Expertise: Journalism, Southeast Asia, Indonesia, Islam.

Writes good reflective pieces – Mostly focused on history of Indonesia.

Historian Dr Francis (Frank) Palmos opened the first newspaper bureau in the new Republic of Indonesia in December 1964 for the Australian newspaper group of ten dailies headed by the Herald-Sun in Melbourne. He stayed on through the “years of living dangerously” and was on many occasions the honorary interpreter to Indonesia’s first president, Soekarno, and other leading political party figures, including the PKI. © Francis Palmos, Scarborough June 2015