Indonesians went to the polls on February 14 to elect a new president and vice president, with some 204 million of the country’s 270 million population registered to vote. Ahead of the election, which was the single largest one-day election of its kind in the world, there had been some fears that polling stations could … Read more
On Friday, two Malaysian nationals held at Guantanamo Bay Detention Camp since 2006 were sentenced on charges of murder, conspiracy, accessory after the fact, intentionally causing serious bodily injury, and destruction of property, for their roles in the deadly bombing in Kuta in Bali, Indonesia on October 12, 2002, which killed 202 people including seven … Read more
John MacDougall, a cultural anthropologist from Princeton University in the United States, who dedicated his life to Indonesia and all things Balinese, died on December 30 after a long illness, a sad finale for 2023. He was 53. Over a career that spanned almost 30 years, MacDougall’s writings and influence would reach the highest ranks … Read more
A protracted Israel-Hamas war may have negative consequences in some Southeast Asian nations, in terms of terror recruitment, radicalization, and cyberattacks, according to experts. The armed conflict in the Middle East has entered its second month after a surprise incursion by Hamas into southern Israel on October 7 resulted in the killing of over 1,200 … Read more
Advertisement In the late 1990s and early 2000s, Indonesia, and the wider Southeast Asia region, was viewed by many as a hostile place. On Christmas Eve 2000, churches across the country were bombed, leaving 18 people dead. On October 12, 2002, a further series of bombs ripped through Kuta in Bali, killing 202 people and … Read more
Advertisement Indonesia’s increasingly aggressive counterterrorism operations in Sulawesi have yielded significant results in the past two years. In early 2021, Special Detachment 88 (Densus 88) arrested over 60 members of the Anshor Daulah Villa Mutiara, one of Indonesia’s most active pro-Islamic State (IS) cells. In the recent past its members were responsible for the 2021 … Read more