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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All for muppets…

18,000 cops and troops. The usually busy tollroad blocked. Phone services cut. Helipads constructed. The entourage of US embassy officials and the gaggle of foreign reporters asking the same old boring questions.

So was it worth it?

You bet it was!!

Cos in a landmark deal between the two great nations, Bush has agreed to fund 156 episodes of an Indonesian adaptation of Sesame Street!!

Dr. Muhammad Zuhdi will oversee the series’ educational component, developed with a panel of experts and educators in Indonesia. To create this plan, advisors from throughout the country will later gather in Jakarta to discuss Indonesian children's developmental needs and the way a Sesame Street project might help address them.


Spot the muppet (note: more than one answer may be correct)

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