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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Rama Satria – well you won’t see anything else like that in Jakarta, says Mark

“Well, you ain’t gonna see anything else like that in Jakarta,” claimed Mark, the owner of New Star Kemang. He was talking about the performance of Rama Satria, the virtuoso Indonesian blues guitarist who had just played at his small bar on Kemang high street. 

Rama Satria at Star Kemang Jakarta

This was electric blues at its finest – and rawest. Loud but not deafening, Rama played as if he had sold his soul to the devil in exchange for some of the meanest and most exhilarating guitar licks you will ever hear. Or maybe Satan had just done Rama a favour by retuning his guitar before giving it back to him? I guess we’ll never know. 

This was exhilarating stuff and I particularly enjoyed Rama’s rendition of Canned Heat’s 1968 classic ‘On the Road Again’. But Rama doesn’t really perform songs. He jams. This, of course, allows for plenty of experimentation and onstage antics – is he really playing the guitar with his tongue? It appears so. Check for yourself on the second video below! 

Rama has the poise and gait of a real rock star that’s for sure. A terrific night’s entertainment from a wonderful performer. And no: you won’t see anything else like that in Jakarta. Of that I’m sure!





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