calls-it-fishing-indonesia-calls-it-crime-pudjiastuti?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/geopolitics/article/2169153/china-calls-it-fishing-indonesia-calls-it-crime-pudjiastuti?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 18 Oct 2018 10:30:58 +0000 As the dust settles on the Indonesia 2018 Asian Para Games, there is no shortage of inspiring stories. For the past week, Jakarta has been plastered with images of triumph over adversity as it celebrated the achievements of 2,762 athletes from 43 countries who had come to compete in 18 sports – breaking records and challenging public perceptions in the process. Billboards celebrated athletes such as swimmer Jendi Pengabean – who lost his entire left leg aged 12 in a motorcycle accident – and... https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/southeast-asia/article/2168504/all-smiles-asian-para-games-indonesia-wins-no-medals?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/southeast-asia/article/2168504/all-smiles-asian-para-games-indonesia-wins-no-medals?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 14 Oct 2018 10:26:48 +0000 Indonesia is reeling yet again from a natural disaster. The 7.4-magnitude earthquakes and resulting tsunami that hit Central Sulawesi on Friday have left more than 1,600 dead and more than 70,000 homeless. Roads, bridges, homes, schools and places of worship were all destroyed by the catastrophe, leaving survivors cut off or without shelter. Indonesia’s National Disaster Management Agency (BNPB) has predicted the death toll in Sulawesi will rise as not all areas in the regions of Palu, Donggala... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/2167138/1400-dead-70000-homeless-why-wouldnt-tsunami-hit-indonesia-want?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/2167138/1400-dead-70000-homeless-why-wouldnt-tsunami-hit-indonesia-want?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 07 Oct 2018 04:30:55 +0000 The Asian financial crisis may have occurred two decades ago, but it continues to cast a long shadow over Indonesia. The country’s modern image was defined in the summer of 1998 as a currency crash sparked social and political chaos, culminating in the downfall of President Suharto and the birth of a reformed democracy. This week, the rupiah fell to its lowest level since that fateful summer; it is now trading at more than 15,000 rupiah to the US dollar, having weakened by 10 per cent overall... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/economics/article/2167208/rupiah-lowest-asian-financial-crisis-indonesia-keeps-calm-and?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/economics/article/2167208/rupiah-lowest-asian-financial-crisis-indonesia-keeps-calm-and?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 06 Oct 2018 03:00:45 +0000 Does the Association of Southeast Asian Nations matter? The question has been asked many times since Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore and Thailand first came together under that banner more than 50 years ago.  They were later joined by Brunei, Vietnam, Laos, Myanmar and Cambodia in a regional grouping that has promoted decision making by consensus, and a doctrine of non-interference in each member’s domestic affairs – the so-called Asean way. Yet in Indonesia, the group’s largest... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/geopolitics/article/2165221/what-good-asean-indonesia-wonders?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/geopolitics/article/2165221/what-good-asean-indonesia-wonders?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 23 Sep 2018 06:00:30 +0000 Indonesia’s LGBTI community could be forgiven for thinking their search for equality is going backwards. During the pre-Islamic, Hindu-Buddhist period of Indonesian history, waria (third gender people) were not only accepted – they were respected and revered. Now, they are more likely to be hounded out of town, as Yulianus Rettoblaut – better known as Mama Yuli – can attest. She runs a shelter in the Indonesian capital of Jakarta that has helped more than 4,500 transgender and gay people fleeing... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/lifestyle-culture/article/2164306/how-islamists-stigmatise-indonesias-transgender-waria?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/lifestyle-culture/article/2164306/how-islamists-stigmatise-indonesias-transgender-waria?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 16 Sep 2018 06:30:45 +0000 Cough, runny nose, fever and a spreading, blotchy rash: the symptoms of measles are all too familiar, even though the illness should have been consigned to history by now. A vaccine to inoculate children against this nasty disease has been available for more than 50 years, yet immunisation rates have remained stubbornly inconsistent and outbreaks, serious illnesses and deaths continue to occur around the world. Indonesia, which had the third highest number of measles cases in the world last... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/society/article/2162079/non-halal-measles-rubella-vaccine-hits-resistance-muslim-indonesia?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/society/article/2162079/non-halal-measles-rubella-vaccine-hits-resistance-muslim-indonesia?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 01 Sep 2018 08:30:45 +0000 ONE MORNING IN April last year, Novel Baswedan, Indonesia’s leading anti-corruption investigator, was walking home after praying at his local mosque in North Jakarta. He heard a noise behind him, turned his head, and had a vial of hydrochloric acid thrown into his face. At first, he thought the liquid might be water. But then came the burning sensation, and the realisation that – not for the first time – he had been attacked by unknown assailants. Baswedan was rushed to hospital in Jakarta and... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/2161234/im-blind-indonesian-justice-isnt-acid-attack-graft-buster-novel?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/2161234/im-blind-indonesian-justice-isnt-acid-attack-graft-buster-novel?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 24 Aug 2018 09:30:15 +0000 Jakarta is nicknamed the “Big Durian” by its denizens as its varied delights are usually accompanied by a strange smell. While enjoying all the attractions of an Asian megacity – deliciously spicy street food to capacious luxury malls – visitors to the Indonesian capital can find themselves distracted by the endlessly gridlocked traffic, impassable pavements, fetid waterways and perpetually hazy skies. Politicians and PR experts have been trying to smooth over some of those rough edges in recent... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/society/article/2160138/gridlock-putrid-waterways-jakarta-asian-games-ready?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/society/article/2160138/gridlock-putrid-waterways-jakarta-asian-games-ready?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 17 Aug 2018 23:00:56 +0000 As a practising Muslim from a traditional Javanese heartland, President Joko Widodo’s Islamic credentials should be beyond question. But after years of battling sectarian politics and repeated attacks on the strength of his religious beliefs, Indonesia’s leader has joined forces with an Islamic cleric and figurehead of the world’s largest Muslim organisation in an effort to win re-election. The man, universally known as “Jokowi”, ended months of speculation on Thursday by picking 75-year-old... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/2159251/what-widodos-pick-veep-says-about-indonesian-politics?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/2159251/what-widodos-pick-veep-says-about-indonesian-politics?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 11 Aug 2018 06:00:15 +0000 Homes destroyed. Crops ruined. Livelihoods snuffed out. This week witnessed another trail of devastation caused by catastrophes in Southeast Asia, scenes that are depressingly familiar in the world’s most disaster-prone region. At least 16 people died and more than 500 hikers needed rescuing from the slopes of Indonesia’s Mount Rinjani after an earthquake struck on Sunday night – while more than 5,000 local residents on the island of Lombok were effectively left homeless. Meanwhile, flash... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/society/article/2157847/caught-between-earthquake-and-sex-abuse-indonesia?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/society/article/2157847/caught-between-earthquake-and-sex-abuse-indonesia?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 04 Aug 2018 04:00:15 +0000