The Indonesian Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa’s trip to London for talks on Afghanistan and the increasing activity of Indonesian state-backed construction companies in the Middle East both reflect the new policy of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono that Indonesia must go global and take a lead in the Muslim world. The Indonesian delegation in London held bilateral [...]

Indonesian educator, Professor Dr. Arief Rachman, was elected as a member of the Administrative Group on International Education Council of the UN Agency for Education and Cultural Affairs (IBE-UNESCO) for a term of two years. The election took place at the 59th Session of the IBE-UNESCO, held in Geneva, Switzerland, 27-29 January 2010. According to the [...]

Marty M. Natalegawa | The Jakarta Post | Opinion Indonesia’s preoccupation with various global challenges in 2010 will not be at the expense of its commitment to contribute to peace, stability and prosperity of its own region – Southeast Asia. Almost mirroring Indonesia’s democratic transformation over the past decade, the period since 2003 when Indonesia last held the Chairmanship [...]

The Jakarta Post | Marty M. Natalegawa | Opinion By any measure, the first decade of the 21st century has been a momentous one for Indonesia. The decade witnessed the transformation of Indonesia into what has been hailed as the third largest democracy in the world. As a result, some one quarter billion of humanity now enjoys [...]

RI at a crossroads: Which way to go in the Asian century Veeramalla Anjaiah, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta World After passing through an extraordinary year, 2009, as well as the first decade of the 21st century, Indonesia finds itself at a crossroads just ahead of both the new year and the century’s second decade. Throughout 2009, there has [...]

…as the World cultural Heritage that is. Three areas in Bali are targeted for designation as “Cultural Heritage Areas” by the United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) in 2010.The three areas singled out for the recognition on the island are: the rice terraces of Jatiluwih near Tabanan; the Pakerisan river valley in Gianyar; and [...]

INDONESIA’S eloquent new Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa has made a big impression in Australia within days of taking office, with his calm, reasoned explanation to ABC television viewers of his country’s approach to the stand-off over the Sri Lankan refugees aboard Oceanic Viking. “We have done our level best in terms of trying to facilitate our [...]

I have been wondering, when did my most fave Malaysian guy, Mr Karim Raslan, moved to Indonesia. I didn’t find any answer. All I know is he is now based in Jakarta, and sometimes in Bali. The Strait Times (Singapore) made an interview with him, and was told of his reasons. I quoted from the [...]

These are challenging times for the global economy and for the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), which met over the weekend in Thailand. Forged during the turbulent 1960s, ASEAN has evolved from a group that sought to restore political stability in the region to an economic bloc, and now into a major player on [...]

Yeah, this O.C. cutie was spotted wearing batik (looks like a daster?) while shopping at a boutique in LA, California, past February 2009. Probably she jumped to Jogja or someone had started selling batik at a street vendor in LA just like at Malioboro. Seems like the Parang batik made a hat-trick in Hollywood already [...]