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Muslim Shrines in the Malay World – KITLV

Lecture: Muslim Shrines in the Malay world: Scattered, Contentious, and Illuminating Inscriptions in the Landscape By Sumit Mandal (University of Nottingham, Malaysia Campus) This lecture explores Muslim shrines in the Malay world. Muslim shrines, or keramat as they are known in Malay, are constituted by the grave sites of exceptional individuals and found across the…

Book Review: Black December 1974

One Hundred Thousand for Rubbish Art: A Review of Menanam Padi di Langit [Planting Rice in the Sky] by Puthut EA Blog post by Wahyudin, January 2017 – 9 – […] consider the description of Bambang Bujono (Tempo, 11 January 1975): “In neither the invitation to painters to participate in the 1974 Grand Indonesian Painting…

Poem of a Cigar By WS Rendra

“..Two or three businessmen squat down, And shit on their heads…”

Poem: Ambition By Muhammad Yamin

Ambition By Muhammad Yamin Night has fallen, cool and still The breeze is so gentle and soft; The ocean heaves, murmuring quietly The smooth surface glistening and glinting. Outstretched hands reach into the night air Unsteadily withdrawn, by a heart without joy Because of the “wish”, remembered so often So brilliantly, beyond words. Every star…

Film: Salawaku at the Melbourne International Film Festival

…remote wilderness of Indonesia’s Maluku Islands…

Cinema: Salawaku Trailer, Melbourne International Film Festival

The remote wilderness of Indonesia’s Maluku Islands provides a magnificent backdrop for this gentle journey of youthful discovery. In a secluded village in Indonesia’s beautiful Maluku Islands, ten-year-old Salawaku’s older sister has gone. Salawaku takes it upon himself to find her and sets off on a grand journey into the wild heart of his…

Personality: “A Note From Ahok” by Basuki Tjahaja Purnama

“..I was one of the people always being invited onto Metro TV’s talk show Mata Najwa..”

Two Poems for B Resobowo by Chairil Anwar

By Chairil Anwar I Is this journey far? Just the twinkle of an eye! – How could it be any longer! Then what? Of the falling leaves, you ask for yourself, And of the soft sound which becomes a melody! Does it remain only as a memento? Look at the woman no longer gazing upward…

Malay manuscripts from Patani – The British Library – Asian and Africa studies blog

Patani is a culturally Malay-Muslim region located on the northeast coast of the Malay peninsula, in the southern part of Thailand. It has long been renowned as a cradle of Malay art and culture, and especially as a centre for Islamic learning, with close links with the Holy Cities of Arabia. Patani has produced many…

Poem: Heaven By Chairil Anwar

By Chairil Anwar, 1947 Just as my mother and my grandmother too And as seven generations before I too ask to be allowed into heaven which say Masyumi and Muhammadiyah flows with rivers of milk and is full of beautiful maidens But there’s a voice inside me weighing this up, which dares to scoff: Can…

Poem: Arctic Tuti By Chairil Anwar

By Chairil Anwar, 1946 Between happiness now and in the future yawns a great canyon, My little sis, lapping up an arctic ice dessert; This afternoon you were my love, I decorated you with eclair and Coca-Cola, My wife in training: we made the clock tick stop.

Poem: Night Time in the Mountains By Chairil Anwar

Night Time in the Mountains By Chairil Anwar, 1946 I wonder: Is it this moon that makes the cold, makes the houses pallid and freezes the forest? This is the first time I’ve been so completely able to respond to the desire: Hey, there’s a little kid playing tips with her shadow! Pantja Raja, No.…