Review of Rifter #18: They Mysteries of Southeast Asia
Rifter Article by Russell Brin (Mephisto)

Summary
South East Asian source material for Ninjas & Superspies as well as HU and BTS. This article rates 6 out of 10 possible stars.

General Review
Despite Meph's disappointment in how this turned out (I believe I've still got the errata he posted for the message boards), this article is fairly decent, if a bit away from mainstream N&S.

The Dukun OCC is setup identically to the Mystic China OCCs. While there are bad relations between Indonesia and China, it's ironic that many Indonesian martial arts were directly influenced by Chinese styles, so the restriction on Chinese styles seems kind of pointless.
There is no single "Indonesian" language, the most common language is Malay, called Bahasa Indonesia in Indonesia, however each island (and in many cases each part of an island) has it's own language.
Indonesian Mythology is given without a skill description, which really would have helped out the article.
Lore: Spirits is given without a skill description, which really would have helped out the article.

All the Dukun spells are provided with pronunciation guides, which is extremely helpful. However, the limited number of spells (six total) is disappointing.

Stickfighter OCC. Another OCC done in Mystic China style.
Pain Strike is fairly well done.
Paralysis Strike is just a redone version of the same attack from Ninjas & Superspies, however it is done much better than the N&S version and makes more sense.

Bersilat.
There is no listing for Attack Moves.
There is no listing for Jumping Kicks.
The weapon katas aren't listed in Skill Included in Training.
Critical Strike on a Natural 20 is erroneously listed in the LABs.
Automatic Body Flip/Throw, listed as Auto Body Flip/Throw is in the LABs, but not Combat Skills.
Axe Kick and Leap Attack are listed in the LABs, but not Combat Skills.
Death Blow is listed in the LABs, but not Combat Skills.

Panapati.
No description on whether or not the Chi is Negative or Positive.

Sundel Bolong
No description on whether or not the Chi is Negative or Positive.

Manananggal
No description on whether or not the Chi is Negative or Positive.

Orang Minyak
No description on whether or not the Chi is Negative or Positive.

Mephisto's Errata Information:
If anyone notices the lack of experience tables for the Dukun and the Stickfighter, here are the tables to use. The Dukun uses the Wu Sorcerer experience table. The Stickfighter uses the Jian Shih experience table. Also the average level of experience for the Panapati is 1D4. The average level of experience (both skills and psionics) for the Sundel Bolong is 3-6 (1D4+2). The average level of experience (both skills and magic) for the Manananggal is 4-7(1D4+3). Finally the average level of experience (both skills and magic) for the Orang Minyak is 2D4. Hope that helps anyone that actually uses that material.

Overall Review

Appearance: A fairly useful article that unfortunately feels only partially done.
Artwork: Not Perez's best work, but still fairly good.
Structure: Fairly well organized, if somewhat lacking in several areas.
Editing: Looks like it got axed and shouldn't have been.
Continuity: Fits better into Mystic China's setting that straight N&S, could have used a lot more information, since it left you hoping for more.