Indonesia
Srivijaya 02: Sanfoqi = Samfhutshiaj = Jianpuzhai = Angkor??
As discussed in the previous post, in 1918 French scholar Georges Coedès came up with the idea that there had been a maritime kingdom in
Tielman Brothers and Van Halen Brothers
The great rock guitarist Eddie Van Halen, the lead guitarist of the band “Van Halen,” passed away yesterday. I can distinctly remember the first time
On Being Southeast Asian and the Bankruptcy of Liberal Persuasion
The other day an article appeared in my Facebook feed called “Being South-East Asian.” It was written by historian, political scientist and public intellectual Farish
Dutchmen, Forest Men, and the (Blurry) Line Between Western and Indigenous Knowledge
I was recently in Sabah, on the island of Borneo, were someone told me that the local name (in Malay) for proboscis monkeys is “blanda”
Darkness and Javanese Soldiers in Australia during World War II
On 5 September 1945 the acting premier of New South Wales, J. M. Baddeley, sent a letter to the prime minister of the Commonwealth of
Bengawan Solo Forever
“Bengawan Solo,” a song about the Solo River in eastern Java, was first composed by Gesang Martohartono in 1940. Recorded as a Kroncong song, it
Hawaiian Music and National Culture in Indonesia
A while ago I wrote a blog piece on “Hawaii in Southeast Asia” in which I mentioned that there was some influence of Hawaiian music
Win Min Than as a Hapa Actress
Today someone posted a picture on facebook of an Anglo-Burmese actress by the name of Win Min Than who made a movie in the 1950s
Down-and-Out Americans in 1902 Batavia
I came across a letter that the American consul in Batavia (now Jakarta) sent to the US secretary of state in 1902 to seek approval
Ah Chong and Tomato on the Tam O’Shanter
Whenever there is something in the news (and admittedly it’s not very often) about a ship running into some kind of trouble, it always amazes
The Divided Fight Against Colonial Rule in Southeast Asia
One of the main myths that nationalist historiography creates is that the people of the nation all unite together for a common cause. During the
Serving the Japanese in Southeast Asia during WW II
The National Archives of Australia has quite a few materials on the activities of Japanese in Southeast Asia during World War II as the Australians
“Disquieting Elements” in 1920 Java
I was looking around in the database of the “cabinet papers” digitized by the National Archives of the UK, when I came across a document
Natives in US Consulates in Early-20th-Century Southeast Asia
I was looking at some dispatches from US consulates in Southeast Asia in the early twentieth century when I came across a couple of letters,
Nazis in the Netherlands East Indies
For more than twenty years now scholars have recognizing that when we talk about colonialism, we have to realize that it was much more complex
Sinkesin in Indonesia!!
I have posted a couple of entries about the medicine Sinkesin (here and here). I first came across it in a Thai newspaper from the
Illumination in Colonial Java
While under colonial rule, places like Java became illuminated, literally, as electricity and light bulbs were invented and introduced. The woman is saying, “You will
