In the Darkness of the Refugee Center, We Await ‘Home’
Warning: This story contains references to experiences of depression and suicide. We want to live like you, as human beings, with a home and our families safe and sheltered My name is Ali Froghi. I am 26 years old. In 2013, I arrived in Indonesia as a refugee. For as long as I have been […]
Mass Graves in ExxonMobil’s Gas Fields: Acehnese Recall Decades of Torture
Warning: This reportage features descriptions of violence. The names of several sources have been changed to preserve their safety. In August 2022, the US District Court for the District of Columbia released the testimony of 11 victims of alleged human rights violations connected to the operations of the US oil and gas giant ExxonMobil in […]
Indonesia’s New Capital: How Jokowi Uses Extravagant Promises to Lure Investors
The Jokowi administration has put its planned new capital city up for sale with massive incentives for investors, including tax holidays and the right to build for 160 years. Whenever President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo asks the Indonesian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Kadin) to splash the cash for his latest ambitious development project, they say […]
Native People of Komodo Fight Back against Tourism Expansion
Omansyah, a 42-year-old fisherman living on Komodo Island, is deeply concerned about the extent of tourism development in the Komodo National Park. The latest policy is seeking to compel him and other villagers to move out of their ancestral island for the sake of Komodo dragon conservation, and he believes the change could severely impact […]
‘They Have Nothing Now’: North Maluku Forest Dwellers Cornered by Expanding Nickel Mines
The stigma attached to the Tobelo Dalam tribe in Halmahera in North Maluku, Indonesia, has made them a moving target, with the government branding them as criminals. They are struggling as nickel mines encroach on their traditional land and sources of food. BOKUM was over the moon. He was dressed sharply, in a long-sleeved white […]
Ciliwung Merdeka: An Urban Kampung’s Fight to Regain Its Rights
Lina, 39, and her family have waited six years to own a home since they were evicted from their former residence in Bukit Duri, Jakarta, in 2016. Soon, her family and 70 others will have new homes, some 15 kilometers away from their beloved urban kampung, but new homes nonetheless. Kampung Susun Cakung, built to […]
In Defense of Local Food: A Story from the Plates of Papua’s Yoka People
When Amanda Wamblolo was young, she never had any difficulties finding food. Living in Yoka, on the eastern shore of Sentani Lake in Jayapura, Papua, between an expanse of hills and dozens of rivers flowing down the Cyclops Mountains, she enjoyed an abundance of carbohydrate-rich foods, including yameha (thorny sago); yeba (fine sago); yara, fam […]
The Love Stories Uncounted in Covid-19 Statistics
The graveyard of sorrow – that is how people refer to the Macanda public cemetery in Gowa, South Sulawesi, where 1,338 people who died of Covid-19 between 2020 and 2021 were laid to rest. One of them was a 5-day-old child who died in March 2021. Others passed away without their loved ones around, separated […]
The Disposable Lives of Indonesian Football Fans
This tragedy was entirely avoidable. And as usual, those who are culpable are likely to escape without appropriate punishment. This tragedy has long been on the cards. But, even its likelihood of eventuating wasn’t enough for the authorities to act. In this case the relevant authorities are: the Indonesian Police (Polri), the Indonesian Football Federation […]
The Invisible Barbed Wire
I heard my name “Hussan Sa Rezi” on the loudspeaker. Puzzled, I looked at my cellmate for confirmation. During my whole imprisonment, the security guards hadn’t pronounced my name right. My cellmate nodded that it was my name among a list of thirty refugees who would be released from Balikpapan refugee prison. I had been […]
