Articles/Essays/Notes

Indonesia 2020: Consolidate, and Respond

An open letter to my friends and clients in Indonesia.

The global economy has taken a blow, with volatility in exchange rates and commodity prices and mass unemployment. National monetary authorities have ...

Where is my compassion?

Reflections 14 years after the Asian Tsunami

In 2004 and 2005, in addition to running my consultancy firm, I also moonlighted – quite literally – as a copy editor at The Jakarta Post. This me...

Beringharjo Traditional Market, Yogyakarta

a way of trading that will soon disappear

A walk through the Beringharjo traditional market on Jalan Malioboro in Yogyakarta, Indonesia, using a chest height POV camera....

Circumcision Celebration for Rama Dean

This is a video of a circumcision celebration for my son Rama Dean, which took place on 19 December 2014 at Graha Okusi, Jakarta, Indonesia....

Gary Dean

From the West, Northward to the East

I was born and raised in [Perth, Western Australia](//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perth), in the pre-[Sputnik](//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sputnik_1) era, and b...

Meet Gary Dean

A Jakarta Expat interview with Gary Dean

Parts of this interview were published in Jakarta Expat, March 2013 Jakarta Expat: So Gary, where do you come from, where did you grow up? Gary Dean: ...

Indonesian Land Law and Foreign Ownership of Land

Indonesian Land Law is quite different to the laws that apply in most Western or developed countries. Foreigners wishing to use or purchase land for w...

An Ungrateful Australian

On Tuesday, 17 December 2002, BM wrote: I think, on balance, that if I am to be ruled, I would much rather be ruled by complete fucking moron civilian...

dikotomi

digital music experiments from 2002

dikotomi is a collection of atmospheric midi music, best experienced whilst sailing through the open air in a solar-powered airship, at moderate altit...

Doing Business in Indonesia

From a Western Perspective

> This is a modified version of a report commissioned by the East Asia Analytical Unit of the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade in Ju...

Culture Matters in Indonesia

An email exchange with Dennis De Tray, Indonesia country director, World Bank 1997-1999

> The views contained within this article are entirely my own and do not necessarily reflect past or present opinions or policies of any other person ...

Ethno-Religious Conflict in Maluku

A manufactured war

> "Tragically again, of the approximately 20 Christians who were killed [by Muslims] in the village of Benteng Karang, 15 of them were them were burnt...

The Myth of the Jakarta Lobby

Brian Toohey's article, "Time to rout the Jakarta Lobby", was published in The West Australian on 27 September 1999, just four weeks after t...

The New Order State and the Tempo Affair

A conflict of values

The sun began to set upon Indonesia's corporatist 'New Order' state starting in the early 1990's. Speculation about the presidential succession was ri...

East Asia and the Roots of the Economic Crisis

From a Western perspective

The past two decades or so has witnessed the increasing dominance of neoliberal perspectives within international political, social and economic think...

Indonesia's Economic Development

in comparison to South Korea and Taiwan

The rapid pace of economic development in East Asia over the past few decades has awed the world. This is particularly so for the so-called Newly Indu...

Javanese Santri Islam

Same, but very different

The Western aversion and distrust towards Islam runs deep, in contrast to how 'friendlier' religions such as Buddhism, Confucianism and Hinduism are o...

Joint Venture, or 100% Foreign-Owned?

> First published in OzIndo Vol 5 No 1, magazine of the Australia-Indonesia Business Council Joint ventures (JVs) have long been the working foundatio...

Rumahku Yogyakarta 1998

My house in Yogyakarta in 1998.

my merc 8-} oh, there's the merc again the back of my house in yogyakarta my laundry and water tanks and well wife. wife. again. there she is again. m...

Analysing the end of Suharto's Indonesia

The role of culture in Indonesian politics

The incantations and vocabulary of the new era are rapidly taking hold in Indonesia since the fall of Suharto and his New Order regime. KKN, reformasi...

A few notes on my life in Yogyakarta, March-May 1998

Reformasi and the Fall of Soeharto

> The period March to May 1998 was an interesting time in Indonesian history. This journal reflects some of the things that happened in my life over t...

Globalisasi, Kedaulatan Nasional dan Konflik Masa Depan

Gary Dean (Universitas Gadjah Mada, NIM 96/111909/EK/13500) Yogyakarta, Desember 1997 Selama dasawarsa belakangan ini kata 'globalisasi' secara berang...

Siapa yang pantas menjadi Presiden Indonesia Tahun Depan?

Satu Pandangan

Negara Indonesia adalah suatu negara besar kalau dilihat dari segi jumlah penduduknya. Catatan sejarah telah menunjukkan bahwa karena kekayaan alamnya...

Hukum Agraria Indonesia

(Indonesian Land Law)

Gary Robert Dean (Universitas Gadjah Mada NIM 96/111909/EK/13500) Dalam pembahasan tentang sejarah Hukum Agraria Indonesia ada dua fase penting yang h...

Haruskah Indonesia menggunakan Tenaga Nuklir?

Keinginan Indonesia untuk membangun Pembangkit Listrik Tenaga Nuklir (PLTN) menimbulkan kegelisahan di seluruh kawasan Asia Tenggara dan Australia. Pe...