About us

Peter van Riel: Born and raised in the Netherlands (Indonesian mother, Dutch father), living in Elst near Arnhem. Studied Anthropology and Indonesian Language and Culture in Nijmegen, Leiden and Bandung. From 1992 till now working for Pelita Foundation and also as publisher at Maasland Publishers. Traveling to Indonesia every year since 1987. Founded Latitudes Media together with Emma, Erik and Gerard. Very fond of Americana and Nasi Pecel.

Gerard Nass: Since  2000  I’m  a regular visitor of Indonesia and I have been  involved in Latitudes the last 5 years. My special interests are the Win+ projects. Corporate social responsibility is becoming more important and we enable the transition of knowledge and means for people who cannot acquire this independently.

One of our current projects involves the adaptation of instruction for the use of computers and Internet for disabled and people. In this project we translate the ‘educational material’ which was developed in the Netherlands, for youngsters with a work disability in Indonesia. 

Emma Kwee: I’m a Dutch born and bred Indonesia lover and lost my heart to the same country my father was born in. After studying Anthropology and circumnavigating the world (always ending up in Indonesia somehow), I am now over-enthusiastically involved in Latitudes as editor and writer. Desperately trying to save up money for my dream house on stilts with sawah view on Bali, I currently live and work in Groningen, the Netherlands. Interests as you might have guessed are: Traveling, writing, music, photography, eating batagor and stroking cats.

Writers:

Jack Lato: My name is Jacobus E. Lato but you can call me Jack for short. Born as an Endenese, in a beautiful small town in Central Flores, East Nusa Tenggara, I then grow up in Surabaya, East Java, Indonesia. My background in philosophy and social psychology lead my interest to be more focused on politics, social affairs as well as literature. Since college, I  started doing translations and writing articles for the media, Right after graduation I joined a daily newspaper in Surabaya and after workingfor various newspapers for years, I decided to resign when I was a deputy to the chief editor. Now I am working at Latitudes and Archipel magazine.

Melissa Lin: Melissa is a writer, artist and avid traveler based in Malaysia and the Netherlands. Apart from contributing to Latitudes, she is editor and writer for the Asia based design magazine Territory, and contributes to Malaysian Art Magazine Sentap! She engages in social work, having been an outreach worker in the pilot HIV prevention needle exchange program under the Malaysian AIDS Council. She is also an international election observer for Asian Network for Free Elections, observing the last Nepal and Thai elections. She has exhibited her paintings and drawings in the Netherlands, Denmark, Burma, Singapore, Indonesia and Malaysia.

Cher Tan: Amidst the sea of labels she’d rather not align herself with, “queer punk feminist” comes close. Cher is also all of these things: zine enthusiast, photographer, writer, vegan, graphic designer, voracious reader, urban explorer, Japanophile, illustrator. A jill of all trades and a master (mistress) of none? Just the former, with a dash of discovery and lust for adventure…

Ed Caffin: (1978) studied psychology and specialized in professional communication, education and training. After graduating, he teached at the University of Amsterdam and the Free University. He traveled extensively throughout Asia and worked at projects in Indonesia. Currently, he teaches psychology at the Hogeschool van Amsterdam. He is also working freelance as communication expert and is editor for several (online) magazines. For latitudes he writes about Indonesia, politics, culture and travel.

Chandra Drews: Amsterdam based Chandra Drews is a freelance music journalist, born and raised in Jakarta, Indonesia. After completing his BA in communication, Chandra is music editor at Jakarta based Whiteboard Journal, contributor for Time Out Amsterdam and involved in various music related ventures in Amsterdam and Jakarta.

Dina Indrasafitri: Dina ambled into paid journalism after years of writing fanzines, sleeping in classrooms and reading about peculiar subjects. She has written about many things, including politics and art, but her favourite subjects these days are the environment, urban planning, and cities in general. Dina currently resides in Melbourne but her heart-and at times her whole self- often wanders to Jakarta, which went from being merely her hometown to her muse. Her other current fancies include music, visual art and bicycles. Her website is http://dinawrites.weebly.com/ and her art portfolio is http://dinainds.deviantart.com/.

Rani: Rani grew up and lives in Jakarta. Still studies German Language at State University of Jakarta. She is a volunteer for Kineforum (the first non-commercial cinema in Jakarta)and loves to watch movies, attend art and music performances, and I wants to share her thoughts and experiences with the readers of Latitudes.nu www.facebook.com/ranyrainy

Twitter: @ranyrainy

Ate Hoekstra: Ate is a Dutch freelance writer and journalist who lives in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, since June 2012. He has done a lot of writing in the recent years and he always wanted to live in Southeast Asia for a longer period of time. Ate mostly works for Dutch and Belgian media, but he also had a few English language publications. As a journalist he is especially interested in social and human rights issues and the

development Asian countries are going through. Of course he also loves

to travel and is delighted about the great food countries like Cambodia, Vietnam and Thailand can offer him. Email ate@aziatischetijger.nl

Photographers:

Wisnu Leonardus: I was born in small town in central Java. The beauty of the nature of my home town inspired me to become a photographer and traveler, because being a photographer, I could keep the beautiful pictures of the landscape and freeze the moment while traveling.

Even though my passion is human interest photography, I have tried many kinds of photography like landscape, sport, journalist, fashion, food, street and still life photography. I don’t want to create boundaries by limiting myself. Every style has interesting sides and something new to be learned.

Noorman Wijaksana: My name is Noorman Wijaksana, I’m from Bandung indonesia. I am into photography, subculture, music and travelling. I’ve submited a lot of photographs to Latitudes that reflect those passions.

Ogi Fran: My real name is Gifran Muhammad Asri, born in Jakarta, 6 June 1985.
I studied graphic design in Bandung and enjoy journalism/street photography, art & design, typography, music & guitar. I currently live and work in Bandung West Java.