Arlina Arshad

Arlina Arshad is the Indonesia bureau chief for The Straits Times, where she leads a team of local correspondents and oversees media coverage across Indonesia, a country known for its rich cultural heritage and natural beauty. 

With a career spanning over two decades, Arlina has tackled numerous challenging situations in Southeast Asia, from terror attacks and tsunamis to protests and plane crashes. She has also covered high-profile events such as the general elections in Malaysia and Thailand, as well as global conferences like the G-20 and ASEAN Summits, engaging with the region's top political figures and heads of state. 

Prior to her role at The Straits Times, Arlina was the Indonesia and Timor-Leste correspondent for Agence-France Presse. A Singaporean of Javanese ethnicity, fluent in English, Indonesian, and Malay, she considers herself a global citizen with a passion for exploring the world. 

Her extensive travels have taken her to the mountains of Bhutan and Nepal, safaris in Botswana and South Africa, and the maze-like souqs of Syria and Iran. 

Arlina loves meeting different people and hearing their points of view, though she finds it hard to stomach that her Javanese relatives' neighbour turned out to be Indonesia's infamous cannibal, Sumanto. 

Arlina’s project will look at how the war in Gaza has been covered in Singapore and Indonesia