Gone fishing

AHMAD SOFIAN explores the lives of young people on hundreds of isolated fishing platforms in the Malacca Straits

Rock'n'Roll radicals

DAVID HILL and KRISHNA SEN scour the music shops. They find that foreign music is now as Indonesian as batik. From Hindi film to 'Indie' punk rock, foreign musical genres are being indigenised, and imbued with Indonesian political meaning.

Tolerant or opportunist?

Greg Barton and Greg Fealy (eds), Nahdlatul Ulama, traditional Islam and modernity in Indonesia, Clayton: Monash University Asia Institute (http://www.monash.edu.a u/mai), 1996, 294+xxvi pp, Rrp AU$29.95. Reviewed by NELLY VAN DOORN

Army observed

Robert Lowry, The Armed Forces of Indonesia, Sydney: Allen and Unwin, 1996, 283 pp.

Lippogate? Not really

Allegations of influence peddling by Indonesia's Lippo financial group may be unproven, but opened a bigger trail that led elsewhere. JAY LOSHER reports from America.

The romance of K'tut Tantri

Timothy Lindsey, The Romance of K'tut Tantri and Indonesia, Kuala Lumpur: Oxford University Press, 1997, 362pp, Rrp AU$65. Reviewed by RON WITTON

New book, old idea

Norman Lewis, An Empire of the East, London: Jonathan Cape, 1993.Reviewed by MICHAEL HERMES

Writing on the wall

Remember the election last May? MAS SUJOKO was there and listened in to the people's vote, recorded on walls all over Yogyakarta.

What the elite do when their banks are in trouble

Many private banks set up by Indonesia's super-wealthy in the 1980s are reeling under the weight of mismanagement. But connections sometimes allow them to evade the laws of financial gravity, as SUARA INDEPENDEN shows in these two reports.

The breasts of Bali

Michel Picard, Bali: Cultural tourism and touristic culture, Singapore: Archipelago Press, 1996, 231pp Rrp: $US 25.00. Reviewed by RON WITTON

Love at first sight Slorc meets Abri

ANDREAS HARSONO visits Burma and is intrigued by the respect its military show for the Indonesian model.

Death of a journalist

'I write the truth and if I have to die for it, well so be it' wrote Udin shortly before he died. AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL investigates.

Smoking gun

The fires were no natural disaster, says JOKO WALUYO. The smoking gun is in the hands of plantation companies.

The East Timor peace process

Heike Krieger, East Timor and the international community: Basic documents, Cambridge University Press, 1997, 494+xxviii pp, hardcover, Rrp AU$160.Geoffrey C. Gunn, East Timor and the United Nations: The case for intervention, Lawrenceville, N.J: Red Sea Press, 1997, 241+vi pp, paperback, Rrp US$19.95. Avail: Red Sea Press, 11-D Princess Road, Lawrenceville, N.J., USA 08648-2319; fax: 1-609-844-0198. Reviewed by RICHARD TANTER

Art for a better world

TOM PLUMMER speaks with Moelyono, an artist engaged with farmers threatened by a large dam.

Jakarta money stirs Ujungpandang riot

VEDI HADIZ sent this eyewitness account from South Sulawesi.

Sun, sand and smoke

Air crashes, riots, smog, and a currency crisis dented tourist arrivals in 1997. But, says ANNA KARIN EKLÖF, newly rich Asian tourists will save the industry in the long term.

Sulawesi on two wheels

MICK COOPES drags a bicycle through the wilds of Toraja, South Sulawesi.

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