Bantaeng’s Dust Season: Living on the Front Lines of the Nickel Boom
Residents around the Bantaeng Industrial Park must live with thick dust and the constant roar of nickel smelters that are steadily damaging their health and the environment. The “national strategic project” the government promotes as a road to prosperity has instead become a source of seemingly endless hardship. Ambo One afternoon in October 2025, thick […]
Love and Labor in the Shadows: How Wives of Palm Oil Workers Are Dragged Into Systemic Exploitation
In the shade of bountiful oil palm trees lie untold stories of women whose labor is crucial to keeping the industry running. They work without pay or protection, helping their husbands meet harvest targets while staying invisible in official records. Their unrecognized struggle exposes another face of palm oil’s exploitative machinery. Amid the vast stretches […]
Building a House Above the Waves
Some Indonesians with diverse gender identities and sexual orientations move to Bali and remake the meaning of “home”. The island is no utopia, but it can offer pockets of refuge, places where they feel valued, accepted, and able to be themselves, even if those spaces are hidden and limited. Vica, Ratri, and Ven came to […]
Pushed Ashore: When Sea People Become Strangers on Land
Orang Laut, literally meaning “sea people”, were once the primary guardians of the sea. But the ambitions of modern development have slowly pushed them off the water, eroding their seafaring skills and dimming what remains of their traditions. Badak, 65, had yet to return from the sea, even as the sun began to set. A […]
‘Not for Sale’: Wadas People Fight and Pray to Protect their Land
The cold night winds do not dissuade the residents of Wadas village, Purworejo, Central Java, from making their way to the musala (prayer room). Hundreds of men and boys fill the room to hold a mujahadah, a prayer session for aid in their struggle. For the umpteenth time, they pray to God and seek the […]
‘No Tourist’ Policy Keeps the Baduy People Safe from Covid-19
Indonesia’s indigenous people are once again in a tight spot. Extractive industries have been degrading the land where they lived and worked–and then Covid-19 hit. One such community at risk is the Baduy, who live in Lebak, Banten, in Indonesia. About 170 kilometers west of Jakarta are the Baduy–a traditional indigenous Indonesian community whose members […]
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 […]
