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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Image of the day (9): doing whatever it takes to turn defeat into victory

Prabowo claims victory

This is astonishing.

To clutch victory from the jaws of defeat when the situation looked utterly hopeless.

The deficit was six million votes for God’s sake. SIX MILLION votes!

 How to come back from that? In football terms, it would be equivalent to Brazil striking back against Germany and smacking in seven late goals to win 8-7 instead of losing 7-1.

 Ultimately Brazil didn't make it into the World Cup Final but Prabowo looks destined to become Indonesia’s next president. That's the way it goes. Not that he wants power mind you - but because it is his calling. He has the obligation to serve the Indonesian people. 

And anyway, what’s the alternative? A political upstart and furniture maker from central Java? We can’t have that can we!

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