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

MH Thamrin statue, Jakarta

Many of the major roads in Indonesian cities and towns are named after Indonesian revolutionary heroes and the main thoroughfare through Jakarta, Jalan MH Thamrin, is no different.

Unlike many Indonesian revolutionary heroes, however, Thamrin was not a former general and wasn’t even in the military. Rather, he was a politician who believed that Indonesia’s independence could be achieved through cooperation with the Dutch colonial government.

Although this didn’t turn out to be the case, Thamrin’s ideas were influential and he was one of the first to propose that the Dutch terms Nederlands Indie, Nederland Indische and Inlander (Dutch Indies, Dutch Indian, and Dutch Indians) be replaced with the nationalist terms Indonesia, Indonesisch, and Indonesier (Indonesia, Indonesian, and Indonesians).

As a member of Volksraad (the Dutch People’s Council), Thamrin and others went to Sumatra to look into the working conditions at the plantations there and was disgusted by what he saw. Quite what he would make of the current conditions in Indonesia is anyone’s guess but I doubt he’d be impressed.

There are several statues near Indonesia’s National Monument (Monas) honouring this national hero.

One in Merdeka Square itself:

MH Thamrin statue, Jakarta

And another more substantial statue on Jalan Thamarin, by the roundabout:

Thamrin statue in Jakarta

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