Opini

By BenCyrus G. Ellorin “Because half a dozen grasshoppers under a fern make the field ring with their importunate chink, whilst thousands of great cattle, reposed beneath the shadow of the British oak, chew the cud and are silent, pray do not imagine that those who make noise are the only inhabitants of the field; that, of course, they ...

By Mario Rustan At first I thought it was a slow news day. When a news program was broadcasting an item titled “Indonesian culture robbed by Malaysia”, I watched it in mute mode, admiring scenes of Chinese girls eating laksa and going shopping, in another Malaysia tourism video. The next day, the stealing claim seemed justified. The ...

By Farish A Noor In the process of rediscovering our past and our culture, let us not be narrow-minded in our approach. Southeast Asia is a rich patchwork of diverse communities and cultures, and we are all the richer because we share this common legacy together Demo season has come early this year, and over the weekend it was ...

By Merlyna Lim The recent furor caused by the Discovery Channel`s mistaken insertion of the Balinese Pendet dance into a TV spot for Malaysia has reopened an old wound of Indonesians, who believe Malaysian has repeatedly stolen Indonesian cultural heritage, including the song "Rasa Sayange", the angklung, and the Reog Ponorogo dance, ...

By Sarah Anais Andrieu As often happens in West Java during November, rain had been falling all day, so Bandung`s central public space, known as the Gasibu, was half-flooded. A large temporary stage had been erected, in front of which stood a large tent sheltering about two hundred chairs. Forty chairs were prepared with white covers ...

By Cecile Guidote-Alvarez We congratulate the 2009 Ramon Magsaysay Awardees: Krisana Kraisintu, Thailand; Deep Joshi, India; Yu Xiaogang, China; Antonio Oposa Jr., Philippines; Ma Jun, China; and Ka Hsaw Wa, Burma. The recognition of their exceptional work in honor of our former President Ramon Magsaysay has been dubbed the equivalent ...

By Dzulkifli Abdul Razak The recent spat over the cultural claims by Indonesia offers another dimension on the understanding of the 1Malaysia concept. First and above all, it boils down to our weakness, if not failure, to articulate what precisely is Malaysian culture, which now assumes a rather amorphous dimension given the ...

By A‘an Suryana As in years past, millions of people are set to return home this year to celebrate Idul Fitri. The government estimates the number of homebound travelers will hit 27.25 million, with 16.25 million people going by public transportation and the rest by private car or motorcycle. The sheer number of travelers, who will ...

By Achmad Munjid Since back in the colonial period, rural areas have been central to the life of Muslims in Indonesia. Most pesantren, the center of Islamic learning and religious authority, are located in rural areas. Most santri, live in rural area. Nahdlatul Ulama (NU), the largest Muslim organization in the country, is also based ...

By Terry Lacey It has been front page news in Indonesia and across much of the world`s press that the Aceh provincial parliament has just introduced a shariah by-law on stoning for adultery. Is Indonesia entering a new stone age? No it is not. With a modern leader, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, who is backed by modern Islamic ...

By An. Ismanto Stereotypes and material subordination alone are not enough to preserve hegemony. The dominant group must utilize other much more subtle tools, i.e. academic ideas that are interwoven in such a way that forms a solid system and benefit the dominant group. Edward Said (2001:2) calls this system Orientalism. Scientific ...

By Yusuf Efendi Come and see America’s most famous Nanny. Nanny Stella from “Nanny 911”, helping families achieve their full potential. (Kompas, 30 November 2009). Prolog The lead of this article is clearly posted in a national newspaper ad. It exposes a picture of a dashing, fat woman, wearing a hat ala Charlie Chaplin and a ...