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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Indonesian maid in heaven

I couldn’t believe it as I arrived home late last night. Everything was so eerily quiet. But who’s to thank for this welcome change? None other than Indonesia’s state-owned electricity company PLN, that’s who! 

Cos in a beautifully timed blackout that leaves my residential area unaffected - serenity has once again returned to my neighborhood. No need to try and cut a deal with the muezzin. And no need to offer him any of my fish. But the cats should be happy: the muezzin’s loss is their gain. Maybe God had answered their prayers instead. 

Alternatively, of course, the 300 grand I had given to the tattooed Batak dude on the corner to “improve the situation” might have had something to do with it. Whatever. Anyway, I had a great night’s sleep last night. And so did my highly unattractive black-skinned buck-toothed Indonesian maid/wife (*) ;)

Indonesian maid * note: like most expats in Jakarta I am a “maid fetish” and have a huge collection of costumes for her to try on.

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