Indonesia : archipelago of fear / Andre Vltchek ; foreword by Noam Chomsky.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Introduction -- From colony to dictatorship. Colonialism -- Independence -- The Sukarno era -- Elites in Indonesian history -- The coup of 1965 -- Genocide -- The New Order -- Extreme capitalism, Indonesian style. The illusion of economic success -- The collapse of intellectual Indonesia -- The aftermath of the Asian financial crisis -- A fog of statistics -- Poverty in Indonesia -- Bali -- Jakarta -- Living in Jakarta -- Democracy and human rights. The democracy of generals -- How much does their vote really matter? -- After Suharto stepped down -- Giving in to the Almighty -- How information is manipulated via the media -- The legal system -- Prisons, torture and extra-judicial killings -- Women's rights -- Jakarta bleeding the islands. Racism on the rise while there is no chance for independence -- A neocolonial empire -- Chinese exile -- Genocide in Papua -- Timor-Leste -- Aceh -- Kalimantan -- Corruption kills. Suharto : the father of Indonesian corruption -- Mud lake : tip of the corruption iceberg? -- Some examples of corruption cases -- If you are corrupt, go all the way -- The environment, plundering of natural resources and consequent natural disasters. Filth and pollution -- The River Musi and Palembang, Sumatra -- North Sumatra -- Aceh after the tsunami -- Kalimantan -- The Norwegian initiative -- Collapse of infrastructure. Ferries sink -- Airplanes crash -- Terrible roads -- Rotting trains -- City transport problems -- Inadequate services -- Islam. Getting away with violence -- Getting away with murder : the horror of Cikeusik -- Temanggung -- Pasuruan -- The West, clerics and Indonesian Islam -- Culture, education and intellectual life. Education -- The arts -- Artists and intellectuals -- Remembering a lost culture -- Indonesia's position in Southeast Asia. A big but destitute bully -- A regional victim and victimizer --The region is benefiting from the Indonesian collapse -- The region benefits from Indonesian corruption -- Run if you can, but send money home -- Comparing apples and rotten apples -- Conclusion.

This volume is a fascinating and at times unsettling journey into the world's most populous Muslim nation as it struggles to emerge from decades of dictatorship and the plunder of its natural resources. Andre Vltchek brings together more than a decade of investigative journalism in and around Indonesia to chart its recent history.