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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Indonesia image of the day (3): sexist ad

On a walkabout yesterday lunchtime I notice this flyer pasted on a wall near Jaksa.

Although you could well be prosecuted for putting up this ad in many developed countries, there are no such anti-discrimination laws in Indonesia.

But why would Jack post an ad specifically seeking a female teacher? Here are some possibilities:

1) the students are all hot young airline stewardesses and Jack thinks that a male teacher would be too “distracted” to teach effectively.

2) the students are all men and Jack thinks that employing a nice young female teacher would just be great for business.

3) Jack is just a stupid sexist bastard.

It may be 2012. But sometimes in Indonesia it feels like the 50s…



Comments

  1. Michael P. Shipley21 June 2012 at 15:10

    It's ok to criticize this but I would never support a law forbidding it because that's a violation of his rights. Its his property, he can hire or not hire anyone he wishes.

    ReplyDelete
  2. The Diplomatic Wife29 June 2012 at 16:30

    Hahaha! This made me laugh. I love your candor. I will speak vicariously through your blog! (if there is such a thing) *Curse this "diplomatic" expectation*

    ReplyDelete
  3. blogger12 July 2012 at 17:46

    nice blog checkout my blogs on

    www.onjokes.blogspot.com
    www.togetherfornature.blogspot.com

    feel free to leave a comment

    ReplyDelete

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