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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SPG and the 2014 Indonesia Motorcycle Show

My first car was a motorcycle.
~Adam Carolla

Another year. Another motorcycle show. This year, though, the name of the show has changed and it’s no longer the Jakarta motorcycle show but the Indonesia motorcycle show – an attempt by the show’s organizers (for what it was worth) to create a less parochial and more universal image.

Compared to previous years, this year’s show felt much more stripped down – a sign of tougher economic times perhaps? Austerity rearing its ugly head as Indonesia’s commodity exports struggle and the country runs out of money to pay for the ever-growing fuel imports (how ironic is that!?)

Only the big four (Honda, Suzuki, Kawasaki and Yamaha) had any sizable presence although I was impressed by Kawasaki’s offerings – the ninjas as tempting as ever (especially the highly desirable 650 ER-6n). Yahama’s R25 doesn’t really compare and Honda have completely lost the plot – they don’t seem to be making much effort with the CBR250R and are instead plugging the much cheaper (and much less powerful) CBR150R.

Also noticeable was the sharp reduction in the number and quality of the SPGs. But although many of them lacked raw talent and were probably just college girls seeking to make a bit of extra money, there were a few gems to behold - as I’m sure you’ll agree!







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