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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Isobelle Yahya: naked innocence

There aren’t too many Indonesian girls who will take their clothes off for the cameras.

But Isobelle Yahya is one of them.

She stripped off for a piece of artwork called Pinkswing Park which was briefly displayed at an exhibition at Indonesia’s central bank.

She is seen naked – in multiple poses - with her lover (Anjasmara) in a utopian park.

There’s a sort of Adam and Eve innocence to the whole thing. Rather charming in fact.

But the serenity didn’t last long.

Because as soon as the religious fanatics heard about it, they went crazy, claiming the picture blasphemed the story of Adam and Eve.

How could the exhibitors show such a picture?, they wanted to know.

How could they indeed?

But as things turned out Isobelle got off fairly lightly. Charges were only filed against Anjasmara, who later apologized for the whole thing, saying it was a misunderstanding.

Anyway, I’m sure Isobelle will be more careful the next time she takes her clothes off.

Because if she avoids the arty stuff and just does the men’s magazines, she’ll be okay. After all, Tiara Lestari has never had any problems, has she?

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