Max Lane Indonesia Southeast Asia and International Affairs

Joesoef was right

Joesoef Isak, journalist, publisher, political activist, fighter against injustice, passed away in his sleep at 1.30am 15 August, 2009 aged 81.

Family, colleagues and friends escorted him to Jeruk Purut cementery, Jakarta, after paying repect to him, each in their own way, at the family house in Duren Tiga, Jakarta. Goenawan Mohammed and Max Lane spoke briefly at the graveside. Family and friends scattered flowers an water on the grave. People prayed or meditated in his honour.

His wife, Asni, his sons and grandchildren living in Jakarta were all there, as were many other relatives, as well as activist and journalist comrades.

Farewell, Joesoef Isak, great friend, great Indonesian

ON JOESOEF ISAK
With Joesoef Isak, publisher and Indonesian intellectual
New book launched honouring Joesoef Isak

At Jeruk Perut Cemetery, Jakarta.

Salute!

The Indonesian left and Green Left Weekly

For 17 years, from 1990 through to 2007, I regularly contributed articles on Indonesian politics to Green Left Weekly, a newspaper published by the Democratic Socialist Party (Democratic Socialist Perspective since 2005). During this period, GLW played a key role in building solidarity with the anti-dictatorship movement in Indonesia, and in particular, with its radical vanguard, Students in Solidarity with Democracy (SMID) and later the Peoples’ Democratic Party (PRD).

No surprises in Indonesian presidential election

The first major political incident after the July 8 Indonesian presidential election were two co-ordinated suicide bomb attacks on Jakarta’s Marriot and Ritz Carlton luxury hotels on July 17, which killed seven people, including six foreigners. These were the first suicide bomb attacks in almost five years. On July 29, responsibility for the attacks was claimed by the “Al-Qaeda Organisation Indonesia”, believed to be headed by Malaysian Islamist Noordin Mohammed Top.

A reading guide to THIS EARTH OF MANKIND