The internet has made studying a country and culture much easier than it was in the past. There is a great wealth of video content on the internet to help you. The problem is sorting through it to find the good stuff.
Here, I will be listing videos that I think you should watch to gain a better understanding of Indonesia’s culture and current affairs.
101 East: Indonesia might be a good place to start. 101 East is a high quality TV program about Asian politics, business and current affairs broadcast by Al Jazeera English. Al Jazeera English is an international 24-hour English-language news and current affairs TV channel headquartered in Doha, Qatar. I currently have 31 videos in the playlist.
People and Places: Indonesia is good movie to watch. It is a little dated but it will give you a good overview of Indonesian culture. The film discusses population, geography, (including volcanic activity), government, Islamic religion, economy, weather, transportation and culture (51 minutes).
No Reservations: Indonesia. Anthony Bourdain on No Reservations will give you some insight into Indonesian culture and food. His focus is on the islands of Java and Bali. The perspective is from that of a tourist and the humor is some what crude. This is a Travel Channel program rated TV PG.
Metro TV is an Indonesian TV station that you can watch live streaming. It was Indonesia’s first 24-hour news channel and is based in West Jakarta. The station was established in 2000 and has over 53 transmission sites all over the country. Metro TV broadcasts two English language programs, Indonesia This Morning and Indonesia Now.
Indonesia Travel Series: Yogyakarta is an Indonesian program in the Indonesian language. The first episode has English subtitles. Here you will see another side of Indonesian culture, young pop culture. Pay attention to how they mix English and Indonesian and be aware of their frequent use of “Oh my God!” If you are learning Indonesian this could be a good show to practice your listening skills with.
Add to this work by posting you favorite Indonesian videos in the comments.