: Super User; Social Issues; 20 September 2012; Hits: 1211

Lingua Franca Mirrors Pluralistic Heart

SPEAK Sundanese on Wednesdays! That is the message from the Bandung municipal council to the residents of Indonesia’s third largest city.

: Super User; Social Issues; 30 August 2012; Hits: 1270

Hitting the Right Notes

FOR a country of 240 million people, Indonesia’s Western music scene is surprisingly low key. There are only two well-established symphony orchestras, well-designed auditoriums are rare, and few Western-trained musicians can find enough work to make a decent living.

: Super User; Social Issues; 02 August 2012; Hits: 1215

Temper, Tempeh, Tensions

MR GHOZALI, a tempeh producer in Central Jakarta’s Kemayoran district, is an angry man. Last week, a mob stormed his house and destroyed equipment he uses to produce tempeh, a type of fermented soya bean cake.

: Super User; Social Issues; 28 June 2012; Hits: 1303

Huge Problems in Greater Jakarta

JAKARTA, as every traveller to the city soon discovers, faces enormous problems. Traffic congestion has long been at alarming levels, particularly during the morning and evening peak hours. Public transportation is woefully inadequate, while air pollution, persistent water shortages, and an almost non-existent sewerage system present serious health hazards.

: Super User; Social Issues; 07 June 2012; Hits: 1060

A Problem that Won't Buzz Off

IT WAS just an ordinary vase of flowers. Seemingly innocent, it was located in the offices of the University of Indonesia’s Department of Community Medicine in Jakarta. Closer inspection by department head Firman Lubis, however, uncovered an uncomfortable truth.

Key Political Risks

The inability of the government led by Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra to bridge the deep divisions between her populist government and its royalist opponents in the military and bureaucracy remains a major concern.

Prime Minister Yingluck has selected a competent economic team, but it is difficult for these technocrats to deliver on the new government's campaign promises without triggering inflation or hurting business.

The government has also been unable to resolve the ongoing insurgency involving ethnic Malay Muslim rebels in the south.

WATCH OUT FOR:

Attempts by the government to amend the constitution. The proposed rewrite is aimed removing legal measures initiated by the royalist generals who overthrew former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, the current prime minister's elder brother, in 2006.
Ballooning government debt as officials seek to finance government programmes aimed at subsidising rice prices in order to retain the support of farmers.
The relationship between Prime Minister Yingluck and senior generals. Coups have been a common means of regime change in Thai history, and any attempt by the government to purge royalist elements in the top brass could trigger yet another. Thailand