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

Hot Property (slums in Jakarta)

The ice age is coming, the sun is zooming in
Engines stop running and the wheat is growing thin
A nuclear error, but I have no fear
London is drowning-and I live by the river


> London Calling by The Clash

Plenty of nice houses on the market in Jakarta. Like this one advertised on Indoproperty.com:

luxury house Jakarta

Category: Residential (freehold)
Type: Sale
Location: Pondok Indah (very expensive area)
Land Area: 546 m2
Building Area: 600 m2
Number of Floors: 2.0
Selling Price: Rp 6,500,000,000.00 (six and a half billion rupiah)
Telephone: 2 lines
Bedrooms: 4 rooms
Servant Rooms: 3 rooms (with 2 servants to a room, that’s enough for 6 servants)
Electricity: 16,500 watts (enough power to light up Old Trafford)
Reading Rooms: 4 rooms (four reading rooms?!!!)
Garage: 2 cars (for the Merc & Landcruiser)
Others: Gym, 2 Carports (for all the other cars)

But if you can’t afford to pay anywhere near Rp6.5 billion, don’t fret. There are cheaper alternatives:

slums in Jakarta by the Ciliwung river

Category: Residential
Type: Sale (subject to eviction at a later date)
Location: Bukit Duri
Land Area: 10 m2
Building Area: 10 m2
Number of Floors: 1.0
Selling Price: free!!
Telephone: O lines
Bedrooms: none (everyone sleeps in the big family room; cosy huh?)
Servant Rooms: we are the servants, stupid!!
Electricity: Nicked
Reading Rooms: books? What for?
Others: Romantic riverside views, good fishing, self cleaning WC (it’s called the river!)

The choice is yours!!!

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