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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Miss Indonesia Artika Sari Devi

Artika Sari Devi is beautiful and clever. She's also proud of her country and wants to help underprivileged children.

A national icon then. Someone to admire and applaud.

Well, not exactly. Because this beauty queen is also hated by some small-minded people for her indefensible crime of, er, appearing in the 2005 Miss Universe beauty pageant wearing a swimsuit!

This was the first time in nearly a decade that an Indonesian had appeared in the contest. And it caused a fair amount of controversy, with protests staged by some Indonesian groups.

And this after the poor girl even made the concession not to wear a more revealing bikini.

But as Artika says, the contest is about more than just clothes.

And if it comes downs to brains, there is one thing that is certain: she’s a lot cleverer than the idiots who criticize her!


Miss Indonesia Artika Sari Devi

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