Bones can tell us so much about the past, not just about the ancestry of modern humans (or homo sapiens) but also about the people and cultures of times long forgotten.

When we think about Indonesia’s place in history, we’re often inclined to think about the histories that shape the socio-cultural and political dynamics we see today. But Indonesia’s global historical significance goes way beyond this when we start considering how Indonesia features in early movements and migrations of humans and how they might have lived.

It's estimated that ancient humans travelled through Wallacea, what we now understand as Eastern Indonesia, at least 50,000 years ago (possibly even before 65,000 years ago) before coming to Australia and its surrounding islands.

There is also evidence of pre-modern ancestry- the most famous, perhaps, being the discovery of skeletal remains in Central Java, which became known as the “Java man,” in the 1980s. These were the first known fossils of the species homo erectus. While difficult to pinpoint precisely, the most recent estimates date these remains to being around 1.3 million years old.

You may also recall the discovery of the Flores hobbits in the early 2000s, when skeletal remains of a species of “tiny humans” was found. These are estimated to be somewhere between 190,000 to 50,000 years old.

Today’s guest is very familiar with the information we can glean from old bones. Dr Melandri Vlok has experience working on archaeological projects in Kalimantan and Sulawesi. She’s a bioarchaeologist and palaeopathologist who specialises in the Asia-Pacific region. One of her truly impressive claims to fame is her work in the discovery of a 31,000 year-old skeleton which shows strong signs of being one of the earliest known examples of a successful amputation, which you can read about in the highly renowned journal Nature. She’s also a member of the exclusive National Geographic Explorers community, having received funding through the program to further her research.

In Indonesia, a country prone to disasters and emergencies, effective risk communication can mean the difference between safety and vulnerability for millions. But what happens when risk communication fails to reach those most marginalised? How do social determinants of health impact how urban poor women navigate crises like the COVID-19 pandemic?

In this week's episode, Tito Ambyo chats with Citra Lestari, a PhD candidate at the University of Melbourne. With a background as a risk communication professional and drawing on her personal experience as a mother, Citra's research focuses on how urban poor women in Jakarta understand and respond to health crises. She explores the cognitive, affective, and socio-cultural factors that influence risk perception among marginalised communities, challenging the notion of "ignorant others" who simply fail to understand expert advice.

Citra's research reveals how protocols designed to mitigate risk often fail to consider the everyday realities of those living in informal settlements, where economic precarity and fear of authorities shape decision-making. She argues for a dialogic approach to risk communication that centers marginalised voices and develops localised knowledge rather than imposing universal protocols that may be impossible to follow.

In 2025, the Talking Indonesia podcast is co-hosted by Dr Jemma Purdey from the Australia-Indonesia Centre, Dr Jacqui Baker from Murdoch University, Dr Elisabeth Kramer from the University of New South Wales and Tito Ambyo from RMIT University.

Queer Muslims and Their Allies

Amid Indonesia’s conservative turn, the moral panics of the 2010s and the introduction of the draconian Criminal Code in 2022, LGBTQI+ people are as vulnerable as at any time in the country’s modern history. In a nation with the world’s largest Muslim population and where religion plays a central role in defining belonging and nationalism, the identities of queer Indonesian Muslims provide valuable insight into how these subjectivities are negotiated in everyday life.

How do queer Muslims maintain their faith and religious practices in an increasingly hostile environment? While in the West religion and queerness are often seen as incompatible, how and why do LGBTQI+ Indonesian Muslims hold onto their faith? How does progressive Islam inform the work of their Allies and what support do they provide?

In this week's episode Jemma chats with Dr Diego Garcia Rodriguez, a Leverhulme-funded Research Fellow at the University of Nottingham. His book, 'Gender, Sexuality and Islam in Contemporary Indonesia: Queer Muslims and Their Allies' (Routledge), was published in English in 2024 and will be published in Indonesian by Marjin Kiri in 2025.

In 2025, the Talking Indonesia podcast is co-hosted by Dr Jemma Purdey from the Australia-Indonesia Centre, Dr Jacqui Baker from Murdoch University, Dr Elisabeth Kramer from the University of New South Wales and Tito Ambyo from RMIT.

Photo by Project M/Narriswari dan Sang Daulat

This past week has seen what some have argued are the first big mobilisations of the new Prabowo government, with coordinated student protests across 12 cities under the banner of Indonesia Gelap, or “Dark Indonesia”.

The students list a number of demands, from human rights to environmental issues, but the trigger for these protests lie in deep budgetary cuts initiated across the public service, to the tune of US$44 billion. The worst ministries and agencies, including the Ministry for Manpower and the Ministry for Public Works, have proposed cuts of up to 55%. The National Consumer Protection Agency is being cut a whopping 73%. Meanwhile, the police, the Ministry for Defence and the Supreme Court are seeing cuts of around 15-16%.

The government is selling these cuts as efficiency dividends for a sluggish and unproductive bureaucracy, and the savings will be directly diverted to fund Prabowo’s policy promises.

This includes of course, Prabowo’s signature investment in human capital, the MBG, or Free Nutritious Meals program. But around half of these savings, US$20 billion, will be diverted to a a new sovereign wealth fund, known as Danantara, which stands for Daya Anagata Nusantara.

Danantara is a super-holding company for state enterprises, modelled on Singapore’s Temasek, which will be used to invest in mega projects like food estates, renewables and nickel.

What is Prabowo’s economic agenda? How will reshape the country and confront the key challenges in the years ahead? Will Prabowo’s economic plans take the country closer to its grand plans for Golden Indonesia 2045?

To help us unpack Prabonomics is Riandy Laksono, a researcher at the Centre for Strategic and International Studies or CSIS in Jakarta and Australia-Awards PhD candidate at The Arndt-Corden Department of Economics at the Australian National University.

Climate Change is well-recognised as a massive challenge facing society today. It is clear that the political, economic and social consequences of climate change will not be felt equally, not only globally but also across Indonesia. Geography, class and—indeed--gender dynamics will influence how individuals Indonesians experience and respond to climate change.

But it’s not just the environmental impacts that require navigation. As Arora-Johnson wrote in 2011, within the gender and climate development nexus, poor, rural-based women are portrayed as the most vulnerable and likely to die due to climate events. So, are these portrayals accurate? And how have they influenced thinking about women’s roles in climate crisis projects. Sustainable development projects that seek to address climate change are often coupled with questions of how to address inequality, with a narrow focus on what gender inequality actually is and who is responsible for overcoming it.

In this episode, Elisabeth Kramer speaks with Dr Jane Ahlstrand, a Senior Lecturer in Indonesian Studies at the University of New England, about her new research project on the relationship between climate crisis projects, sustainable development and gender in Indonesia. Jane completed her PhD at the University of Queensland, where she examined the use of language in the Indonesian online news media to represent women politicians and their dynamic relationship with power during a period of political and social transition. She is the author of the book, Women, Media, and Power in Indonesia published by Routledge in 2022.

Photo: Project M/Yuli Z

In Melbourne and across Australia, Indonesian diaspora communities are reimagining what it means to celebrate their cultural identity through art, food, and the simple act of "nongkrong" - hanging out. But what happens when these cultural practices become spaces for exploring complex questions about belonging, identity, and ethical settlement on Aboriginal land?

What does it mean to maintain connections to Indonesia while building new communities in Australia? How can festivals become sites of both cultural celebration and critical dialogue? And what roles do art and creative practice play in helping diaspora communities navigate their layered identities?

In this episode, Tito Ambyo talks with Moira Tirtha, founder of Melbourne's Nongkrong Festival and a researcher studying Indonesian creative diaspora. Together they explore how the festival has evolved from a simple gathering among friends to become an important space for cultural dialogue and community building. Through their conversation, we learn about the complexities of Indonesian-Australian identity and how cultural events can create meaningful connections across communities.

Moira is both a researcher and cultural producer, bringing unique insights into how festivals can serve as sites of research and cultural expression. Her work examines how Indonesian creative diaspora contribute to both their adopted homes and homeland, moving beyond traditional economic measures to explore cultural and social impacts.

In 2024, the Talking Indonesia podcast is co-hosted by Dr Jemma Purdey from the Australia-Indonesia Centre, Dr Jacqui Baker from Murdoch University, Dr Elisabeth Kramer from the University of New South Wales and Tito Ambyo from RMIT.

Photo: Nongkrong Festival 2023 [Photo credit needed]

Art, activism and a cancelled show - Wulan Dirgantoro

Late last year news media splashed the image of an elderly artist standing before a locked door at the National Gallery of Indonesia. The sign behind him displayed his name - Yos Suprapto – and the title of his solo exhibition 'Kebangkitan: Tanah Untuk Kedaulatan Pangan' (Revival: Land for Food Sovereignty), due to have opened on 19 December. The headlines explained that the gallery had cancelled the show with little notice. What followed was a battle of words and claims around the cancellation, or as the gallery described it, it's closure at the behest of the artist. The newly minted Minister for Culture, Fadli Zon, also weighed in.

What was it about this exhibition that made it so contentious? Who is the artist and why did this show become a lightning rod for controversy? More broadly, what might it mean for freedom of expression, art and activism in Indonesia?

In this week's episode Jemma chats with Dr Wulan Dirgantoro, a lecturer in art history and curatorship at the School of Culture and Communication, the University of Melbourne. 

In 2025, the Talking Indonesia podcast is co-hosted by Dr Jemma Purdey from the Australia-Indonesia Centre, Dr Jacqui Baker from Murdoch University, Dr Elisabeth Kramer from the University of New South Wales and Tito Ambyo from RMIT.

Image: Yos Suprapto with one of the controversial paintings in his now cancelled exhibition, December 2024

Source: IG @politicaljokesid

Late last month, for the first time its history, Indonesia held simultaneous regional elections across 545 provinces, regencies and municipalities across the country.

Across 6000 ballot stations, and 1553 contesting candidates, there were upsets in key regions, like Central Java where the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDIP) lost its provincial stronghold, and Jakarta, where PDIP’s underdog candidate, Pramono Anung, took the governorship from the governing coalition’s favourite, Ridwan Kamil.

But elsewhere, candidates backed by Prabowo and his ruling KIM coalition handily won the election. This include Dedi Mulyani for governor of West Java, Khofifah Indar Parawansa in East Java, Bobby Nasution in North Sumatra and former “rose team” Kopassus officer, Yulius Selvanas in North Sulawesi. In South Kalimantan, the candidate backed by mining magnate and political powerbroker Haji Isem, also took office.

Our avid listeners will remember my colleague Dr Ian Wilson, Senior lecturer in Politics, Terrorism and Counterterrorism at Murdoch University. Ian came on Talking Indonesia in December last year to discuss how the Jokowi government was reshaping the field of political contestation for the 2024 regional elections. Today we have him back to assess what the regional elections round up tells us about how power is being reorganised in Indonesia today.

Vannessa Hearman - East Timor’s Great Famine, 1977-1979

Following Indonesia’s annexation of East Timor in December 1975, the forced displacement and mass starvation of its people resulted in what is known as the Great East Timor Famine, 1977-1979. As Indonesian forces moved into the province thousands of people were forced to flee their villages and farms into the mountains and bush, where food sources were scarce. It is estimated that over fifty percent of East Timor’s population of 600,000 was displaced. A report complied by the East Timor Truth, Reception and Reconciliation Commission (CAVR) concluded that at least 84,000 people, but possibly up to 180,000, died in the famine. As such this tragedy touched one in two East Timorese. Indonesia’s restrictions on the media and its own propaganda, meant that there was little open reporting on the tragedy as it unfolded.

More than two decades since East Timorese voted for independence from Indonesia the truth and associated trauma of this conflict-induced famine remains little known.

What was the context in which this famine took place? How did it unfold and what was the scale of the suffering of the East Timorese? What media reporting, if any, was there at the time, and what was the international community’s response? And how is the famine remembered in East Timor today and what is being done to bring justice for its victims?

In this week's episode Jemma chats with Dr Vannessa Hearman, a senior lecturer in history at Curtin University in Western Australia. Her award-winning monograph, Unmarked Graves: Death and Survival in the Anti-Communist Violence in East Java, Indonesia, is a study of the 1965-66 mass violence in Indonesia. Her research deals with the history and politics of Indonesia and Timor-Leste and Australia's engagements with both countries. She is researching the history of East Timorese migration to Australia and how Australian cultural institutions reflect this history in their collections. Her recent publications on East Timor’s famine include, ‘Australian News Photography and Contested Images of Indonesian-Occupied East Timor’, Australian Historical Studies, (2003) 54:3; and ‘Challenges in the pursuit of justice for East Timor’s Great Famine (1977-1979), Third World Quarterly (2024), 45:2. Also see Pat Walsh’s writings on the famine and the fate of the CAVR report Chega!.

In 2024, the Talking Indonesia podcast is co-hosted by Dr Jemma Purdey from the Australia-Indonesia Centre, Dr Jacqui Baker from Murdoch University, Dr Elisabeth Kramer from the University of New South Wales and Tito Ambyo from RMIT.

Image: A Peter Rodgers photograph denoting forced displacement, surrender and famine on display at the CNC as part of an exhibition on the history of Timor-Leste’s independence struggle.

Source: Raimundo Fraga, CNC.

About 1000km north of Jakarta is a little pocket of paradise, a sprinkle of islands called the Natuna Islands, home to less than 100,000 people.

These sparsely populated islands are the gateway to the North Natuna Sea, an area of unparalleled natural wealth. These waters are rich in fish, tuna, mackerel and marine life which sustains fisher livelihoods. This is also an area endowed untapped gas and oil reserves worth many billions of dollars. Indonesia claims the area as within its Exclusive Economic Zone, a right backed up by international maritime law.

But China’s controversial nine-dash line, a map that shows China’s claims to the South China Sea, overlaps Indonesia economic zone. And while China withdrew its claim to the actual Natuna Islands way back in 1995, it continues to insist that the maritime gas reserves are well within its rights. The past decade has seen this area militarise at a pace, as skirmishes with Chinese military and an army of illegal fishing trawlers challenge the Indonesian navy.

Last week, the dynamics of this conflict took a dramatic turn when it transpired that Indonesia had signed a cooperative statement with China that committed to developing the area together in recognition of, and this is the kicker, overlapping claims on the area.

This statement came off the back of President Prabowo Subianto’s maiden diplomatic jaunt, an ambitious itineray to Beijing, Washington and a host of other countries in service of Indonesia's economic interests. But the joint statement left analysts and observers wondering, did Prabowo, the muscular nationalist, get played?

To talk about these issues, I’ve invited Aristyo Darmawan who is a Lecturer in International Law at Universitas Indonesia and PhD candidate at the Australian National University where he is currently writing his dissertation on how maritime law influences Indonesian foreign policy. You can find Aristyo on his Linked In: https://www.linkedin.com/in/aristyodarmawan/