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Michael Bachelard

Michael Bachelard is the Investigations Editor for The Age, and was Fairfax Media's Indonesia correspondent. A former political reporter and workplace relations writer, he was awarded a Jefferson Fellowship in journalism in 2005. He is the author of Behind the Exclusive Brethren (2010).

Articles by Michael Bachelard (8)

  • Michael Bachelard 26 Jun 2015 10:43

    Papuans face ignorance, corruption and racism from Jakarta

    This is the final part of former Fairfax Media Indonesia correspondent Michael Bachelard's series on Papua. Here is the introduction, part 1, part 2, part 3, part 4, part 5 and part 6. After new Indonesian president Joko Widodo appointed his self-consciously titled 'working cabinet' late last year, activist Andreas Harsono from Human Rights Watch took calls from no fewer than nine of Jokowi's ministers or their staff.
  • Michael Bachelard 25 Jun 2015 14:30

    For Papua's independence activists, the struggle is about more than human rights

    This is part 6 of former Fairfax Media Indonesia correspondent Michael Bachelard's series on Papua. Here is the introduction, part 1, part 2, part 3, part 4 and part 5. On a sunlit afternoon in the tiny village of Lolat, I ask a local school teacher, Natani Kobak, what subject he teaches. 'Pancasila,' he replies: the five-point Indonesian state ideology. 'I teach it for the students, but deep down I am not so happy about it'.
  • Michael Bachelard 24 Jun 2015 13:44

    Papua's journalists tell hard truths about local cronyism and violence

    This is part 5 of former Fairfax Media Indonesia correspondent Michael Bachelard's series on Papua. Here is the introduction, part 1, part 2, part 3 and part 4. Few work harder to advocate for the Papuan people than Victor Mambor. The son of John Mambor, who was a powerful independence leader, Victor has established himself as a robustly independent journalist, the editor of the newspaper Tabloid Jubi, based in coastal city of Jayapura, the capital of Papua province.
  • Michael Bachelard 22 Jun 2015 10:31

    Papua's education malaise

    This is part 3 of former Fairfax Media Indonesia correspondent Michael Bachelard's series on Papua. Here is the introduction, part 1 and part 2.  One sunny November school day at a school in Tagime, hundreds of primary and secondary students are outside having a whale of a time.
  • Michael Bachelard 19 Jun 2015 10:30

    How government is failing the people of Papua

    This is part 2 of former Fairfax Media Indonesia correspondent Michael Bachelard's series on Papua. The introduction to the series is here, and here' part 1. Gaad Piranid Tabuni grew up in a village in the Papuan highlands of Indonesia too remote for any government – colonial Dutch or Indonesian – to maintain a presence.
  • Michael Bachelard 17 Jun 2015 16:04

    With the missionaries of Papua

    This is part 1 of former Fairfax Media Indonesia correspondent Michael Bachelard's series on Papua. Here is the introduction to the series is here.  On a chilly Sunday evening in Wamena, the highlands capital of Indonesian Papua, a small group of white Christian missionaries worship together in an open-sided shed. They talk about their projects – bible translations and Christian outreach – and pray together as their children chase each other around the concrete floor.