TheJakartaPost

Please Update your browser

Your browser is out of date, and may not be compatible with our website. A list of the most popular web browsers can be found below.
Just click on the icons to get to the download page.

Jakarta Post
“Banda“ painted by QMR ver Huell and Jobard in 1824, shows the Dutch Fort Belgica-Eiland on Banda Neira Island in present day Maluku province.
“Banda“ painted by QMR ver Huell and Jobard in 1824, shows the Dutch Fort Belgica-Eiland on Banda Neira Island in present day Maluku province.`
Books premium

New book offers new perspective on Banda massacre

A recently published book captures not only VOC governor-general Jan Pieterszoon Coen's cruelty in his attempt to monopolize the nutmeg trade in Banda, but also emphasizes the side of the story from the Bandanese diaspora who fled prior to the horrific Banda massacre in 1621.

1 day ago
Books

Final novel was huge challenge for Garcia Marquez

"Until August," the final book by the Nobel prize winning giant of Latin American "magical realism," is being released in its original Spanish as "En agosto nos vemos" on March 6, and in English later this month.

1 week ago
Books

Celebrating women on screen and in print

In marking International Women’s Day (IWD) on March 8, why not spend the weekend celebrating the strong women and girls around you? Not because we told you to, but because they deserve love, appreciation and empowerment.

1 week ago

The Latest

Books premium

‘Revolusi’: A look at Indonesia’s fight for freedom

The book brings to life Indonesia’s epic struggle for independence in 1945-1949 and convincingly argues a case for the catalytic impact of this movement on decolonization in Asia and Africa following World War II.

2 weeks ago
Books premium

‘She Wanted to be a Beauty Queen’: George Quinn raises Javanese stories

Australian professor George Quinn translated an anthology of Javanese short stories to help introduce Javanese literature to a wider audience. 

4 months ago
Books

Musk biography describes troubled tycoon driven by demons

Some US media outlets got early access to the more than 600-page book ahead of its official global release Tuesday, and several excerpts were published in recent days.

6 months ago
Books premium

‘Narasi Mematikan’: Undoing a deadly narrative

In 'Narasi Mematikan, Pendanaan Teror di Indonesia' (Deadly Narrative, the Funding of Terrorism in Indonesia), Noor Huda focuses on the financing of terrorism.

6 months ago
Books premium

Resilience must match new highs in risk

It spells out its message of what it will take to meet the rising climate risks by building higher resilience, finding new ways to adapt to the inevitable, and doing all we can to mitigate climate change by shifting to carbon-free growth paths.

6 months ago
Books

Milan Kundera dies at 94

"Unfortunately I can confirm that Mr Milan Kundera passed away yesterday (Tuesday) after a prolonged illness," Anna Mrazova, spokeswoman for the library in his native city of Brno, told AFP.

8 months ago
Books premium

Why Indonesia is a gold mine for horror fans

American-Indonesian author Nadia Bulkin talks about her passion for horror fiction and how her Indonesian roots have influenced her writing. 

10 months ago
Books

Football great Pele enters Portuguese dictionary as an adjective

On Wednesday, the word "pele" was added to the more than 167,000 words in the Michaelis Portuguese dictionary printed in Brazil.

10 months ago
Books premium

Pay attention: Local genre novelists are finally recognized

The public and filmmakers have started to shift their gaze from the more mainstream fiction novels.

10 months ago
Books

Japanese fans snap up first Murakami novel in six years

Dozens of excited Haruki Murakami fans queued outside a bookstore in Tokyo on Thursday for the midnight release of the world-renowned author's first novel in six years.

11 months ago
Books premium

The unbearable lightness of decluttering: When Kundera went full Marie Kondo

The author of "The Unbearable Lightness of Being" has gone full Marie Kondo, emptying the shelves of his Paris apartment of 3,000 of his own books.

11 months ago
Books premium

The history behind German-trained Indonesian architects of the 1960s

A German-Indonesian team traced 12 German-trained Indonesian architects of the 1960s and wrote about their awe-inspiring life and works.  

11 months ago
Books

Why books could help empty France's prisons

It is championing reading as a way to tackle France's overflowing prisons, currently 20 percent over capacity.

11 months ago
Books

Attempts at banning books in US reach record high: report

A total of 1,269 individual "challenges" -- demands to restrict or remove one or more books -- were filed in the United States last year, the NGO said. 

11 months ago
Books

Jesse Q. Sutanto returns with cozy murder mystery

Slowly but surely building a reputation as one of the most prolific and versatile writers in the industry, Jesse Q. Sutanto’s new book Vera Wong’s Unsolicited Advice for Murderers will be released on March 14.

1 year ago
Books

'Mountains More Ancient' sheds light on Indonesian slavery in South Africa

Author Isna Marifa discusses her time with the Cape Malay people and how it influenced her novel Mountains More Ancient.

1 year ago
Books

Understanding the impact of Pramoedya’s 'Buru Quartet'

Leading Australian expert on Indonesia Max Lane recounts late Indonesian literary giant Pramoedya Ananta Toer’s role in inspiring the downfall of former president Soeharto’s New Order regime through his Buru Quartet tetralogy

1 year ago
Books premium

Book Review - Masks of Bali: Between Heaven and Hell

Masks of Bali: Between Heaven and Hell is a comprehensive study on Balinese masks.

1 year ago
Books

Murakami to publish first new novel in six years

There was little detail given about the new work, which will be Murakami's first novel since "Killing Commendatore" was published in February 2017.  

1 year ago
Books

'Bali Coffee Origin's New Wave': A book for connoisseurs and conversations

Informatively written, this photo essay and illustrated volume expands upon the limited current narrative, helping support the development of the burgeoning Indonesian coffee industry.

1 year ago
Books

Novelist Paul Auster addresses US gun violence in new book

The writing in this new work by Auster, 75, is terse and somber and is accompanied by pictures taken by photographer Spencer Ostrander.

1 year ago
Books premium

Award-winning author Norman Erikson Pasaribu discusses 'Happy Stories, Mostly'

Winning the 2015 Jakarta Arts Council (DKJ) Poetry Book Competition, the author rocketed in 2022 with a short story collection, Cerita-cerita Bahagia, Hampir Seluruhnya (Happy Stories, Mostly). However, all that glitters might not be gold.

1 year ago
Books

Prince Harry says memoirs written to combat ‘spin and distortion’

Prince Harry said on Sunday he decided to publish his memoirs to defend himself against years of tabloid spin, as British and American television aired his first interviews on the book's explosive revelations.

1 year ago
Books premium

Leaked Harry memoir details sex, drugs, fights and killing

Prince Harry's autobiography Spare is not due out until next week but it dominated headlines on Thursday after its Spanish-language version mistakenly went on sale.

1 year ago
Books premium

Library offers refuge and recovery in war-scarred Ukraine town

Hundreds of laptop-toting professionals and students line up outside the public library in the Ukrainian town of Irpin, desperate to get online amid the latest energy blackout. 

1 year ago
Books

Tracing Indonesian readers' obsession with Haruki Murakami

Many Indonesian readers have a fascination for the novels of the award-winning Japanese writer, whose titles have sold in the millions in 50 languages. So how did Haruki Murakami become so popular here?

1 year ago
Books premium

Yearender: The best Indonesian books (about Indonesia) of 2022

This year might have come and gone, but these books on Indonesia and its surprises will pique your interest enough to turn the page and make the year last a little longer.

1 year ago