SOCIAL CULTURE

It is nearly one and half a years, since Russia first invaded Ukraine and many predicted that the war would be short-lived. Mr Putin predicted that his special military operations would last a few days but that has clearly not been the case. Within that time, Russia has been able to capture a crescent of Ukrainian territory near Crimea but the Ukrainians succeeded in saving their capital and northern territories and in taking back some of the territory that Russia captured. They have begun their counter offensive and contrary to what Mr Putin predicted, the Ukrainian War appears to be headed towards becoming a long-drawn-out war.

IO - In Part I of my article about Perth I explained that recently, I was invited to visit an old friend to celebrate 40 years of friendship in Perth. As an Indonesian, the...

IO - Perth cast an enchantment over me that lasted for days after I had left it far behind. I could not seem to get its tranquil beauty and beguiling magic out of my...

IO - On Saturday, the 25th of February, the Ukrainian Embassy in Jakarta held a charity event to raise funds for Ukraine’s First Lady, Olena Zelenska’s charity foundation. The event, ‘Charity Dinner: Soul with...

King David Kalakaua of Hawaii. Photo credit: Menzies Dickson, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons IO - King David Kalakaua was the first monarch in the history of the world, to circumnavigate the globe. In his travels...

IO - Both Indonesian as well as Hawaiian are part of the Austronesian language group, as well as a part of the Malay-Polynesian branch of Austronesian languages. In Hawaiian, the word moolelo means story,...

IO - The Yayasan Museum Arsitektur Indonesia or ‘Foundation for the Museum of Indonesian Architecture’ held a highly interesting and informative exhibition in Jakarta at the Taman Ismail Marzuki art centre, this month entitled:...

IO - Sugar has meant many things to many people. For some it is simply a very enjoyable taste which gives them instant energy, for others it has been used as a medicine, a...

IO - Years ago across the small valley at the foot of our garden in the mountains of West Java, there was an apple orchard with roses. A Eurasian man managed the gardens and...

IO - I am not a very musical person and growing up, the pop music of my youth never interested me much. There was really only one song that truly caught my attention and...

IO - One thing that attracted my attention in the garden of the Tugu house were the plants that kept changing their colours until reaching a final colour, before obtaining full maturity. The handkerchief...