Jakarta – There is an excuse that is often invoked to justify the refusal by Western museums to return cultural artifacts looted from their former colonies.

Adam Bobbette – It is well known that Scots played crucial roles maintaining the British empire. This extended even to Java. The British ruled there for a short time from 1811-1816.

Leiden – The Netherlands and Indonesia on Monday hailed the return of hundreds of cultural artifacts taken – sometimes by force – during colonial times as a major step forward in restit

Jayapura, Jubi – According to Grace Linda Yoku, the Head of the Culture Division at the Jayapura City Education and Culture Office, Mount Srobu is an ancient civilization in Papua that

Wuryanti P, Kenzu, Jakarta – The United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) has designated the archive of the first Indonesian President Sukarno's speech

Kate Newsome, Jakarta – As Indonesia's historic newspapers perish in the archives, the country risks forever losing the voices of its past.

Yohana Belinda, Jakarta – Though people in the area think of it as a haunted house, the building plays a vital role in preserving a part of Indonesian history and culture through its re

Nivell Rayda, Jakarta – Archaeologist Candrian Attahiyat remembered feeling anxious when construction for the second phase of Jakarta's underground mass rapid transit (MRT) network bega

Tunggul Wirajuda, Jakarta – To keep the iconic Indonesian dagger relevant today, kris experts carried out the age-old puja rahayu ningrat ceremony at Jakarta's Bentara Budaya cultural c

The Hague, Netherlands – Indonesia has asked the Netherlands to hand back at least eight art pieces and natural history collections that were acquired during the colonial era, including

Nur Janti, Jakarta – An ancient inscription on an andesite slab presumed to be from the time of the Mataram kingdom in the 10th century was found during a recent excavation of an unname

Senay Boztas – On the walls and counters, like portraits in blood, are the stylised images of eyewitnesses to four years of horrifying violence in Indonesia.

Daniel Boffey – The director of the Rijksmuseum said he was "happy" as Dutch prosecutors announced they would not proceed with an investigation into complaints over a newly opened exhib

Kiki Siregar, Jakarta – For most people, graveyards are places to avoid as they are often associated with spirits or spooky things best left to the otherworld.

Raka Ibrahim, Jakarta – Nobody knows precisely how it all ended, but we know what came after.

Jakarta – Archaeologists have discovered the remains of a 7,200-year-old skeleton from a female hunter-gatherer in Indonesia that has a "distinct human lineage" never found anywhere in

Stuart Layt – Priceless ancient cave paintings in the Indonesian archipelago are crumbling at an increasing rate due to the effects of climate change.

Raghu Gururaj – Through the centuries, India has been a source of inspiration for art and architecture in Sumatra as it has been to the entire Southeast Asia.

By Raghu Gururaj

Introduction

Tara Marchelin, Jakarta – Interdisciplinary cooperation will be needed to take care of Indonesia's cultural heritage sites and keep them sustainable during the coronavirus pandemic, th

Robin Perry – We were 45 metres up, precariously perched on a platform in the rainforest canopy, looking north towards West Papua as the early morning mist cleared to reveal the shimme

The areas of Indonesia where Dutch colonial rulers built a huge sugar-producing industry in the 1800s remain more economically productive today than other parts of the country, accordi

Jakarta – The Dutch government has returned 1,500 historical artifacts to Indonesia, four years after an agreement was made with the Education and Culture Ministry.

Dr Mark Busse and Sophie Faber – West Papua has been in the media more than usual over the last six months, with stories about indigenous protests against racism and repression, demand

Hannah Devlin – Cave art depicting human-animal hybrid figures hunting warty pigs and dwarf buffaloes has been dated to nearly 44,000 years old, making it the earliest known cave art b

Bambang Muryanto, Yogyakarta – A newspaper named Bintang-Barat published in Batavia (now Jakarta) in 1871 is displayed on the wall of Bentara Budaya, an exhibition hall in Yogyakarta.

Aisyah Llewellyn Medan, Sumatra – "We aren't allowed to talk about the ghosts anymore" explains Ernest Siregar, a guide at Tjong A Fie Mansion while giving a tour of the famous heritage

Jakarta – Culture director general at the Culture and Education Ministry Hilmar Farid said of 400 museums operating in the country, only 15 percent opened their doors to visitors.

Linawati Sidarto, Contributor, Amsterdam – While slavery in Dutch colonies in America is a known historical fact, hardly anyone is aware that up to a million people were bought, sold and had to end

Jewel Topsfield – Anthony Liem still has memories of the Indonesian war of independence.

Michael Bachelard – The people of Lolat in the high mountains of West Papua had their first experience of a white man in 1968, and it was a culinary one.

A graphic novel advocating West Papuan independence has been released online, as part of efforts to provide an alternative version of the history of the Indonesian-run province.

Marni Cordell – Indonesia officially acquired West Papua in 1969, after a sham ballot on independence in which only a handful of the local population were allowed to vote.

Desiree Tay – Glodok was once the vibrant heart of this capital city's Chinese community.

Ezra Sihite – The contribution of ethnic Chinese to Indonesia has not been clearly recorded in history books, and rectifying this could help to overcome lingering discrimination, a hist

Emma Macdonald – East Timor might be the newest sovereign state in the world, but for PhD graduate Nuno Oliveira the tiny country's ancient history is its most compelling feature.

Jakarta – The Indonesian people still need nationalism, albeit of a different kind, when facing a globalization movement "fueled by capitalism", says an academic.

Flag of Timor-Leste is red, with a black isosceles triangle (based on the hoist side) superimposed on a slightly longer yellow arrowhead that extends to the center of the flag; there is

Jakarta – Acehnese cultural experts are calling for the revival of traditional and religious culture in Aceh, saying that local customs were strong prior to their erosion by the region'

Hamish McDonald – Thirty years ago I met a Papuan man called Imser in a place called Valley X, high in the mountainous spine of the Indonesian half of New Guinea.

Paul Kingsnorth – "Tomorrow," said Galile, "I will take you to the Bird of Paradise. We know where they live. You will hear them, and maybe see them too. They are very beautiful."

Jakarta – Indonesia's reformist government is reviewing official histories of key moments in the country's past that it says were misrepresented by former President Suharto's regime.