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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Flooding in Jakarta

Bonjourno!

So Jakarta is now the Venice of the Orient: just substitute the inflatable dingy for the gondola, fried tempe and tahu for the ice cream and dangdut for the opera and ya wouldn’t know the difference.

Like hell ya wouldn’t…

Anyway, the predictable blame game tosh has now begun in earnest with the so called TV experts (read charlatans) quick to blame the holiday villas in Puncak; the rubbish strewn canals of Jakarta; and of course, the old favorite this: the immoral Jakarta nightlife (the Supreme Being is dealing out the punishment again).

But the strange thing is noone really seems to be stating the obvious reason for the flooding:

And that is there was an incredible amount of rain in a short period of time, meaning the flooding was inevitable and completely unavoidable! As it was in Malaysia where more than 104,000 people have had to evacuate the country’s southern state of Johor.

Sure the minister may go on about “unchecked urban development” but who is he trying to kid? Jakarta is one of the world’s most densely populated cities and anything short of a compulsory vasectomy program for all males in the age group 16-60 is not gonna change that.

So with global warming on a roll I reckon we all should start to get used to the idea of having a few feet of floodwaters on our doorsteps.

Either that or move to higher ground. Or perhaps Sutiyoso could advise all new houses to be built in the traditional Papua style!

Ciao!

traditional Papua style house on stilts
The houses of Irian Jaya's Kombai and Korowai people are built as high as 150 feet to see the birds and the mountains and to stop sorcerers from climbing the stairs.

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