In Revolusi: Indonesia and the Birth of the Modern World, author David Van Reybrouck reveals a fascinating history of resistance in the southeast Asian country, writes Simon Basketter.

Hamish McDonald – For decades the outside world tried to understand Soeharto, the little-known Indonesian army general who emerged from Jakarta's shadowy putsch attempt of 30 September

Charlie English – Indonesia: the world's largest island nation, 17,000 pieces of land projecting from the waves where Indian and Pacific oceans meet, ranging in scale from the giants of

Jakarta – Further inspiring various nations around the world, the biography "Jokowi Mewujudkan Mimpi Indonesia" (Jokowi Fulfills Indonesia's Dream) by Darmawan Prasodjo has been publish

Graeme Dobell – Craig Stockings's work on the official history of Australia's role in the bloody birth of Timor-Leste was bedevilled by Canberra's triangular relationship, vexed but vit

Chris Barrett – In the second week of January, Indonesian President Joko Widodo expressed deep regret for the country's dark history of human rights violations, chief among them one of

Yohana Belinda, Jakarta – Author Isna Marifa published her debut work titled Mountains More Ancient in 2020. It is a fictional tale with a real historical backdrop.

Tunggul Wirajuda, Jakarta – Leading Australian expert on Indonesia Max Lane recounts late Indonesian literary giant Pramoedya Ananta Toer's role in inspiring the downfall of former pres

Radhiyya Indra, Jakarta – The Indonesian Film Festival (FFI) celebrates an inclusive list of winners as the nation echoes similar joy at the country's film industry achievements this ye

We Have Tired of Violence: A True Story of Murder, Memory and the Fight for Justice in Indonesia. By Matt Easton. New Press; 341 pages; $27.99.

An interview with Irene Yuliana Fatagur

Rohana Kuddus – Leapfrogging from a provincial furniture factory to become President of Indonesia, Joko Widodo was greeted by a Time magazine cover hailing him as 'A New Hope' for the w

Peter Baker – If you are looking for a good read that will give you, the happy reader, a no-small glow of pride in how Australia, the country of the "fair go", applies itself on the int

Michael G. Vann – The massacre of the Indonesian left in 1965-66, backed by Washington, was one of the great crimes of the twentieth century.

Ben Terrall – Of all the tragic events of the 20th Century, the 1965-1966 campaign of mass killing in Indonesia is among the least known in the U.S.

The Jakarta Method: Washington's Anticommunist Crusade and the Mass Murder Program that Shaped Our World
Vincent Bevins
PublicAffairs, #22.99

John West – Ben Bland paints an insightful and intriguing portrait of Indonesia's leader in his new book, Man of Contradictions: Joko Widodo and the struggle to remake Indonesia.

Book Review: Ben Bland, Man of Contradictions: Joko Widodo and the struggle to remake Indonesia (Penguin, Lowy Institute, 2020)

Marcus Mietzner – The genre of English-language biographies of Indonesian presidents and other senior leaders has a long and reputable history.

Kit Gillet – In 1965, the Indonesian military killed as many as one million of their own countrymen, destroying the third-largest communist party in the world and taking with it pretty

Antonia Timmerman – "Smile", an instructor tells the women in identical aprons as they take turns to stand in front of a blue background for an employment photo.

Tom Fawthrop – After 50 years of popular resistance to Indonesian rule in West Papua, this forgotten war is flaring up again.

Nur Yasmin, Jakarta – A new book titled "Habibie & Soeharto" attempts to uncover the real story of the relationship between the two late former Indonesian presidents who fell out w

Review by Margaret Scott – Many years ago during Suharto's dictatorship, when the mass killings of 1965-66 were a taboo subject, I interviewed Pramoedya Ananta Toer, one of Indonesia's

Duncan Graham, Malang, East Java – Visiting outlying islands in this sprawling archipelago reveals an unease felt about Java, "the denominator of Indonesia".

The Killing Season: A History of the Indonesian Massacres, 1965-66, by Geoffrey B. Robinson. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2018.

As part of our Jakarta Globe Reading Club's "Reading Indonesia" event on Saturday, Sept.

Max Lane – Jess Melvin's new book, The Army and the Indonesian Genocide, has been rightly hailed as a breakthrough.

In Maire Leadbeater's new book, "See No Evil: New Zealand's betrayal of the people of West Papua", the theme of the title is also relevant for Australia.

David Robie – Two damning and contrasting books about Indonesian colonialism in the Pacific, both by activist participants in Europe and New Zealand, have recently been published.

By Margaret Scott, The New York Review of Books.

The Army and the Indonesian Genocide: Mechanics of Mass Murder by Jess Melvin. Routledge, 319 pp., $140.00

The Turnbull Government will be watching with interest and angst for a soon-to-be-released book which sheds light on an extraordinary chapter of Australian-East Timor history, writes Al

Sastra Wijaya – Indonesian-Australian author Dewi Anggraeni seeks to bring cultural nuance to the 1998 protests that overthrew President Suharto while the Chinese community was being targeted and d

Robert Murray – "Kissingerian realism" and an associated hard nose for the "national interest", or "Wilsonian idealism"?

Michael Rose – Laying bare the greed for petroleum resources that has steered five decades of Australian policy regarding East Timor, Kim McGrath's "Crossing the Line" is a masterfully written and

In her new book Crossing the Line Kim McGrath exposes Australia's brutal opportunism towards East Timor, and the atrocities we were willing to condone to serve our national interest.

Adhitya Himawan and Nikolaus Tolen – Max Lane, the author of the new book "Indonesia is not Present on this Earth of Mankind" (Indonesia Tidak Hadir di Bumi Indonesia) has criticised Indonesians fo

Joost Cote – A new feature film has prompted a renewed interest in the life of national hero Kartini.

Dionne Christian – When young writer Bonnie Etherington showed one of her Massey University classmates a short story she'd written, the last thing she expected was to be told she was seriously dist

Time to Draw the Line
Directed by Amanda King & Fabio Cavadini
2016, 58 minutes
Released February 20 on the Demand.Film platform

Michael Zelenko – When Joshua Oppenheimer's The Act of Killing came out in the summer of 2013, few had seen anything like it.

Michael Bachelard, Jakarta – Two cups of human blood aday, taken from the severed neck of your dying victim and drunk from a glass, is enough to stave off the madness induced by partici

Leila S. Chudori's novel Pulang is an important addition to a growing literature examining the events of 1965-66 and its aftermath

Andreas D.

Robbie Collin – In 1965, the Indonesian government was overthrown by the country's armed forces, who embarked on an instant and merciless purge of Communists, their sympathisers and the

Xan Brooks, Venice – The outside world came to gatecrash the glamour on the opening night of the Venice film festival.

Peter Bradshaw, Venice – Joshua Oppenheimer's The Look of Silence is a stunning companion piece, or possibly narrative development, to that extraordinary 2012 documentary The Act Of Kil

Natalie Craig – East Timor has never made a film, never told its story or seen the faces of its people on the silver screen – until this year.

Jarrod Woolley – Watching a woman come out of mourning for the first time in 31 years was one of the most moving moments in husband and wife filmmaking team Luigi Acquisto and Stella Za

Asawin Suebsaeng – The Act of Killing is that rare documentary – one that might actually change things.