Many people have visited this section and occasionally have written to me hoping for additional information on mythology and mysticism in Indonesia. Unfortunately, I usually can't offer much help as it has been many years since I have been involved with these topics.

You can download a PDF of my original Indonesian texts here, or view them on the web at arkana.xentana.com.

It is essentially a list of key differences between English and the Indonesian language, Bahasa Indonesia, written with EFL teachers in mind. The idea was to provide my fellow teachers--most of whom were much less fluent in Indonesian--with a concise idea of both the general and specific areas where Indonesian students might experience difficulties in learning English.

I am by no means a linguist, and pedagogues may frown upon my efforts. But face it, how many EFL teachers in Indonesia want to read articles by linguists? If you teach English in Indonesia, I guarantee there are some very practical things here.

This is version 1.4 of this article, from Dec 1999, and it really needs another revision. But I've no time for that now, and I've been promising myself for ages to put this up.

The Mataram dynasty was the last great pre-colonial power to rule in Central and East Java. Originating in the late 16th century from the twilight years of the Islamic state of Demak, Mataram was based on the Kedu plain—the site of the modern cities of Yogyakarta and Surakarta. At the zenith of its power under Sultan Agung (r. 1613-1645), the dynasty exercised considerable influence over nearly all of Java, and had tributary relations with ports as far as Sumatra and Kalimantan. However, for various reasons Mataram’s influence gradually declined after the death of Sultan Agung, until in the mid-eighteenth century Mataram fractured into the independent principalities of Yogyakarta, Surakarta, and the Mangkunegaran...

An Annotated Bibliography on the Division of Mataram
(Java, Indonesia, 1613-1790) (pdf)

A number of articles are coming soon.