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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Suparwono: Indonesia’s tallest man!

His name is Suparwono and he comes from the small village of Tri Tunggal Jaya in Lampung, Sumatra. And boy is he tall!

Suparwono No wonder they call him the “Giant of Lampung”! For a time there were even suggestions he might be the world’s tallest man! But after measurements were taken this didn’t turn out to be the case. Yes he is bloody tall, but the 25 year old Indonesian stands 7ft 11in high – or just two inches shorter than the world’s tallest man, the Turkish giant Sultan Kosen, who is 8ft 1in.

Suparwono Suparwono says he is “proud” of his height, but added that it was sometimes a struggle being so tall in a country where things are designed for much smaller frames. I know what he means and I’m only around 6ft tall. I mean can you imagine this guy getting into a microlet or Metro Mini? He’d either have to lie down - or they could strap him to the roof I suppose! 

And as for finding a marriage partner, well that's a thought too bizarre to contemplate!


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