September 23, 2014 edition

The sign 'Koloniale Tentoonstelling 1914' hangs right under the curve of the giant steel archway. Four towers stand to the right and left. The archway, lined with hanging lamps, converges with the two lines of European style buildings. At night the towers are lit up like lighthouses by the sea. That was one of the entrances to the Koloniale Tentoonstelling.
One hundred years ago, in 1914, an international trade fair was held in Semarang, on the island of Java, by the Dutch East Indies government. The Koloniale Tentoonstelling, or the Colonial Exhibition, put on from August 20 to November 22, 1914, was the largest trade expo in Asia during that period. It was participated by almost every region of the archipelago, besides foreign countries such as Japan, China, India, Pakistan, Australia, and the United States, and it included 105 pavilions covering 39,260 hectares.

Read More

More Interlude articles in other editions

January 1, 1970 edition

So many wakaf (waqf) plots in Indonesiabut the law governing them was passed only a decade ago, and so many citizens still do not understand the relevant regulations and procedures. Wakaf is an Arabic word that can mean hold, confine or prohibit; in English it might translate to 'endowment'. The centuries-old concept refers to the endowment of a particular plot of land from one person to another for noble purposes.
In Indonesia there are 420,000 plots of wakaf land spanning four billion square meters. The practice is enshrined in the archipelago government's Law No. 41/2004. Yet, according to Mustafa Edwin Nasution, vice chairman of Badan Wakaf Indonesia, the country's citizens differ in their understanding of wakaf from the Prophet Muhammad, as shown by his examples in the Qur'an. In Indonesia, wakaf usually refers to land used for burial or prayer halls. "Whereas the Messenger (the Prophet Muhammad) provided examples of productive wakaf, such as was carried out by Umar bin Khattab," he said.

Read More

Independent journalism needs public support. By subscribing to Tempo, you will contribute to our ongoing efforts to produce accurate, in-depth and reliable information. We believe that you and everyone else can make all the right decisions if you receive correct and complete information. For this reason, since its establishment on March 6, 1971, Tempo has been and will always be committed to hard-hitting investigative journalism. For the public and the Republic.