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'Race, Islam and Power' set to launch ahead of 2019 presidential election
The end of Soeharto's rule "triggered political changes" in Indonesia, according to Elaine Pearson, the Australian director of Human Rights Watch.
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Race, Islam and Power by Andreas Harsono (Shutterstock/THE YOOTH/Monas University Publishing)
I
ndonesian researcher for Human Rights Watch Andreas Harsono is set to launch his book Race, Islam and Power on April 16, just before the 2019 elections.
The 256-page book is published by Monash University Publishing.
With the subtitle Ethnic and Religious Violence In Post-Suharto Indonesia, the book portrays the increasing prevalence of race and religion in Indonesian politics. Andreas has spent 15 years researching the book, visiting over 90 places across the archipelago, starting in Banda Aceh in 2003.
Indonesia has been proud of its democratic achievements post-1998, the year that marked the end of Soeharto's New Order rule and the start of democracy in the country. However, according to a statement, an estimated 90,000 people have been killed in the first decade of reform.
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The end of Soeharto's rule "triggered political changes" in Indonesia, according to Elaine Pearson, the Australian director of Human Rights Watch. "Many ethnic and religious groups demanded more of a say in their political, economic and cultural domains. Some of them became involved in bloody conflicts," she stated.
According to renowned writer Eka Kurniawan, Race, Islam and Power is "half journalistic and half exploration through literature, woven together in a narrative resembling a travelogue."
Andreas began his career as a reporter for Bangkok-based publication The Nation. In the 1990s he helped established Jakarta's Alliance of Independent Journalists, then an illegal group in the New Order era. He started writing for Human Rights Watch in 2008.
Through the book, Andreas warns of the impunity enjoyed by the perpetrators of killings and other human rights violations in the country. In his words, Indonesians "still have not found the light at the end of the tunnel." (dev/kes)
