Pecha Kucha Nights are always quite enlightening and stimulating because you get to learn what various thought and community leaders are up to. Last night’s Pecha Kucha Night, with the theme Consume Consciously was particularly insightful. There were seven speakers, each committed to the 20X20 format of Pecha Kucha – 20 slides at […]
Category Archives: Indonesia
Serial Fellows
We all have them. Friends and acquaintances who are so talented and must have accomplished so much and shown such promise that they have been singled out time and again to receive one plush fellowship or another. You know them. They are the ones that pop up in your timeline proclaiming they feel so “humbled” […]
Toraja is indeed Melo II – Death, Funerals and Graves
Continued from Toraja is indeed Melo I – Batutumonga and the Bamboo Forest This is the second of a three-part account of a recent short trip to Tana Toraja. Situated in the highlands of central Sulawesi, it is a land of breathtaking beauty, rugged landscapes and and a unique culture that embraces death, bloody sacrifices […]
Toraja is indeed Melo I – Batutumonga and the Bamboo Forest
This is the first of a three-part account of our group’s travel to Tana Toraja. There were eight of us with a 6-year old in tow and we had a fabulous time. There is so much to share about Toraja, the Torajanese’s relationship with Death and their strange rituals and the culture there that I’ve […]
Erections galore but failure at maintenance remains the bane
Drive down Jalan Sudirman today and what do you see? You’d probably say you see workers putting the finishing touches on smooth, wide walkways flanked by generous islands of grass, in a process of tarting up Jakarta for the Asian Games that starts on the 18th of next month. What I see, however, is a […]
The night Mahathir came to town
Yesterday evening was billed as a special session with the Malaysians living in Indonesia with the new old Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad. It was part of his first official visit to neighbouring Indonesia where he would meet Jokowi. I went with mixed feelings. I was curious to see the old warhorse, still flushed from his […]
Please help ensure this hater Jamal Yusof has no place to hide in Indonesia – and make Rp35 mio in the process
Indonesian friends, your help is needed to ensure that this man, who is not unlike those who incite hatred in Indonesia, doesn’t use Indonesia as a refuge from the justice he deserves in Malaysia. His name is Jamal Yunos and he used to be a division leader of Umno, the party that was under the […]
Tales of a Queer Muslim Indonesian
So proud of former colleague Zulfikar for starting this book project. Here’s what I wrote about Zul’s upcoming book at the Maverick blog: It’s great when one of us go on beyond the workplace to do new, wonderful and imaginative things. So we are thrilled to learn of Forever Mavbro Zulfikar’s latest adventure – to […]
Hypocrisy in supermarket Iceland’s ban on palm oil
This is an opinion piece I wrote for The Palm Scribe: Supermarket Iceland’s banning of palm oil in its own brands – laudable or misguided effort? by Ong Hock Chuan | Apr 11, 2018 | Opinion, Videos | 0 comments Iceland Managing Director Richard Walker’s announcement that the frozen food chain will be banning the […]
Why doctors are pissing themselves silly over an illustration of the controversial Dr Terawan
Been told by a doctor friend that the medical profession in Indonesia is pissing themselves silly over the infographic on the front page of Tempo above. The source of this derision? Stroke specialist Dr Terawan has been in the news lately for his controversial “brain cleansing” procedure, resulting in him being kicked out of the […]
