Erin Cook
@erincook.bsky.social
Following Southeast Asia and Timor-Leste, mostly elections, FP and Instagram posts. Don't complain to me that I don't cover business enough, I do not know of such things.
Read my newsletter 🤓 https://darimulut.substack.com
Read my newsletter 🤓 https://darimulut.substack.com
Pinned
🇮🇩🇦🇺 Cabinet papers: nothing new, but a moment for reflection
Indonesia and Australia worked together in face of tragedy before the chaos of 2005
flatkopi.substack.com
Interesting cabinet papers release — it begins with the collaboration between Australia and Indonesia in rebuilding Sumatra after the 2004 tsunami. Devastating event but a peak in the relationship. Then the Corby/Bali Nine arrests set a tone for years ahead.
flatkopi.substack.com/p/cabinet-pa...
flatkopi.substack.com/p/cabinet-pa...
Volleys are coming back, I can sense it. Mums are wearing Sambas now. It is volleys time.
January 4, 2026 at 9:53 AM
Volleys are coming back, I can sense it. Mums are wearing Sambas now. It is volleys time.
Love when someone next to me on the coach pulls out their book and then I pull out my fatter one. Get mogged fella
January 4, 2026 at 3:58 AM
Love when someone next to me on the coach pulls out their book and then I pull out my fatter one. Get mogged fella
Reposted by Erin Cook
Not even a week into 2026 and Singapore's machinery of killing whirs into action again.
The Singapore Prison Service has informed Ramdhan bin Lajis and his family that his execution date has been set for 9 January (Friday).
Ramdhan, a Singaporean, has spent about 7 years on death row.
The Singapore Prison Service has informed Ramdhan bin Lajis and his family that his execution date has been set for 9 January (Friday).
Ramdhan, a Singaporean, has spent about 7 years on death row.
January 4, 2026 at 2:58 AM
Not even a week into 2026 and Singapore's machinery of killing whirs into action again.
The Singapore Prison Service has informed Ramdhan bin Lajis and his family that his execution date has been set for 9 January (Friday).
Ramdhan, a Singaporean, has spent about 7 years on death row.
The Singapore Prison Service has informed Ramdhan bin Lajis and his family that his execution date has been set for 9 January (Friday).
Ramdhan, a Singaporean, has spent about 7 years on death row.
Weird how this, a fairly boilerplate statement, is kinda radical seeming compared to everything else I've read today
January 4, 2026 at 2:57 AM
Weird how this, a fairly boilerplate statement, is kinda radical seeming compared to everything else I've read today
Cootamundra is dead quiet except for two young Indonesian guys chain smoking out the front of a bakery
January 4, 2026 at 2:41 AM
Cootamundra is dead quiet except for two young Indonesian guys chain smoking out the front of a bakery
I went to the country and my coffee order was only a dollar cheaper than Civic
January 4, 2026 at 2:35 AM
I went to the country and my coffee order was only a dollar cheaper than Civic
I read this one a few years ago. People who know way better than me say it's hit and miss but I think it was a decent background on history especially for people from the other side of the world!
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Things_...
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Things_...
Things Are Never So Bad That They Can't Get Worse - Wikipedia
en.wikipedia.org
January 3, 2026 at 10:47 PM
I read this one a few years ago. People who know way better than me say it's hit and miss but I think it was a decent background on history especially for people from the other side of the world!
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Things_...
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Things_...
Reposted by Erin Cook
Jan 4 is Myanmar's Independence Day & the military junta may be trumpeting its recent sham elections as progress, but make no mistake, 22,000+ political prisoners continue to languish in jail. A reporter who spent months in the notorious Insein jail gives an insight.
kite-tales.org/en/article/d...
kite-tales.org/en/article/d...
The Dreams of A Political Prisoner
kite-tales.org
January 3, 2026 at 10:26 PM
Jan 4 is Myanmar's Independence Day & the military junta may be trumpeting its recent sham elections as progress, but make no mistake, 22,000+ political prisoners continue to languish in jail. A reporter who spent months in the notorious Insein jail gives an insight.
kite-tales.org/en/article/d...
kite-tales.org/en/article/d...
True crime AND planning, ABC SEO will smash this one! It's also v interesting
www.abc.net.au/news/2026-01...
www.abc.net.au/news/2026-01...
A station and infamous murders: What happened to Sydney's Macdonaldtown?
It's the suburb in Sydney that no longer exists — except for a train station — but did it disappear because of scandalous murders or was it just to increase property prices?
www.abc.net.au
January 3, 2026 at 9:56 PM
True crime AND planning, ABC SEO will smash this one! It's also v interesting
www.abc.net.au/news/2026-01...
www.abc.net.au/news/2026-01...
The hollandaise is from a jar not fresh 😩😩😩
January 3, 2026 at 9:47 PM
The hollandaise is from a jar not fresh 😩😩😩
I've seen a lot of idiotic posts in the last hour, but someone has made a glib 'joke' about Australia invading Timor-Leste in solidarity and I'm shocked anew at how fucking stupid bluesky is
January 3, 2026 at 9:09 AM
I've seen a lot of idiotic posts in the last hour, but someone has made a glib 'joke' about Australia invading Timor-Leste in solidarity and I'm shocked anew at how fucking stupid bluesky is
Reposted by Erin Cook
I can’t even begin to imagine the pressures that Australian embeds in US organisations and commands must be under. (Not that this is about them; but this is bad news for our alliance with the US).
January 3, 2026 at 8:20 AM
I can’t even begin to imagine the pressures that Australian embeds in US organisations and commands must be under. (Not that this is about them; but this is bad news for our alliance with the US).
what a sad, sad photo. a normal woman having a normal friday night and now legging it for reasons well beyond her control.
BREAKING: Residents in the Venezuelan capital of Caracas reported loud explosions and aircraft overflying the city in the early hours of Saturday morning, with multiples areas experiencing power outages
Caracas Residents Report Loud Explosions, Aircraft Overflying
Residents in the Venezuelan capital of Caracas reported loud explosions and aircraft overflying the city, with multiple areas experiencing power outages.
bloom.bg
January 3, 2026 at 7:06 AM
what a sad, sad photo. a normal woman having a normal friday night and now legging it for reasons well beyond her control.
Life is nothing but carting one single serve chobani from venue to venue until you die
January 3, 2026 at 6:56 AM
Life is nothing but carting one single serve chobani from venue to venue until you die
Reposted by Erin Cook
Myanmar’s military-proxy Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) is leading after the first phase of an election, regime media reported.
Read more english.dvb.no/military-bac...
#whatshappeninginmyamar
#MilitaryCoupInMyanmar
#election
Read more english.dvb.no/military-bac...
#whatshappeninginmyamar
#MilitaryCoupInMyanmar
#election
Military-backed party in Myanmar takes lead in first phase of polls - DVB
Myanmar’s military-backed Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) is leading after the first phase of a contentious general election, regime media reported, in the first vote since a 2021 milita...
english.dvb.no
January 3, 2026 at 6:11 AM
Myanmar’s military-proxy Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) is leading after the first phase of an election, regime media reported.
Read more english.dvb.no/military-bac...
#whatshappeninginmyamar
#MilitaryCoupInMyanmar
#election
Read more english.dvb.no/military-bac...
#whatshappeninginmyamar
#MilitaryCoupInMyanmar
#election
Reposted by Erin Cook
"The countries that officially sent observers read like a roll call of authoritarian enablers: Russia, China, Belarus, Vietnam, Cambodia, and Nicaragua. These are not impartial arbiters; they are partners in repression." english.dvb.no/the-ballot-o...
#whatshappeninginmyamar
#election
#whatshappeninginmyamar
#election
'The ballot or the bullet': Myanmar's military 'sham' elections - DVB
Guest contributor James Shwe On December 28, the Myanmar military junta concluded the first phase of an electoral performance that was as tragic as it was farcical. In a fractured nation where the mil...
english.dvb.no
January 3, 2026 at 5:59 AM
"The countries that officially sent observers read like a roll call of authoritarian enablers: Russia, China, Belarus, Vietnam, Cambodia, and Nicaragua. These are not impartial arbiters; they are partners in repression." english.dvb.no/the-ballot-o...
#whatshappeninginmyamar
#election
#whatshappeninginmyamar
#election
Interesting cabinet papers release — it begins with the collaboration between Australia and Indonesia in rebuilding Sumatra after the 2004 tsunami. Devastating event but a peak in the relationship. Then the Corby/Bali Nine arrests set a tone for years ahead.
flatkopi.substack.com/p/cabinet-pa...
flatkopi.substack.com/p/cabinet-pa...
🇮🇩🇦🇺 Cabinet papers: nothing new, but a moment for reflection
Indonesia and Australia worked together in face of tragedy before the chaos of 2005
flatkopi.substack.com
January 3, 2026 at 2:34 AM
Interesting cabinet papers release — it begins with the collaboration between Australia and Indonesia in rebuilding Sumatra after the 2004 tsunami. Devastating event but a peak in the relationship. Then the Corby/Bali Nine arrests set a tone for years ahead.
flatkopi.substack.com/p/cabinet-pa...
flatkopi.substack.com/p/cabinet-pa...
how's this old AusAID photo from Aceh following the tsunami - 'The owner of this house is still alive'
January 3, 2026 at 2:16 AM
how's this old AusAID photo from Aceh following the tsunami - 'The owner of this house is still alive'
Friends opened an American-Chinese restaurant in Jakarta a few years ago and I had full on never heard of half the dishes! Makes me keen to try as many variations as I can because it doesn't seem you can go wrong
I genuinely don’t get why anyone would think American Chinese food would be the same as British Chinese food or Chinese food in any other country.
"Other popular American Chinese dishes like General Tso’s chicken and crab Rangoon aren’t found on typical British Chinese menus at all"
www.cnn.com/travel/briti...
www.cnn.com/travel/briti...
January 3, 2026 at 1:15 AM
Friends opened an American-Chinese restaurant in Jakarta a few years ago and I had full on never heard of half the dishes! Makes me keen to try as many variations as I can because it doesn't seem you can go wrong
Reposted by Erin Cook
Some strong New Light of Myanmar vibes coming from CBS Evening News these days.
January 2, 2026 at 11:16 PM
Some strong New Light of Myanmar vibes coming from CBS Evening News these days.
Don't give me the red squiggly line for Schapelle, docs. That's just how it's spelt!
January 2, 2026 at 10:51 PM
Don't give me the red squiggly line for Schapelle, docs. That's just how it's spelt!
Here's an amazing one for your Saturday morning reading
www.theguardian.com/sport/2026/j...
www.theguardian.com/sport/2026/j...
Ingrid disappeared on an Indonesian island in 1976. Now we know what really happened
The first surfers at Nias were joined by a backpacker who got sick and vanished. When a film about their ‘discovery’ of the spot screened in Australia, the woman’s remarkable story finally came to lig...
www.theguardian.com
January 2, 2026 at 9:00 PM
Here's an amazing one for your Saturday morning reading
www.theguardian.com/sport/2026/j...
www.theguardian.com/sport/2026/j...
Reposted by Erin Cook
The Young Against Militarism - https://en.tempo.co/read/2077660/the-young-against-militarism
The Young Against Militarism
In the era of President Prabowo, signs of strengthening militarism have become increasingly apparent.
en.tempo.co
January 2, 2026 at 8:07 AM
The Young Against Militarism - https://en.tempo.co/read/2077660/the-young-against-militarism
This emoji: 🙉. It is in my recently used. Never have I used this little guy in my life. I've been hacked!
January 2, 2026 at 7:53 AM
This emoji: 🙉. It is in my recently used. Never have I used this little guy in my life. I've been hacked!