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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Chairil Anwar statue

Chairil Anwar statue

By all accounts, Indonesian poet Chairil Anwar lived the bohemian lifestyle, a sort of Indonesian equivalent of the great Oscar Wilde. These insalubrious digressions are (it is said) to have accounted for Chairil’s early demise – he passed away on 28 April 1949, aged only 26. But Chairil could write, and he left a great legacy. This poem is my favorite, translated brilliantly by Jakarta veteran John H. McGlynn:

 The Seized and the Severed

the darkness and passing wind overtake me
and the room where the one I long for shivers
with night’s penetration; trees stand like dead memorials
but in Karet, yes, Karet Cemetery – my future locale – there, the wind howls, too

I put my room in order, and myself as well, in the chance that you might come
and I may once again unleash a new story for you;
but now it’s only my hands that move, emptily
my body is still and alone, as frozen stories and events pass by

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