Jakarta is facing an ecological crisis with the capital sinking at a rate of 4-6cm a year, faster than any other big city in the world, so fast that rivers sometimes flow upstream, ordinary rains regularly swamp neighborhoods and buildings slowly disappear underground, swallowed by the earth.
Drunken Republic Cartoons
February 2018
January 2018
Indonesia
Kompas – January 21, 2018
Small weight reads ‘Budget Management’, large weight reads ‘Achievements’
With Indonesia hosting the 2018 Asian Games in Jakarta and Palembang this year, sports fans are no doubt hoping that the home field advantage will boost the country’s medal tally.
Indonesia
Kompas – January 17, 2018
Pancasila – the philosophical and ideological basis of the Indonesian state – comprises five principles which are represented on the country’s coat of arms: Belief in the one and only God symbolised by a black shield and gold star; A just and civilized humanity symbolised by a chain of square and round links; The unity of Indonesia represented b
Indonesia
Kompas – January 14, 2018
The people’s (Rakyat) so-called representatives (Wakil) – the notoriously lazy and corrupt House of Representatives (MPR) – are proposing a series of controversial revisions to the 2014 Legislative Institutions Law (RUU MD3) which critics say will give legal impunity to lawmakers and threatens to erode freedom of speech and expression.
Indonesia
Kompas – January 10, 2018
Texts read: 248K followers, 3.8K comments, candidate name still sealed, vote for me, do not drop, import quality candidate, sole candidate, super quality candidate.
Indonesia
Kompas – January 3, 2018
Indonesia will be hosting the 2018 Asian Games in Jakarta and Palembang this year amid concerns over a lack of preparations and worries about how traffic congestion in Jakarta and the annual haze from forest fires in Palembang will affect the games.
November 2017
Indonesia
Kompas – November 22, 2017
Suharto’s former ruling party Golkar, which for years has stood by Setya Novanto in the face of a string of corruption scandals, is moving quickly to distance itself from the House speaker and party chair who they now see as an electoral liability following his arrest by the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) last week.
Indonesia
Kompas – November 8, 2017
Having skillfully used his political power and influence to dodged the law a in series of corruption scandals dating back to 1999, House speaker and Golkar Party chair Setya Novanto – dubbed by the media as ‘Mr Teflon’ – may finally face justice.
Indonesia
Kompas – November 1, 2017
More than 40 people died after a fire ripped through a fireworks factory in a satellite city of Jakarta with bodies incinerated as they tried to escape from the back of the building.
October 2017
Indonesia
Kompas – October 18, 2017
Having pledged to put aside the religious and ethnic divisions which paved the way for his victory in the Jakarta elections, newly inaugurated Jakarta Governor Anies Baswaden has instead began his term by triggering a storm of criticism after declaring in a speech that it was time for pribumi (indigenous Indonesians) ‘to be the hosts in our own land’.
Indonesia
Kompas – October 4, 2017
Dubbed by the media as ‘Mr Teflon’ for skillfully using his political power and influence to avoid indictment over a series of corruption scandals dating back to 1999, to the delight of other lawmakers but anger and disbelief among the general public, House speaker and Golkar Party chair Setya Novanto has once again managed to dodge the law.
September 2017
Indonesia
Kompas – September 23, 2017
Amid growing public scepticism about the official version of events, speaking at an army sponsored showing of a film on the alleged communist coup attempt in 1965, TNI chief Gatot Nurmantyo, seemingly unaware of the irony, quoted from Indonesia’s left-wing founding president Sukarno who famously said, ‘Wear the red coat and never forget history. It will make and change who we are’.
Indonesia
Kompas – September 20, 2017
The Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) has been conducting a series of sting operations this year which have netted scores of low-ranging government officials across the country.
Indonesia
Kompas – September 16, 2017
Amid a renewed push to weaken the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) after it named House speaker Setya Novanto a suspect in the high-profile e-KTP corruption scandal, Indonesia’s corrupt and lazy lawmakers are now accusing the anti-graft agency of only conducting sting operations (OTT) against low-ranking state officials.
Indonesia
Kompas – September 6, 2017
While Indonesia’s politicians like to tout grandiose plans to make Indonesia food self-sufficient by 2045, a combination of soil degradation, the conversion of agricultural land for industrial and commercial use and poor advancement of farming methods and infrastructure has instead resulted in agriculture’s share of GDP falling to only 13.45% in 2016 from 22.09% in 1990.
Indonesia
Kompas – September 2, 2017
Many believe that the Saracen news syndicate, which is under investigation for spreading slanderous and divisive news reports, is linked to the same political forces that brought down Jakarta governor Basuki ‘Ahok’ Purnama on trumped up blasphemy charges.
August 2017
Indonesia
Kompas – August 26, 2017
With a politically charged House inquiry plus an acid attack on a KPK investigator times the obvious reluctance by police to investigate the case multiplied by the suspicious suicide of a key witness, the massive electronic ID card corruption scandal is starting to resemble a TV crime drama.
Indonesia
Kompas – August 23, 2017
Indonesia’s opportunistic politicians have accused Malaysia of waging a ‘psy-war’ against Indonesia following a misprint in which the Indonesian flag was printed upside down in the promotional materials distributed at the 2017 Southeast Asian Games opening ceremony in Kuala Lumpur.
Indonesia
Kompas – August 19, 2017
Critics say that Indonesia’s politicians need to stop blaming democracy for rising religious intolerance and instead look at how government policies themselves have empowered and emboldened conservative and fundamentalist religious groups.
Indonesia
Kompas – August 16, 2017
The House of Representatives’ budget committee is claiming ignorance over an alleged plan to increase the House’s budget allocation and use some of it to construct a new building.