Profile

An outsider to all establishments, even artistic ones, Semsar Siahaan is yet to be accorded his rightful place among the ranks of great Indonesian artists

Half a century after Herb Feith first lived in Kamal, Nikolas Feith Tan retraces his grandfather’s steps

Djenar Maesa Ayu – one of Indonesia’s exciting new female authors

Transforming rubbish into political art

A farmer’s daughter takes control and makes a difference

It’s been a long struggle trying to get unions to listen to women

Fauzi Abdullah reflects on more than a quarter of a century of organising

Pramoedya was an all-round revolutionary writer.

In his last interview, Pramoedya kept up his attack on elitism and corruption.

Pramoedya's reputation is still dogged by the cultural polemics of the Sukarno era

An Australian academic describes the personal impact of Pramoedya’s writing.

An activist reflects on Pramoedya’s significance for young Indonesians.

A younger writer remembers Pramoedya’s influence on his own life and work.

Pramoedya the writer was also an historian who loved his country.

Obituary

The following excerpts are taken from a diary of letters kept by an Australian woman who lived in Java, Kalimantan and Bali for nine years. In this letter, written in January 1978, the author describes her visit to a detention camp for women political prisoners Just after Christmas 1977. The prisoners have since been released. The letter begins with a description of the long drive from Semarang west to Pelantungan where the camp was located up in the mountains. The visit was arranged by a Dutch pastor, 'Co'. Fenton-Huie was accompanied by the pastor's wife, Phia, and a Dutch nursing sister, Truus. After abandoning their car which could not travel the last stretch of the rough rocky road, the women had to walk the final kilometres to the camp, which also held 40 delinquent boys. The visitors shared a simple Indonesian meal in the house of one of the guards before entering 'a large barracks-type hall' to witness the camp's Christmas concert.