The people of Indonesia & their culture, politics, economy and environment - Inside Indonesia: The peoples and cultures of Indonesia

Inequality

Distance matters: social housing for the poor

For Jakarta’s most vulnerable, vertical social housing creates more problems than it solves

Resource nationalism as imperialism

A worker at a mining site points to the low-hanging clouds.

Foreign investment in large-scale mining has encountered serious obstacles

Has resource extraction reduced poverty?

A child worker pushes a wheelbarrow of harvest along in an oil palm plantation.

The benefits of more concentrated natural resources are less likely to be spread

Mining the land, mining people

A mining base, with a pipe running across the foreground and some wooden structures.

Irrespective of location or commodity, peasants now compete with multinational mining companies on the mineral-rich tracts of Indonesia

Safe water at a premium

The UN’s claim that 87 per cent of Indonesians have access to safe drinking water seems exaggerated

Where to now for the MDGs in Indonesia?

The Millennium Development Goals addressed the basic development needs of Indonesia, but tackling poverty now requires a more complex strategy

Keeping women and babies healthy within an unequal system

Problems of unequal access explain differences in Indonesia’s achievement of child mortality and maternal mortality targets

Quantity but not quality

Indonesia is on track to achieve universal primary education, but questions remain about the quality of education

Eradicating extreme poverty and hunger

Indonesia has halved poverty since 1990, but significant challenges remain

Faultlines and fractures

HIV/AIDS is spreading rapidly because of the profound inequalities that afflict Papua

The business of politics in Indonesia

Warburton 1 Prabowo and Team at Senayan Rally Credit Liam Gammon

Democratic institutions are increasingly burdened by the illicit transactions and collusive practices of politico-business elites

Development for the rich

Gated communities are built with little concern for their social and environmental impacts

A city without social justice

Jakarta needs more green space, but not at the expense of the poor

Rulers in their own country?

Special autonomy and Papuan aspirations have been thwarted by Jakarta and hampered by the administrative fragmentation sponsored by local politicians

Prison cum hostel?

A political economy of drugs thrives inside one of Indonesia’s most notorious prisons

Colonial legacy

It may be true that Java rules Indonesia. But Javanese labourers in Sumatra, writes BUDI AGUSTONO, have been at the bottom of the heap for generations.

Privatising social justice

As riots erupt across the country, Suharto is forcing rich companies to contribute to a private anti-poverty foundation. But, for DAVID BOURCHIER and IAN CHALMERS, the move smacks of personal greed.

Middletown comes to Malang

JASON PRICE talks with the new middle class and discovers they love progress but keep the poor at arms length.

Dayak anger ignored

MICHAEL DOVE traces Dayak unhappiness to inequities in state development.

Jakarta money stirs Ujungpandang riot

VEDI HADIZ sent this eyewitness account from South Sulawesi.

Subscribe to Inside Indonesia

Receive Inside Indonesia's latest articles and quarterly editions in your inbox.

Lontar Modern Indonesia

A selection of stories from the Indonesian classics and modern writers, periodically published free for Inside Indonesia readers, courtesy of Lontar.