Critics say it’s just a fad but some young upper middle-class Indonesians are rediscovering forgotten histories, writes Yatun Sastramidjaja.    Young Indonesians, particularly those of the urban middle class, are often criticised for being indifferent to their history, spending all their time in malls and being more interested in western pop culture than local heritage. [...]

Sufferers of severe facial disfigurement and cleft and lip palate across Indonesia can face malnourishment, speech problems and are often socially isolated and traumatised by their facial disfigurements. British-born Indonesian citizen Mary Northmore, who has lived here since 1985, is the founder of Bali’s Yayasan Senyum – Smile Foundation – a non-profit organisation that since [...]

Corruption in Indonesia’s legal system is an endemic problem. Dr Wayan P. Windia, a Balinese Common Law Professor at Udayana University who graduated from the Faculty of Law in 1992, spoke with Carla Albertí de la Rosa about how a change in mentality is the best way to put an end to systemic graft. At [...]

Bali’s global image is about to get a major boost, with the release in August of Julia Roberts movie Eat, Pray, Love, which was part-filmed around the island. This proves, says Deborah Gabinetti of the Bali Film Centre, that Bali has strong potential for further movie locations. The Springfield, Massachusetts, native moved to Bali in [...]

Carla Albertí de la Rosa examines the growth of Western-style shopping in Bali, nowadays catering not only to foreigners but also attracting growing local custom The explosion of Western-style shopping in Bali over the last decade has shifted some consumers’ shopping patterns from traditional markets, where they used to purchase all their food and other [...]

With so many commercial banks in Bali, competition among the smaller ones can be fierce. And now the island has a new bank, BPR Legian, a people’s credit bank headed by Medan native and Bali resident Christopher Wilaras, who says it will focus on areas not currently the focus of the banking sector: farming, small [...]

Carla Albertí de La Rosa travels to one of the world’s most unusual cemeteries Although the Balinese have a long tradition of cremation to ease the soul of the deceased in his or her way to the afterlife, the remote village of Trunyan on the eastern shore of Kintamani’s Lake Batur follows a very different [...]

The future of universities is considered the future of nations. But in Indonesia most people can’t afford the cost of higher education. In Bali, that’s changing. Professor I Made Bakta, 62, has been rector of the island’s Udayana University for five years. He spoke with Carla Albertí de la Rosa about what the renowned university [...]

The growing number of people seeking high healthcare standards and cheaper treatments than those in their home countries while having a holiday has contributed to the emergence of the tiny nation of Singapore as an Asian medical tourism hub in the past decade. Carla Albertí de la Rosa spoke with Dr Kelvin Loh Chi-Keon, chief [...]

The lack of sustainable waste management is one of the most critical environmental challenges facing Indonesia and the rest of the world’s developing countries. Bali in particular must tackle the growing consumption and limited space for waste disposal. Carla Albertí de la Rosa spoke with the winner of the Goldman Environmental Prize 2009, Yuyun Ismawati. [...]

A hominid that lived in southern Siberia some 40,000 years ago could be a new branch on the human family tree, a finding that would rewrite Homo’s exodus from Africa and his conquest of the Earth, writes Richard Ingham. In a technical feat reported this week, scientists sequenced DNA from the bone fragment of a [...]

Sony and administrators for Michael Jackson’s estate confirmed this week they signed a US$250-million deal that will include releasing new music the pop icon was working on before his death. The landmark deal would give the entertainment giant distribution rights for all of Jackson’s material until 2017, a source close to the matter said, adding [...]