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). He is now writing for the English language media in Indonesia from within Indonesia. Duncan Graham has an MPhil degree, a Walkley Award, two Human Rights Commission awards and other prizes for his radio, TV and print journalism in Australia. He lives in East Java.
Duncan's recent articles
15 April 2025
How to lose friends and help rivals
If the US wanted to thrust Indonesia into the strategic political orbit of China, it couldn’t have found a better way than imposing a 32% tariff on imports from the archipelago.
19 March 2025
Does Jesus need a barber? The question is a trap
Western media usually tags Indonesia as having more Muslims than any other country. That’s statistically true – but lesser known is that 11% of the 284 million don’t follow Islam. The constitutionally secular republic has more Christians than Australia.
6 March 2025
The creeping crisis we're ignoring
As Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto steers his giant nation closer to China it’s worth recalling Paul Keating three decades ago: No country is more important to Australia than Indonesia.
17 February 2025
Free meals threatened – and threatening
Before the 18th century Enlightenment, church and state in Europe were one. In Indonesia, fears that Islam will infiltrate civic affairs go back to the founding of the Republic. Instead, the threats are not from the mosques, but the military.
6 February 2025
Sound the alarm: ABC at risk
The Federal Parliament has yet to pass a law ensuring five-year funding for the ABC. If it doesn’t get passed, it leaves the national broadcaster open to cuts and threats should the government change.
22 January 2025
Yesterday's man is stuffing up
Trump Two is the world’s big story – will he fly high and take the dollar aloft – or crash and fry? Whatever, he’s shading the sun from the right-wing blusterer next door who isn’t doing well after three months. Duncan Graham reports.
14 January 2025
Jakarta pips Dutton in nuclear race
Peter Dutton’s hopes for Australia to be the first nation in the Southern Hemisphere to pioneer the use of small-to-medium nuclear reactors seem dashed.
8 January 2025
Debunking deforestation
Indonesia’s new president, former disgraced general Prabowo Subianto, is making an awkward discovery: gaining respect in the international community as head of a nation of 280 million civilians is not the same as ordering a special squad to intimidate.
13 December 2024
Farewell fair go, hello despair
It’s true. The night fears have come to pass. The evidence is too great to ignore any longer. My country, our nation, is racist.
26 November 2024
War games? Let's play peace
Why volunteer for the military? Academics have some answers.
15 November 2024
One word fouls straits settlement - "Overlapping"
It was supposed to be the Tour Triumphant, showing that Indonesia - the globe's fourth-most populous nation - has a cosmopolitan new boss who can stride the world stage with panache. But cashiered former general Prabowo Subianto has tripped badly.
9 November 2024
Moderates begone: ‘TIS THE AGE OF THE DESPOT
Prabowo Subianto has got his diary right: First overseas handshake from the new President of Indonesia is for his bankers in Beijing, President Xi Jinping and Premier Li Qiang. Trump can wait.
31 October 2024
Come in now Indonesian democracy, your time is up
It took less than a week for the reality to be exposed. Even Deputy PM Richard Marles must now acknowledge that the nation next door he praises for its moderation and democracy is now a military dictatorship and a serious threat.
24 October 2024
Gender equality? - Not our culture
Half the 280 million people in Indonesia are women, though not in the 48-member ministry; just five were drafted this week by the fresh president Prabowo Subianto. It’s a Cabinet fuelled more by testosterone than talent.
17 October 2024
Small, smart and struggling
Where’s the torrent of cash expected to flow from Google, Meta and other overseas behemoths plundering Ozzie journalism? Here’s the latest handwringing.
10 October 2024
Can this Odd Couple survive?
Before debating with Democrat VP candidate Tim Walz, the Republican nominee JD Vance said the contestants’ views matter little because voters go for the top of the ticket, not the bottom.
30 September 2024
Looming now in Indonesia: The age of uncertainty
There’ll soon be a new leader next door – ageing hardliner Prabowo Subianto. He’s Indonesia’s dark lord with a worrying past of alleged human rights abuses, yet overwhelmingly elected in the February national poll. He’ll take over on 20 October.
14 September 2024
The cursed stone resists return
In an age of logic and evidence-based reasoning, modern research has revealed a thousand-year curse. It could be stopping the superstitious and spiritually-conscious Javanese from vigorously striving to return a thieved “emblem of Indonesian cultural heritage.
4 September 2024
Never mind the quality, feel the words
The paperwork signing late last month by Defence Minister Richard Marles and his Indonesian counterpart Prabowo Subianto in Magelang (Central Java) is being paraded as an extraordinary advance in relationships. It's not.
27 August 2024
Father knows best? Not this time
How comfy the throne, how rapid the change; a humble Republican from a riverbank shack is plotting to be King of Indonesia surrounded by his regal family of political courtiers.
21 August 2024
The ABC of telling tales
ABC chair Kim Williams reckons the Corporation should focus more on hard news than lifestyle fillers. While purging the pap, he might also look at how some stories get told, particularly to international audiences.
13 August 2024
Neither treaty nor pact, just troubling facts
ABC foreign affairs reporter Stephen Dziedzic’s ’exclusive’ claim that Australia and Indonesia are on the brink of sealing an upgraded defence pact hasn’t been refuted by Defence so is probably right.
8 August 2024
How to get good publicity? Ban journos
A tip for politicians worried about bothersome journos upsetting talking points with probing questions: Don't invite peskies to your pressies.
31 July 2024
Street charity - Thank Allah it's friday
Following the 7 October Hamas outrage Australia has been suffering an outburst of race and religious hate. Lawyer Jillian Segal has been made a “special envoy” to counter antisemitism. A similar appointment is expected to confront Islamophobia and challenge the alleged linkage of Muslims with extremism and terror.
24 July 2024
When will we treat Indonesia seriously?
Guarantee: This report is free of US political toxins. The contents are purely local.
11 July 2024
Facts sacred, pacts not
It's a hoary oldie publicity hook: Imagine something improbable, then feed off the controversy.
29 June 2024
Control the past - then the future. Thus spoke Orwell
It’s been argued that Indonesia’s next President may be good for Australian interests; for domestic progressives that’s doubtful.
21 June 2024
What ye sow ye reap
There’s nothing profound about the Biblical quote; variations are embedded in many religions and cultures.
18 June 2024
Indonesia's carbon crisis: will Islam get dirty hands?
Nahdlatul Ulama (NU)(revival of the scholars) is Indonesia and the world's largest Islamic organisation claiming almost 100 million members. If it digs coal it could become mega-rich. How dirty work marries with sending souls to paradise only Allah knows.
14 June 2024
Tyranny of proximity
The pundits are already in a tizz: What’ll happen to defence, AUKUS, trade and other relationships should Trump win in November? More pressing and certain is how we’ll cope when Indonesia’s President-elect Prabowo Subianto takes office in October.
7 June 2024
A better service may be transmitted
The Indonesian government's TVRI channel is supposed to have negotiated an MOU with the ABC to swap programmes. A great idea - benefits all. That’s the initial reaction.
1 June 2024
The militarist as milkman
ABC TV’s Landline programme has declared that “Australia's dairy industry is licking its lips at the prospect of increased demand from Indonesia.”
24 May 2024
Rules show how not to win friends and influence people
The ABC is running jolly programmes on and for the Pacific as part of a government policy to counter Chinese influence. But in a closer, bigger and more important region already eyed by Beijing the national broadcaster and its paymaster offer indifference and ignorance. Or is that arrogance?
13 May 2024
Vast inequality threatens democracy
The disparity is vast and immoral. Emotional language touches souls, but in Indonesia it should also grab economics and politics. The new government could demand reform. It wont.
29 April 2024
The learned solution: Fix problems with violence
Are you well-armed, fired up, pitchfork to hand? The quarry is elusive, his background suspect but we know his name - DV. Are we getting closer?
26 April 2024
The court decides; doom to follow?
As predicted in Pearls & Irritations earlier this month, an appeal by the two losing candidates in the 14 February Indonesian presidential election has been trounced this week by the Constitutional Court.
16 April 2024
Ok, Allah, we passed your test
There are five major and hundreds of minor religions in the world. But don’t worry - yours is the right one. - Anon
9 April 2024
Losers whinge, winners rule
A tip to take a wee shot at understanding the way of doing politics in Indonesia: Suspend rationality. Now imagine PM Anthony Albanese offering Scott Morrison a ministry - choice from five. Not such a smart move for Down Under but OK for next door.
4 April 2024
Unaligned - or undecided? Prabowo, China and US
This week Prabowo Subianto has been in Beijing at the invitation of President Xi Jinping. Its the Indonesian president-elects first major overseas trip after winning the 14 February election. No come-soon card yet from Washington, so Chinas getting in first. Should we be worried? Duncan Graham reports:
24 March 2024
Playing the hunger games
The nightmare sprung to life: A gang. Worse, an Asian teen gang. An hour before dawn. Im alone. With a bike.
13 March 2024
Things unsaid, people unseen
The irony was thick as lard. What an indigestible image for International Women's Day. What an appalling advertisement for the Melbourne ASEAN Summit and its Australian host, a claimed world leader for gender equality.
10 March 2024
Indifference killing democracy in Indonesia
A reason for Indonesians overwhelmingly supporting cashiered general Prabowo Subianto and a likely military dictatorship is because the electorate rarely reads; voters havent been taught to think critically so know little of their new presidents past.
3 March 2024
The parade of talk going nowhere
ASEAN has been around for so long media outlets rarely spell the full name - Association of Southeast Asian Nations. That sounds significant and grand. Its not.
29 February 2024
The coming of the fear
If liberty means anything at all, it means the right to tell people what they dont want to hear. George Orwell (Eric Blair)
19 February 2024
Keeping it in the family
Why did well over half the 200-plus million Indonesian registered electors choose disgraced general Prabowo Subianto as their next President? Duncan Graham has some answers.
13 February 2024
Farewell democracy
Therell be a good indicator - if not a firm result - by the time most Australians go to bed tonight. Then well know if the ferociously ambitious Prabowo Subianto - Indonesias political psychopath - will be running the nation next door and booting out democracy.
30 January 2024
Shafted by etiquette: Gibran deploys western sarcasm in Indonesian election
Just a fortnight to Indonesias big 14 February election and the mood is shifting as more than 200 million electors realise the reality - theyre being played by the oligarchs like puppets.
19 January 2024
Why Indonesia is more monarchy than democracy
General Soeharto who ruled Indonesia for 32 years last century used to stage a Festival of Democracy every five years. This was export quality irony - the results were known before the poll papers were printed.