Sandra Hamid's guest appearances

Sandra Hamid

Carnegie Council Podcasts

Talking Indonesia

Good Will Hunters

Marcus Mietzner

Nava Nuraniyah

Julie Chernov Hwang

Maura Cunningham

Scott Kennedy

Eliot Peper

Yuval Noah Harari

Graham Allison

Sam Kass

Jason Stanley

Perth Tolle

Gary Marcus

Blaise Aguera

Amy Webb

Francis Fukuyama

OwlTail

Australia is recognising the importance and relevance of Southeast Asia, with a DFAT Office of Southeast Asia and a standalone Southeast Asia Economic Strategy in the works. ODA reflects this region as a priority, with an additional $470m announced in the October 2022 budget for it. But beyond dollars, there are some very real and practical ways of engaging with Southeast Asia. Sandra Hamid, who is based in Jakarta, served as the Indonesian country representative to The Asia Foundation. She says that engaging with and promoting civil society is absolutely key. She also points out that Australia can, and should, harness the skills and knowledge of locally-employed staff in its embassies and high commissions in Asia. Sandra speaks with Rachel in the penultimate episode of Reimagining Development about why Australia has a pivotal role to play in harnessing civil society, particularly in Indonesia.

Australia is recognising the importance and relevance of Southeast Asia, with a DFAT Office of Southeast Asia and a standalone Southeast Asia Economic Strategy in the works. ODA reflects this region as a priority, with an additional $470m announced in the October 2022 budget for it. But beyond dollars, there are some very real and practical ways of engaging with Southeast Asia. Sandra Hamid, who is based in Jakarta, served as the Indonesian country representative to The Asia Foundation. She says that engaging with and promoting civil society is absolutely key. She also points out that Australia can, and should, harness the skills and knowledge of locally-employed staff in its embassies and high commissions in Asia. Sandra speaks with Rachel in the penultimate episode of Reimagining Development about why Australia has a pivotal role to play in harnessing civil society, particularly in Indonesia.

Episode 7: On Southeast Asia, with Sandra Hamid

Religious intolerance is on the rise in Indonesia, and the state has reacted strongly from a security point of view, with initiatives such as a law passed last year that allows the government to disband any civil society group deemed to disrupt national unity. Many civil society groups support the law, declaring it as necessary to combat radicalism, terrorism, and intolerance. However, is this hard-line stance really the best approach to tackle the issue of rising religious intolerance in Indonesia? Is there a more nuanced way to confront rising religious intolerance?

Dr Sandra Hamid - Confronting Religious Intolerance

"Indonesian civil societies and academics are very good at collecting cases of discrimination," says Sandra Hamid, author of "Normalizing Intolerance." "But what we don't have is the ethnography of the everyday life of discrimination, things that are not necessarily discrimination with a capital D; this is like your daily experience." Today we see myriad examples of the gradual normalization of belittling and isolating non-Muslims.

"Indonesian civil societies and academics are very good at collecting cases of discrimination," says Sandra Hamid, author of "Normalizing Intolerance." "But what we don't have is the ethnography of the everyday life of discrimination, things that are not necessarily discrimination with a capital D; this is like your daily experience." Today we see myriad examples of the gradual normalization of belittling and isolating non-Muslims.

Normalizing Intolerance in Indonesia, with Sandra Hamid