From the archives: April 2013 Ami, a 23-year old college grad from Indonesia’s northernmost province of Aceh, is a 9/11 conspiracy theorist. “I hear no Jews died in 9/11 because they made the attack. It’s true, yeah?” Tell him otherwise and he laughs and shakes his head. “No, I don’t believe.” Affable with a handsome…
Mount Sinabung, a volcanic peak in North Sumatra, is once again spewing ash onto nearby communities, batuk-batuk (“coughing” in Indonesian) hundreds of times in the past week. It lay dormant for centuries but the recent volcanic activity has caused local residents to evacuate their homes sporadically since September. Winds have carried the ash and deposited it…
The city of Lhouksemawe in Aceh province is implementing a law that forbids women from sitting astraddle the back of a motorcycle. Instead, female passengers must ride sidesaddle, a less comfortable and more dangerous position. “We want to save women from things that will cause them to violate Shariah (Islamic) law,” the city’s mayor Suaidi…
