https://www.scmp.com/rss/502581/feed Ade Mardiyati is a freelance journalist and writer based in Jakarta and Bali. Specialising in social issues, lifestyle, culture, and natural disasters, she has produced works for the Jakarta Globe, Reuters, BBC, and more. en https://assets.i-scmp.com/static/img/icons/scmp-meta-1200x630.png https://www.scmp.com Organik Klub, a Jakarta-based centre for organic food shopping, dining, and education, is open again for customers to walk in and chat with founder Emilia Nursanti Wibisono, a pioneer of the city’s organic food movement. She had expected business would fall off with social distancing measures in place to help stop the spread of the coronavirus. “What happened was the other way around,” the 51-year-old says. The pandemic has been a wake-up call as “more and more people turn to healthy eating... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/health-wellness/article/3091672/pandemic-wake-call-more-healthy-eating-jakarta-organic?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/health-wellness/article/3091672/pandemic-wake-call-more-healthy-eating-jakarta-organic?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 05 Jul 2020 03:15:08 +0000 When Indonesian national Sulung Landung, who manages artists, went to Bali in January, he met up with a long-time friend, well-known tarot card reader Noviana Kusumawardhani, for a reading. “She said at that time, ‘Everyone will be tried with something quite tremendous’,” the 51-year-old says, referring to what Noviana saw in the cards. “She also said that despite the situation, we should be able to remain positive.” Sulung says he did not expect the “tremendous” trial to be the global... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/arts-culture/article/3087333/what-tarot-says-about-coronavirus-superstitious-indonesians?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/arts-culture/article/3087333/what-tarot-says-about-coronavirus-superstitious-indonesians?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 03 Jun 2020 23:45:13 +0000 One Saturday morning in January, when Arif returned home from a fishing trip, his mother-in-law asked him to check on his young sister-in-law, who was in her room. “It was quite unusual because she would usually get up at about six o’clock,” says Arif, who lives in a small village in the Indonesian province of Central Java and does not want to reveal his real name for privacy reasons. “And it was 11 o’clock already.” He knocked on the 13-year-old’s bedroom door several times but got no answer.... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/health-wellness/article/3078072/indonesias-teen-suicide-problem-and-what-do-about-it?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/health-wellness/article/3078072/indonesias-teen-suicide-problem-and-what-do-about-it?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 04 Apr 2020 01:15:10 +0000 Two years after they met at a university event outside Jakarta, Indah Welasasih and Muhamad Yoesoef decided to get married. Despite an age gap of 16 years, the Indonesian couple felt they had a deep connection and they were comfortable with one another. They planned to tie the knot in September 2008, but there was a big problem: Indah comes from a devout Christian family, while Muhamad was a Muslim. Indah remembers her mother warning her of dire consequences as the relationship became more... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/family-relationships/article/3075410/we-all-have-right-be-happy-interfaith-couples-tell?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/family-relationships/article/3075410/we-all-have-right-be-happy-interfaith-couples-tell?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 18 Mar 2020 00:15:18 +0000 One afternoon in May 1998, Eddy Tjondronimpuno Tambuang was at work when he heard that riots were erupting across Jakarta. According to news reports, the situation was out of control. Shops were being broken into and looted, cars were being set on fire and ethnic Chinese residents, also known as Tionghoa in Indonesia, were being targeted by rioters who roamed the streets looking for victims. Triggered by the financial crisis that hit Asia in the late 1990s, the riots tapped into a deep well of... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/family-relationships/article/3048378/chinese-muslims-life-indonesia-family-fights-head?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/family-relationships/article/3048378/chinese-muslims-life-indonesia-family-fights-head?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 04 Feb 2020 00:15:08 +0000 Sarifah Nurhayati is five months’ pregnant with her second child. Her post-partum plan, she says, includes getting her vagina “back in good shape to keep my husband happy”. The 27-year-old, who lives in Depok, in greater Jakarta, plans to use a tongkat Madura, or Madura stick – a cigar-shaped product promoted as a sexual-health aid that erodes gradually in the vagina – to achieve that goal. The stick leaves the vagina drier, tighter and stronger, she says. Some experts, on the other hand, warn... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/health-wellness/article/3045487/women-swear-herbal-medicine-sticks-help-them-please-their?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/health-wellness/article/3045487/women-swear-herbal-medicine-sticks-help-them-please-their?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 11 Jan 2020 06:30:05 +0000 Miranti Widjoko was invited by Japanese home appliances brand Sharp to the launch of the company’s new refrigerators in Jakarta last year. At an event timed to coincide with the beginning of Islam’s holy month of Ramadan, the appliances were introduced as the “first halal-certified refrigerators in Indonesia”, meaning they adhered to Islamic religious requirements. “What? Does it mean that fridges can be haram [forbidden under Islamic law]?” the 45-year-old mother of two wondered at the time.... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/arts-culture/article/3035547/everything-halal-consumer-goods-makers-exploit-indonesian?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/arts-culture/article/3035547/everything-halal-consumer-goods-makers-exploit-indonesian?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 30 Oct 2019 21:00:05 +0000