Talking Indonesia

The Indonesian government’s response to Covid-19 has been widely perceived as inadequate. Indonesia’s testing rate has been very low, sparking concerns that many Covid fatalities have gone undetected, but even so its current official death toll of 635 is the highest in Asia outside of China. It took almost a month after acknowledging its first case to declare a health emergency, enabling regions with high numbers of cases to institute social distancing. It was only on Tuesday this week that the government issued a ban on the annual mudik - where tens of millions of Indonesians living in major cities go home to rural areas at the end of Islamic fasting month, potentially taking Covid-19 with them. But with the fasting month starting at the end of this week, many Indonesians have already gone home.

What accounts for the Indonesian government response to Covid-19? What considerations have informed the government’s response, what challenges does it face, and does the crisis threaten the government’s legitimacy?

In this week’s Talking Indonesia podcast, Dr Dave McRae discusses these issues with Dr Yanuar Nugroho, former deputy chief of staff to President Jokowi during the president’s first term, and a member of the Indonesian Young Academy of Sciences, ALMI. Dr Nugroho is also currently a Visiting Senior Fellow at the ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute, an Honorary Research Fellow at the University of Manchester, and a senior advisor to the Centre for Innovation Policy and Governance in Jakarta.

The Talking Indonesia podcast is co-hosted by Dr Dave McRae from the University of Melbourne’s Asia Institute, Dr Jemma Purdey from Monash University, Dr Dirk Tomsa from La Trobe University, and Dr Charlotte Setijadi from the Singapore Management University.

Photo credit: Agung Rajasa for Antara Foto

Covid-19 is spreading fast in Indonesia and the government seems overwhelmed by the monumental task of combating the virus. President Jokowi has ordered social distancing measures, but there’s been much confusion about what exactly that means. The situation is further complicated by disagreements and a lack of coordination between the central government and local administrations, many of whom are pushing for stricter measures.

Why has the Indonesian response been so ineffective? How can the disagreements between the national and local governments be resolved? And what is the likely trajectory of the virus in view of the upcoming Islamic fasting month of Ramadhan, when many Indonesians normally travel to their home villages?

In today’s podcast, I will discuss these and other questions with Dr Riris Andono Ahmad from the Department of Biostatistics, Epidemiology and Population Health at Gadjah Mada University in Yogyakarta.

In 2020, the Talking Indonesia podcast is co-hosted by Dr Dave McRae from the University of Melbourne’s Asia Institute, Dr Jemma Purdey, Dr Charlotte Setijadi from Singapore Management University and Dr Dirk Tomsa from La Trobe University.

Look out for a new Talking Indonesia podcast every fortnight. Catch up on previous episodes here, subscribe via iTunes or listen via your favourite podcasting app.

Image credit: ANTARA FOTO/Muhammad Adimaja/pras

Even without controversial changes to the Criminal Code that would criminalise same sex relations, many local level bylaws already persecute sexual and gender minorities in the name of public order and decency.

What are the difficulties faced by LGBT Indonesians? How do they see their place in society? What are the barriers to basic services, including health care and what are the implications for this community and Indonesian society as a whole if they are left behind?

In Talking Indonesia this week, Dr Jemma Purdey discusses inclusion, access and empowerment for LGBT Indonesians with Ignatius Praptoraharjo (Gambit) a research consultant at the Centre for Health Policy and Management at Gadjah Mada University and the HIV AIDS Research Centre, Atma Jaya Catholic University. Gambit completed his doctorate 2010 at the University of Illinois at Chicago, and has been a recipient of the UIC-AIDS International Training and Research Program Scholarship from the US National Institute of Health. Gambit was recently in Melbourne for a series of talks. He sat down with Talking Indonesia as the Covid-19 outbreak was gathering momentum.

In 2020, the Talking Indonesia podcast is co-hosted by Dr Jemma Purdey from the Australia-Indonesia Centre, Dr Dave McRae from the University of Melbourne’s Asia Institute, Dr Charlotte Setijadi from the ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute in Singapore and Dr Dirk Tomsa from La Trobe University.

Look out for a new Talking Indonesia podcast every fortnight. Catch up on previous episodes here, subscribe via iTunes or listen via your favourite podcasting app.

Photo: @AP 2018

Indonesian officials routinely highlight the success of the Indonesian ride-hailing unicorn company GoJek, whose founder Nadiem Makarim became Education Minister in President Jokowi’s latest cabinet. The green jackets of GoJek’s motorcycle taxi drivers and its regional competitor Grab have become ubiquitous in Indonesia’s cities - both companies also offer online taxis, food delivery, and a range of other services through their apps. Companies like GoJek and Grab claim to provide a platform to more efficiently bring service providers and customers together, but across the world their critics claim such companies have eroded worker rights and made the nature of work more precarious. But how do these dynamics play out in Indonesia, a country where tens of millions of people have always worked in the informal sector under very adverse conditions?

In this week’s Talking Indonesia podcast, Dr Dave McRae discusses these issues with Diatyka Widya Permata Yasih, a PhD candidate at the University of Melbourne’s Asia Institute, who has interviewed dozens of GoJek and Grab drivers for her research on the gig economy. Her research on the gig. Economy is also featured in. the inaugural edition of Melbourne Asia Review, a new online publication being launched by the Asia Institute next week.

The Talking Indonesia podcast is co-hosted by Dr Dave McRae from the University of Melbourne’s Asia Institute, Dr Jemma Purdey from Monash University, Dr Dirk Tomsa from La Trobe University, and Dr Charlotte Setijadi from the Singapore Management University.

Look out for a new Talking Indonesia podcast every fortnight.

Photo credit: Agus Bebeng for Antara Foto

In this belated Chinese New Year special, Charlotte Setijadi chats with Dr Josh Stenberg about the little known topic of Chinese Indonesian performance arts, and how their histories represent the strategies of Chinese minority self-representation over time.

Talking Indonesia: Regulating Islamic Preachers?

Growing religious conservatism in Indonesia has turned some Islamic preachers into minor celebrities and influential political powerbrokers in recent years. The government has expressed concern about these developments, especially after some radical preachers took leading roles in the 2016 protests against former Jakarta governor Ahok. Are these concerns warranted? What role do preachers actually play in local communities? And how realistic are proposals to regulate preaching in Indonesia?

In today’s podcast, Dr Dirk Tomsa discusses these and other questions with Professor Julian Millie, an anthropologist and Professor of Indonesian Studies at Monash University in Melbourne.

Photo credit: Julian Millie

Beginning on New Year's Eve, torrential rain caused some of the worst flooding in and around Jakarta for more than a decade. Residents of this low-lying city are used to heavy rain and flooding at this time of year, but as a spokesperson for the Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency (BMKG) said, this was "not ordinary rain". More than 300mm fell in a single day – the most since 1996, when records began. Up to 100,000 people were reportedly forced to flee their homes and more than 60 people died.

Fixing Jakarta's problems with flooding has been a fraught political issue for decades. In the wake of these floods, and with so many Jakartans from all walks of life affected, people were again looking for a target for their frustrations. Informal settlements along the Ciliwung River have long been a focus for politicians and policymakers, with their removal a key policy of both former governor Basuki "Ahok" Tjahaja Purnama and current governor Anies Baswedan. But what do we know about the people who live in these settlements, sometimes for decades, risking constant threats of floods and eviction? Who are they? What has brought them to live in such precarious conditions? What is their everyday experience of living with regular flooding? Can they be part of the solution to better tackle this problem?

In Talking Indonesia this week, Dr Jemma Purdey chats to anthropologist Roanne van Voorst, who lived for more than a year in a settlement on the banks of the Ciliwung River. They discuss the histories of these settlements and the complex social structures within these communities, their warning and recovery systems after flooding, and how residents negotiate their vulnerabilities everyday.

In 2019, the Talking Indonesia podcast is co-hosted by Dr Jemma Purdey(link is external) from Deakin University and the Australia-Indonesia Centre, Dr Dave McRae from the University of Melbourne’s Asia Institute, Dr Charlotte Setijadi (link is external)from Singapore Management University and Dr Dirk Tomsa(link is external) from La Trobe University.

Look out for a new Talking Indonesia podcast every fortnight. Catch up on previous episodes here, subscribe via iTunes(link is external) or listen via your favourite podcasting app.

During December 2019 and January 2020, Indonesia and China have again become involved in a series of periodic confrontations over fisheries to the north of Indonesia’s Natuna Islands. Chinese Coast Guard vessels have accompanied a fleet of fishing boats in an area China says is part of its traditional fishing grounds, but which Indonesia claims as its exclusive economic zone under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS). Indonesia has sent naval and civilian patrol vessels in an effort to force the Chinese craft to leave, and Indonesian president Joko Widodo has personally visited the Natunas to underline the importance of the dispute to Indonesia, as he did in the aftermath of a previous confrontation with China in 2016. What do such incidents tell us about the implications of China’s rise for Indonesia, and how is the Indonesian government tackling the challenge of China as an ever larger strategic and economic power on its doorstep?

In this week’s Talking Indonesia podcast, the first episode for 2020, Dr Dave McRae discusses these issues with Emirza Adi Syailendra, Associate Research Fellow in the Indonesia Programme of the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore, who has written extensively on Indonesia and its foreign policy approach to China.

The Talking Indonesia podcast is co-hosted by Dr Dave McRae from the University of Melbourne’s Asia Institute, Dr Jemma Purdey from Monash University, Dr Dirk Tomsa from La Trobe University, and Dr Charlotte Setijadi from the Singapore Management University.

Look out for a new Talking Indonesia podcast every fortnight.

Photo credit: M Risyal Hidayat for Atara Foto

With rapid urbanisation and rising inequality in Indonesia, levels of urban poverty have also increased, and people living and working in informal circumstances face ongoing threats of eviction. Periodically, the urban poor’s activism to defend and advance their interests has taken centre stage in Indonesian politics, never more so than in the 2017 Jakarta gubernatorial elections, when the issue of evictions became entwined with Islamist opposition to the incumbent governor Basuki Tjahaja Purnama or Ahok, in the massive mobilisation against him. What is the lived experience of urban poverty in Indonesia, and what forms of activism do the urban poor engage in? How have various Indonesian governments responded, and what prospects do the urban poor have to carve out a place for themselves in Indonesia’s cities?

In this week’s Talking Indonesia podcast, Dr Dave McRae discusses these issues with Dr Ian Wilson, Senior Lecturer in Politics and Terrorism and Count-terrorism Studies at Murdoch University and the author of The Politics of Protection Rackets in Post-New Order Indonesia: Coercive Capital, Authority and Street Politics.

The Talking Indonesia podcast is co-hosted by Dr Dave McRae from the University of Melbourne’s Asia Institute, Dr Jemma Purdey from Monash University, Dr Charlotte Setijadi from the Singapore Management University and Dr Dirk Tomsa from La Trobe University.

Look out for a new Talking Indonesia podcast every fortnight.

Photo credit: Rivan Awal Lingga for Antara Foto

So much is still unknown about China-Indonesia relations during the Cold War, and in particular China’s role in the pivotal events of 30 September 1965. In a new book “Migration in the Time of Revolution: China, Indonesia and the Cold War” (Cornell University Press), Dr Taomo Zhou analyses the nature of China’s involvements in the immediate periods leading up to 30 September. Using materials such as then-declassified archives of the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Taomo pieces together the movements of various Chinese and Indonesian actors that contributed to the diplomatic and political dynamics at the time. She also shows how state-to-state diplomacy was influenced by transnational ethnic ties and the political practices of the ethnic Chinese.