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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Mount Merapi is on the verge of erupting

Thousands of people are getting ready to make a run for it after Java’s huge Mount Merapi volcano started spewing clouds of smoke and lava on Thursday morning. 

And strong earthquakes are continuing to hit the huge island of Sumatra. 

 So guess what's on the agenda? …. nuclear power plants!!! 

 Meanwhile, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono is urging Indonesian handicraft manufactures to improve quality as well as intensify marketing efforts in a bid to boost exports. 
 
"There are enormous opportunities for the handicraft industry as there is still a gap between what we've been doing and what the potential out there really is,” said SBY while opening the eighth Jakarta International Handicrafts Trade Fair on Wednesday.

But rather ironically, given the current hullabaloo about scantily clad women and erotica in general, I ain’t too sure he’ll be pleased to find out that sales of raunchy Indonesian handicrafts - like the lovely item shown on the left - are doing particularly well at the moment. You can buy it here if you’re interested. And if you’re not, how about an authentic Papuan pen#s sheath?!!!

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