John Menadue
Publisher and Editor
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- Do we share the same values as the US?
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- Saturday’s good reading and listening for the weekend
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- China must obey international rules in the South China Sea but the US ignores them in Diego Garcia (Repost 3 July 2020)
Author Archives: Duncan Graham
Is Indonesia’s ‘dreamy idealist’ losing the plot?
Akhirnya! At last! Just in time for the 75th anniversary of the declaration of Indonesia’s independence next week (17 August) we’re starting to examine our big neighbour with some honesty.
Posted in Asia, Politics
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Killing slowly to show love
WARNING: This article contains observations which some may find disturbing.
Posted in Asia, Religion and Faith
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The dragon in the room next door
He’s one of China’s most high-ranking and experienced diplomats yet he was caught on TV squirming when confronted by video showing manacled men shunted onto trains. The prisoners were alleged to be Chinese Uyghur, a Muslim ethnic group.
Posted in China, Human Rights
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How academics are killing freelancers
Thou woldest han oure labour al for noght. The hye god, that al this world hath wrough Seith that the workman worthy is his hyre. Geoffrey Chaucer: The Summoner’s Tale.
Posted in Politics
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Let the flag follow the trade
It’s a curious cluster – Jamaica, Luxemburg, Costa Rica and Jordan. Squashed in the middle at 73 is Indonesia. It’s a lousy rank on the World Bank’s Ease of Doing Business Register because it shouts at potential investors: Beware! Yet … Continue reading
Scared of the same bogeyman? Let’s cooperate.
Was Indonesia alerted ahead of the PM’s 2020 Defence Strategic Update and Force Structure Plan announcement? The presumption is that key people were tipped off, largely because there’s been no blow-back.
Posted in Asia
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Indonesia’s President Widodo finally takes a firm stand, but will it matter?
Indonesia’s founding president Soekarno was a dazzling demagogue, feared and loathed by the West and admired by the East. Apart from Abdurrahman Wahid (Gus Dur), his successors’ performances at the podium have been pedestrian, but suddenly Joko Widodo, the epitome … Continue reading
Posted in Asia
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The ABC-Out of sight, out of care
This continues yesterday’s feature on ABC Australia, our underfunded and neglected TV presentation to the Asia Pacific. Look on, ye neighbours, and despair.
ABC sending a strange message to the region.
The slashing and burning of ABC workers, their goodies and services seems to have missed the overseas TV service ABC Australia. That’s no reason to whoop. Further cuts will kill.
Chinese ties put Indonesia in a bind.
Beijing has warned citizens against travel to Australia claiming ‘a significant increase’ in racial discrimination and violence against Chinese and Asians blamed for the Covid-19 pandemic.
Posted in Asia
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Back to the good ol’ ways in Jakarta
Cities can snap-back from the Corona-19 crisis – though not necessarily to a New Normal. Jakarta shows how.
Posted in Asia
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DUNCAN GRAHAM. More Jakarta, Less Geneva!
It’s become a ritual for every Australian leader for the past half-century.
Posted in Asia
2 Comments
DUNCAN GRAHAM If Bali lets you in – will Oz let you back?
When is a pandemic suppression order not a lockdown? When it’s in Indonesia.
DUNCAN GRAHAM. Blame – don’t shame
It’s warming to see Australians helping jobless Balinese felled by Covid-19 with tuckerbags as hotels shut and tourists flee. One donor called it her ‘moral obligation’, a commendable motive.
Posted in Asia, Politics, World Affairs
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DUNCAN GRAHAM. When in doubt, think up a number
Indonesia’s second president General Soeharto had a fix-all to calm restless citizens demanding improvements. He’d pronounce a numbered plan.
DUNCAN GRAHAM The year of living disastrously
Most days the ABC website publishes graphs showing the trajectory of Covid-19 cases. The charts feature nine countries including Taiwan, Japan and Australia. Though not Indonesia.
Posted in Politics
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DUNCAN GRAHAM. Not the Freshest Meat in The Australian.
The Australian has become very liberal with their use of the word ‘EXCLUSIVE’.
Posted in Media
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DUNCAN GRAHAM. A breakup’s unthinkable – so let’s give it another go
Australia and Indonesia are not the neighbours we ought to be. Many button lips for fear of arousing wrath, but here’s the truth: The neighbours aren’t part of the Anglosphere. They don’t understand or trust us, nor we them.
Posted in World Affairs
5 Comments
DUNCAN GRAHAM Don’t cry for us,, Indonesia
Some foreign correspondents in Jakarta have done a bunk, leaving their Indonesian fixers and colleagues to confront the catastrophes they fear to face.
Posted in Media
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DUNCAN GRAHAM. Normal service will be rezoomed forever
Witless vandals defacing the odd Zoom chat room have given repressive states (think Singapore) another excuse to stomp on a development they dread: Technology that’s letting a hundred schools of thought contend.
DUNCAN GRAHAM. Mobocracy rules in Indonesia.
The videos are ghastly. Young men stripped to the waist, roped together in a line, shuffling forward on their knees. Their bodies are bruised and bloodied, their smashed faces creased with fear. They’re not just the victims of kampong rough … Continue reading
Posted in Asia, Politics, World Affairs
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DUNCAN GRAHAM But the dead are many
Indonesia’s response to the Covid-19 pandemic makes a train wreck seem structured. The fourth most populous nation has next to no testing, no info, no direction – and most important of all – no trust. Such is the legacy of … Continue reading
Posted in Politics
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DUNCAN GRAHAM.- Not a model land
Curious about life as a sheep? Visit Incredible Indonesia, as the tourist promos once hollered.
Posted in Politics
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DUNCAN GRAHAM It’s looking real bad next door
Doomsayers are society’s detestables yet needed as truth-tellers. So here goes: The omens are awful. Thousands of Indonesians are threatened by the Covid-19 pandemic through denial and indecision. Responses have been too few, too late and too uncoordinated.
Posted in Health
2 Comments
DUNCAN GRAHAM For sale: Bat viruses in Indonesia
Indonesia’s 8.9 per cent death rate for COVID-19 infections is the second highest in the world, just behind Italy nudging ten per cent. The apparent inaction of the Government is particularly concerning with Indonesian meat market practices being quite similar … Continue reading
DUNCAN GRAHAM The land of no social distance
While the Western world thinks staying apart is wise to avoid Covid-19 infections, Indonesians still remain together.
Posted in Health
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DUNCAN GRAHAM.-The wealthiest one per cent (all men) own half Indonesia’s total wealth.
Ma’ruf Amin is a name few Australians would recognize. Before his election last year as Indonesia’s vice-president, the hard-right Islamic cleric showed minimal interest in his southern neighbour. Suddenly he wants Australian aid.
Posted in Asia, Politics, World Affairs
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DUNCAN GRAHAM Reporting from afar using mining models
The Australian Associated Press closure in June will shut Australians out of much domestic journalism. Courts, councils and commissions whose workings underpin democracy will often go unreported.
Posted in Politics
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DUNCAN GRAHAM The Washington watcher on UWA’s cast-iron balcony
Why is the Perth-based USAsia Centre backed by Australian taxpayers? If this foreign influencer was run by the Chinese or Russians it would be forensically examined. As a US show it slips past scrutineers.
Posted in World Affairs
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DUNCAN GRAHAM.The pachyderm on the patio
Kupang is at the bottom of West Timor. It’s the largest city in far eastern Indonesia. Imagine how Canberra would react if Jakarta allowed the People’s Liberation Army Air Force to station their armed jets just 830 km northeast of … Continue reading
Posted in Asia, Politics, World Affairs
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