Tari Lang’s memoir discusses growing up under Indonesia's military dictatorship while much of society carried on as normal “The Establishment is largely unchanged. Nothing changes in this universe. They continue to live in their big houses, shop in the malls, eat in smart restaurants.” In My … [Read more...]
Worn and food-stained, these books still feed my body and soul
July 9, 2026 by
I look at my grandmother’s recipe books and suddenly there she is, filling a Tupperware dish with devilled eggs. When I was a child, my grandmother collected dolls. Pedigree, antique – never Barbies. European dolls made from celluloid and bisque; Madame Alexander dolls with names like Baby … [Read more...]
On Homecoming (and Leaving), Jakarta to New York
June 16, 2026 by
Scenario 1 I land in Jakarta just in time for Chinese New Year. I can smell the cigarette smoke and rain before the plane even touches the tarmac; my body retrieves memories faster than my mind can process them. I move through Arrivals in an easy forward motion: smile as the immigration … [Read more...]
Glori’s Witness
May 10, 2026 by
I am Glori’s medulla oblongata. Without me, Glori’s lungs and heart are an orchestra abandoned by its conductor. But now I’m half dead, so Glori depends on a ventilator to pump those needy lungs of hers. Glori ended up like this because of some brat in a white-and-blue school uniform, speeding … [Read more...]
Memoir recalls growing up under Suharto’s regime
May 8, 2026 by
Tari Lang writes about Indonesia’s 1965 coup in My Neighbour, The Dictator “A horrible thing happened in a very big country in a corner of the universe that nobody knew about.” That is how Tari Lang describes the 1965 coup in Indonesia in a Zoom call with The Sunday Times. Yet for her, it … [Read more...]
