Books Literature

Review: Voices from the unheard

Leila S. Chudori’s novel Pulang is an important addition to a growing literature examining the events of 1965-66 and its aftermath

Review: Julia’s jihad

The provocative Julia Suryakusuma on the rampage

Review: A tale of survival and resilience in modern Surabaya

Robbie Peters' new book brings the poor urban kampungs of Surabaya to life

Review: Justice, victimhood and remembering the violence in East Timor

Lia Kent’s study of East Timor’s attempts at transitional justice is an important contribution

Review: Taking a musical journey in Sumatra

Margaret Kartomi’s life-long devotion to bringing Sumatran music to the world is revealed in her major contribution to analysing and preserving this musical heritage

Review: Suharto’s guardians and reluctant reformers

A new publication tells the story of the first graduates of the joint Indonesian Armed Forces Military Academy

Review: Lieutenant General Djaja Suparman tells his story

Editor’s note: For Indonesia-watchers the activities of the military and its leaders remain largely opaque and perhaps even menacing. In recent years the steady stream of memoirs and biographies by and about military leaders has, in some cases, assuaged some of this mystery and in others, added to the intrigue. As the public and judicial gaze has increasingly turned to the actions of military leaders with connections to the New Order, the memoir has been engaged by some as a form of testimony in an effort to ‘clear their name’. Whatever the motivation, with each new addition to this genre, we are offered new insights into the fractious and often treacherous ‘interior’ world of the Indonesian Armed Forces. Suparman holds the line but reveals some new insights into the transition of power after the fall of the New Order

Review: Reporting violence and promoting peace

A new book opens up debate about the power of the journalist and media organisations reporting conflict in Indonesia

Review: Power, change, and gender relations in rural Java

Tickamyer and Kusujiarti’s new book is essential reading

Review: My name is Khan

Sharukhan's Indonesian fans outside his concert at Jakarta International Convention Centre (8/12/2012)

This Indian film’s popularity reveals a popular critique of the US

Reviews: Flipping the national story of 1965

A researcher comforts her informant Memori-Memori Terlarang

Recent ground-breaking publications, an internationally award-winning film and a major conference are opening up new truths about Indonesia’s past

Review: From the dark side

Jusuf Wanandi’s memoir allows glimpses into the mindset of Suharto-era officialdom

Review: When perpetrators speak

Anwar Congo (right) being made up Final Cut For Real

Joshua Oppenheimer’s groundbreaking new film raises disturbing questions about why perpetrators of the 1965-66 mass killings still enjoy impunity for their actions

Review: The making of an Indonesian human rights lawyer

Dan Lev explains how an outsider became a national hero

Review: West Papua’s freedom struggle in its global context

Eben Kiksey invites the world to wake up to a crucial struggle unfolding in the Pacific

Review: At the scene of the crime

Essays, reflections and poetry on East Timor, 1999-2010

Review: Power politics

Jeffrey Winters’ Oligarchy is an epic work of comparative political insight but has little that is new to add to the study of Indonesia’s politics

West Java’s mini-fictions

Technology is opening up new possibilities for Sundanese literature

Review: Journey to womanhood

Eva Nourma’s novel provides us with a glimpse into the everyday lives of the Sasak community from Lombok – a group often overlooked in Indonesian literature

Censorship makes a comeback

Recent book bannings mark a return to the repressive practices of the New Order

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