There's no such thing as a free lunch...Or is there?

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It's official. The next president of Indonesia is former army general Prabowo Subianto. Quite how the next five years will pan out is anyone's guess but hopefully the foreign pundits who always bring up his dodgy human rights record will be proven wrong. Nonetheless, on policy making, Prabowo's popularist move to literally offer the poor 'a free lunch' every day of the week does not augur well for the future. Such a policy - if it ever came to fruition - would cost a phenomenal amount of money and likely lead to huge inefficiencies (food waste) and poor incentives (make people lazy). Another concern is Prabowo's strong nationalist bent. Thus, in the possible event that he finds himself with his back against the proverbial wall in the face of stern economic challenges, there is a big chance that he will simply scapegoat foreigners. But he will have to be careful. Construction of the new capital city, Nusantara, for example, is highly dependent on foreign in
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Riding a motorcycle in Jakarta is not safe!

As the street lighting is virtually never switched on any more in Jakarta (to save on precious electricity?), driving at night can be a hairy business.

I found this out late last night when I nearly wiped out one of Jakarta’s many motorcyclists.

It was not far from the Senayan football stadium, pitch-black, and a motorcyclist was tearing along the road toward me.

Only I couldn’t see him.

Wearing dark clothes, and with his motorcycle lights switched OFF, he was perfectly camouflaged.

Not that that’s a good idea on Indonesia’s roads.

Luckily, though, a collusion was avoided, and he was so unflustered that he even managed to smile back after I gave him the obligatory **** U sign. He didn’t even bother to switch his lights on as he continued on his way.

This morning, though, I’m out on the motorbike, riding along quite slowly as it’s been raining, and everyone out there is making strange flashing signals with their right hands at me.

It’s because my lights are switched ON!!!


Indonesian motorcyclist in Jakarta at night

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