Writer
Duncan Graham
Duncan Graham has been a journalist for more than 40 years in print, radio and TV. He is the author of People Next Door (UWA Press) and winner of the Walkley Award and Human Rights awards. He is now writing for the English language media in Indonesia from within Indonesia.
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China is muscling Indonesia but not with war threats
Unlike Australians, Indonesians don’t fear war with China. Their concerns are more prosaic – debt, work and the virus of atheism. Continue reading »
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Getting away with mid-air murder
Studying in Europe was to be a highlight of Munir Said Thalib’s career. The voice of the Indonesian activist and forceful critic of the army’s human rights record was being heard internationally. His opponents hoped a spell abroad might silence the censure. Instead, it was amplified. Now it’ll be turned off as time for action Continue reading »
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Suffer the little children
The plains are polluted. On a windless day – and they’re common – there’s no need for a sniff-o-meter to count the particles – just stand in a high place and scan the smogscape below. Continue reading »
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Sex, lies – but no videotape
Governments love distractions and there’s a doozy gripping the people next door: A lurid tabloid tale running for five weeks and counting is keeping electors focussed on spice rather than the erosion of democracy and corruption controls. Continue reading »
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Indonesia’s unfinished business
Acknowledgements of Aboriginal land as preludes to formal events are now rarely contested, a belated acceptance that Australia has a bloody history that needs to be publicly discussed as a move towards reconciliation. Indonesia also has a grim past, but still shies from recognition – and healing. Continue reading »
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A hodge-podge is not an international service
As Opposition Leader touring overseas, Anthony Albanese probably clicked on ABC Australia TV to kill time. If so his claim that ‘it’s a matter of national security that the ABC makes more content that projects Australian values and interests to the Indo-Pacific region’ sounds like despair driving action. Continue reading »
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Hush – loose lips on foot and mouth scare biz
Legini and Gimah have foot and mouth. They’ve just been vaccinated privately for Rp 100,000 ($10) each. Had an Indonesian government vet wielded the syringe the cost would have been Rp 40,000, but Ibu Bambang fears officials might seize her precious charges and give no compensation. Continue reading »
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The Wong position on ASEAN
What are Southeast Asians‘attitudes towards Australia? Distrust, bewilderment, admiration, contempt, indifference – pick your prejudice. How about disbelief? The best and latest indicator came with reaction to Foreign Minister Penny Wong’s introducing the new Australian government to the people next door – in Indonesian. Continue reading »
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Asylum seekers in Indonesia-alive, but not living
In one of its nastier theological fabrications seemingly driven by schadenfreude, the Catholic Church invented purgatory – heaven’s waiting room where sins were cleansed oftentimes by fire. The medieval idea has been largely smothered by modern church teachings more in line with Christ’s compassion, but the worldly equivalent thrives next door through Australian indifference. Continue reading »
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Tolerance of intolerance threatens Indonesia’s image
The LGBTIQA+ community in Australia is cautiously expecting an acceleration of acceptance now the Albanese government has the steering wheel. But in the nation next door which boasts it runs with moderation, human rights is going in reverse. Continue reading »
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‘Mutual respect and genuine partnership’: how a Labor government could revamp our relationship with Indonesia
Dear Albo: Get to know the people next door. On ABC TV’s The Insiders, the then opposition Leader Anthony Albanese said he planned to visit Indonesia ‘as soon as possible’ – a statement rapidly drowned in the mainstream media’s trite election coverage. In 1994 when the then PM Paul Keating said ‘no country is more Continue reading »
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Voting season sees clichés bloom
Elections are spring rains bursting dormant seeds into carpets of weeds. Common varieties include sun-intolerant promises and herbicide-resistant lies. The most tenacious is Diurnarius proverbium, commonly known as journalistic clichés. Continue reading »
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Giving Indonesian diplomacy a kick along
Australians aren’t tops for geography, often promoting Bali to nationhood. Likewise, Indonesians shifting Perth to the East Coast. But they can locate Manchester, the gritty industrial centre in northwest England. Curiously that could enliven the equatorial archipelago’s yawning (both meanings) relations with its neighbour, as proved in the latest Lowy survey. Continue reading »
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In Indonesia the past is another country
Nationalism in the world’s fourth largest nation is rising – but so far unthreatening. Indonesian passions are being driven not by demagoguery but through discovery of the country’s pre-colonial, pre-Islam heritage with added ghosts. Continue reading »
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Keep calm and carry on with President Widodo
There’ll be few Valentine’s Day greetings and faux flower mall displays in Indonesia two years hence. That’s not because Muslim scholars will again warn followers not to celebrate ‘values that are considered to be against the Islamic Sharia.’ Continue reading »
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Measuring the decibels of piety in Indonesia
Visitors to Indonesia beware: Sound off about visual pollution from billboards or trash in rivers or the CO2 assaults on lungs and listeners will nod. Continue reading »
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How the Netherlands is confronting past war crimes in Indonesia
The Dutch are squaring up to the wrongs of their nation’s colonial past, pushed by the conscience of young Hollanders shamed by revelations of villainy by their forebears. Continue reading »
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Lost in mistranslation: Australian soft power goes missing in Indonesia
We should spruce up the relationship now rather than wait until it collapses into misunderstandings and ill will. The second of a two-part essay. Continue reading »
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Indonesia invisible across the election landscape
Why do we ignore the nation nearby with a population 11 times larger than ours? The answers are manifold. This is the first of a two-part essay. Continue reading »
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Old people’s home for many Indonesians is a useful life with people they know
Australia’s aged-care policies include keeping frail oldies apart from society. Indonesia does the opposite – seemingly benefitting all. Continue reading »
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Women’s rights in Indonesia: progress amid the division
Resistance to proposed legislation against sexual violence underlines the uphill task faced by moderates seeking change in a male-dominated society. Continue reading »
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Wake up Australia: ASEAN has lost value and purpose
ASEAN is throttled by a policy prohibiting members from interfering in each others’ affairs. The results are clear in relation to Myanmar. Continue reading »
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Eternal vigilance for Indonesia, even after a season of peace
A low-key approach to combating terrorism has worked for authorities, though an expert warns that extremism remains deeply rooted in the archipelago. Continue reading »
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Quelle horreur! Paris poaching in our paddock leased to Washington
An ancient European power is putting more energy into courting a paramour 11,500 kilometres distant than the young swain next door. Continue reading »
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Puff pieces harm one of Indonesia’s most respected newspapers
A publication that emerged as a champion of democracy after the long years of dictatorship has allowed its principles to go up in smoke. Continue reading »
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Indonesia’s haphazard pandemic response is no holiday
While the president has banned Christmas holidays in a bid to prevent COVID transmission, the enforcement of decrees has been fitful at best. Continue reading »
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Conservatives undermine push against sexual violence on Indonesian campuses
Hardline Muslim organisations insist Indonesia’s moves to curb sexual harassment will encourage adultery and sex outside marriage. Continue reading »
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Indonesia’s Widodo lacks the will, let alone ability, to fight climate change
Our near neighbour faces a colossal task in keeping the lights on while reducing emissions. Even some solutions create problems. Continue reading »
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Faltering forum: time to euthanise the ASEAN nag
If ASEAN crashed in the Melbourne Cup the on-course vets would be ready with the needle and green tarpaulin. But this bag-o’-bones is such a dud it would have been scratched. Continue reading »
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Indonesia trade pitch plays down the perils awaiting outside investors
Chief among the many pitfalls of engaging with Australia’s giant neighbour is Indonesia’s legal system, which is rife with corruption and rigged against foreigners. Continue reading »
