Word: localizes
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...guide the country toward prosperity. After he was forced to step down in 1998 amid an economic meltdown, a new government set about erasing his dictatorial imprint; in 1999 an effort began to decentralize the once all-encompassing power of Jakarta, giving provinces and cities more influence over local affairs. Today, Indonesia's political system is more inclusive and remarkably stable. Some 34 political parties will participate in next year's parliamentary elections and, unlike in Thailand and the Philippines, where election results have been contested on the streets, Indonesians have peacefully accepted election results...
...This democratic flowering has a downside: it has sparked seemingly endless turf warfare between Jakarta and the country's provincial and local governments. The sparring often results in conflicting regulations, uncertain lines of authority and onerous tax burdens. Contributing to this hostile environment are corruption, a capricious legal system and local suspicion of foreign companies, which are often viewed as carpetbaggers rather than investment partners. Not that Indonesia is a complete pariah to outside investors. Foreign direct investment (FDI) has increased in recent years as the economy has improved. But reform is required, economists say, if Indonesia is to become...
...Yudhoyono presses reforms further. The most damaging, and most politically sensitive, issue dampening investment is the nation's oppressive labor law. Passed in 2003, it requires companies to get government approval to lay off staff and mandates heavy severance payments. The stipulations were a misguided attempt to protect local workers that instead has made Indonesia uncompetitive in the kinds of labor-intensive industries - like textiles and footwear manufacturing - that could help reduce the country's lofty unemployment rate, currently at about 8.5%. Political analysts complain that Yudhoyono doesn't exhibit the necessary decisiveness on economic matters - and with a presidential...
...Obama may believe in investing in a mandate to govern - helping to expand Democrats in Congress and in local and municipal races - but that won't matter a whole lot if he fails to win the presidency. "This 50-state strategy, I hope it's real," says Bill Steiner, the RNC's director of strategy. "But I actually think what it's for is to cover up some of their weakness in targeted states like Wisconsin, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Ohio. States that Democrats can't afford to lose. This is about quality vs. quantity...
...different war zones," says Jehanzeb Raja, a retired brigadier who served in the tribal areas. "The Pakistan Army's aversion to any Predator or missile strike into Pakistan territory to kill the Taliban is tactically defeatist in essence, and strategically flawed in concept," he recently wrote in a local newspaper. "The Pakistan Army not only lacks any worthwhile real-time surveillance capability to pursue multiple targets in these remote regions, it also lacks the means to destroy these through long-range precision weapons...