Edition 83: Jul-Sep 2005 - Inside Indonesia: The peoples and cultures of Indonesia

Jan 03, 2025 Last Updated 12:46 AM, Dec 31, 2024

Inside Indonesia

Writing back

Local theatre in Makassar reveals a backlash against Java-centrism

Film revolution?

Women are now on both sides of the camera

Urban poetry

Subversive ‘underground’ voices in Indonesian rap Michael Bodden It’s Jakarta, June 2004 and the boom box is playing a hip-hop beat. It’s a far cry from the meditative gamelan music, saccharine love songs or even the sensual dangdut one expects to hear in Java. The rapper is Xaqhala and he spins a gritty, rhythmic poem of everyday youth experience.

Comic heyday!

Indonesia’s comic scene is in a golden age but the industry remains marginal and plagued by self-doubt

Crossing male boundaries

Confidence crisis for Bali’s women mask dancers

Woman power

In Bali, a new all-female dance-drama troupe is flouting traditional gender roles

More voices

Women and marginalised groups seize new opportunities in the arts

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Lontar Modern Indonesia

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