There's no such thing as a free lunch...Or is there?
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
Totally agree. I went in 1988, and 1992...it was amazing. Now it's a nightmare. Avoid at all costs.
ReplyDeletePartly agree, but just came back from two weeks there and most of the above is rubbish. Boats do dock at bea he's rather than the pier, but considering we were snorkelling with giant turtles, reef sharks, eels, stingrays and an assortment of coloured fish, it's hardly like Kuta or Jakarta! Amazing how westerners want to keep the third world undeveloped to make it good holiday destinations for us - yet we show up with money, new clothes and expensive equipment but would prefer if they don't develop and make money for the same things. If you were so dismayed, then just boat 5 min to Gili Meno where nothing has changed!!
ReplyDeleteconsidering we were snorkelling with giant turtles, reef sharks, eels, stingrays and an assortment of coloured fish...
ReplyDeleteReally? Where was that?
Just came back from a trip to Gili Trawangan. I thought it was awesome. We went for 5 dives and the coral reefs were amazing! We saw turtles, octupus, cuttlefish, stonefish, clown fish and thousands of other types of tropical fish. The showers still use salt water. The only problem I had with Gili was the rubbish - there was quite a bit washed up on the beach
ReplyDeletejust came back from gili now. I spent 5 days there. First day i went in the south cost and swim 150 meters from the beach and met my first turtle :). only 5 minutes in the water and i saw one ! rest of the days i dived and saw sharks and a lot of fishes.
ReplyDeleteConcerning the image of the destroyed reef, this is right. It is destroyed. but arround the T island you can still found coral. Concerning the urban development it is true too. About the rubbish in the forest and the fields, it is true too. But i think this is just how human invest an island: theyr bring the bad part of modernity.
Trawangan will finish as Kuta, Seminyak, Ubud are now. This is unstoppable, and we can clearly see the way it goes.