STORIES

JAKARTA, INDONESIA — When Joko Widodo became Indonesia’s president almost 18 months ago, he swept in on tides of emotion and promises of dramatic change. But it has been lonely for him at the top.

First a senior Indonesian government minister called for a ban on gay groups on university campuses. Then another pressured instant messaging services to drop gay- and- lesbian themed emoticons, prompting one to cave in. All this, just before the TV regulator and child welfare agency teamed up, calling for an end to programming “advocating” LGBT themes, in part, because of a rash of cross dressing among boys.

In the village of Berengbengkel, about 20 kilometres outside the capital of the province of Central Kalimantan of Palangkaraya, thick yellow smog blots out the sun, making midday seem more like dusk. The air at times a deadly mix of fine particles that can be an order of magnitude than what is considered unsafe.

Emmanuela Shinta is a young local activist. She encourages locals to don some of the 25,000 masks on offer from donors in Singapore. She explains that the flimsy surgical masks found in local stores are useless at filtering out fine particles. In all, 15 fires surround the village of 700. Residents are ill prepared.