On Indonesia: a country without a Left. Foremost scholar of Indonesian politics and political economy, Vedi Hadiz of the University of Melbourne, joins us to talk through the country's politics in advance of the elections next week.* What was the authoritarian order that followed the 1965 anti-communist massacres? * How did the Asian financial crisis lead towards democratisation – and how did the old oligarchy manage to retain much of its power? * How has Indonesia become "Islamified", and what is "Islamic populism"? * How do class and ethnicity/religion interact in Indonesia? Who speaks for the "downtrodden"? * Is the upcoming election a contestation between oligarchic populisms?

Links:* /121/ Those Murdering Bastards ft. Vincent Bevins, Bungacast * Marketing Morality in Indonesia's Democracy, Vedi Hadiz, East Asia Forum * The demise of the left and the Islamisation of dissent in Indonesia, Vedi Hadiz, Melbourne Asia Review (video) * Indonesia’s 2024 Presidential Election Could Be the Last Battle of the Titans, Carnegie Endowment * The Act of Killing, dir. Joshua Oppenheimer, 2012