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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Inaugural “Beach Games” to be held in Bali

well there goes another one just lying down on the sand dunes
I’d better go take a swim and see if I can cool down a little bit
coz you and me woman
we got a lotta things on our minds (you know what I mean)

walking on the beaches looking at the peaches

will you just take a look over there (where?) there
is she tryin' to get outta that clitares?
liberation for women
that’s what I preach
preacher man

> Peaches by the Stranglers

The Balinese have had it tough in recent years.

First were the terrorist bombings.

Then there was the incredibly astute policy to discourage foreign tourists from visiting the island by abolishing the visa free policy and cutting in half the length of maximum stay to just 30 days.

So it’s great to see that Bali will host the first World Beach Games in 2008. The decision was made by the Olympiad Committee in a meeting held in Kuwait early this month.

Among the events are triathlon, surfing, windsurfing, beach volley, jet ski, parasailing, dragon boat racing and marathon swimming.

But who to support?

Well, unlike in this year’s World Cup in Germany, I think I’ll be cheering on Brazil - especially in beach volley. And I’m sure plenty of others will do so too…

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