I’ve done the research and compiled a list of nine wonderful books translated from Indonesian, or bahasa Indonesia, the official, national language of Indonesia. It’s worth taking a moment to note that while Indonesian is the official language of the nation, spoken by more than 200 million people, the actual picture is much more complicated. A 2010 census showed that only 19.94% of people over the age of 5 spoke primarily Indonesian at home. Most Indonesian people also speak one of more than 700 local languages — including Sundanese and Javanese. And spoken Indonesian varies significantly from the official written Indonesian, influenced by local dialects and slang — for example, Betawi, a creole spoken in the capital of Jakarta. Many of these novels revolve around the recent history of Indonesia. In 1965, an attempted coup led to a brutal military crackdown on communism that killed half a million people and created an atmosphere of fear, leading to General Suharto taking power that he would hold until the ’90s. Several of these novels revolve around either the terror of the ’60s or the time of the popular protests and economic instability that would finally led to Suharto resigning in 1998. Others take place in modern Indonesia, giving a window into everyday life and romance, with economic and inequality issues lurking in the background. But all are interesting, exciting novels that are definitely worth the read. Go check them out from your local library! Please note that while I took great care to list content warnings where I could, things can fall through the cracks. Please do additional research on the recommended titles if needed. Looking for more works in translation? Check out these books from Catalonia, Japan, Southeastern Europe, Argentina, Central Africa, Japan, Ukraine, and Germany, and books translated from Arabic, Modern Greek, and French. Or you can check out all of our in-translation content. Content warnings for violence, domestic abuse, child death, terminal illness, sexual assault, substance abuse. Content warnings for emotional manipulation. Content warnings for sexual assault, violence, misogyny, ableism, animal cruelty, torture, mistreatment of the mentally ill. Content warnings for xenophobia, Sinophobia, sex work, racism, violence, sexual assault, suicide. Content warnings for racism, xenophobia, death, emotional abuse, rape, misogyny, incest. Content warnings for torture, misogyny, sexual assault, domestic and emotional abuse. Content warnings for misogyny, religious prejudice, violence. Content warnings for body horror, sex/period-shaming, self-harm, sexual harassment and assault, and mentions in-passing of fatphobia, suicide, institutionalization. If you have recommendations or requests for future lists of books in translation, or if you want me to know about a book I missed, please let me know on Twitter!
