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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The Jakarta riots: 13 May 1998 revisited

Ever wanted to know what it’s like to be in the middle of a full-scale riot?

The Jakarta riots: 13 May 1998 The Jakarta riots: 13 May 1998 The Jakarta riots: 13 May 1998 The Jakarta riots: 13 May 1998
>>my story is here Note: the Jakarta 13 May 1998 riots were hardly spontaneous and judging from what I saw - and also from the accounts of people I know – they were undoubtedly “orchestrated” by “certain elements” who were way beyond the reach of the “law”. 

The scary thing is not just that the ringmasters of the rape, pillage and murder got off scott-free - but also that they are still actively involved in Indonesian politics to this very day. 

Justice. What justice?

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