Word: nationalism
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...Channeling Chávez There are limits to what any elected President can accomplish in the diverse and far-flung island nation. To many Indonesians, the wrangling over economic policy is a sign of a healthy democracy. Sarundajang, the North Sulawesi governor, points out that the original contract allowing Archipelago to dig for gold in his province was signed in 1986, during the Suharto years, when citizens' wishes were disregarded. The struggle against the mine, he contends, is a struggle to correct the sins of the past. By opposing the mine, he says he wants to "give a salute...
...Morrison's buried treasure - and the reasons why he can't get it out of the ground - says a lot about the current state of Indonesia, the world's fourth most populous country. On one level, it is actually a good-news tale of the vibrancy of the nation's democracy and the growing power of its citizens just 10 years after the fall of the dictator Suharto. (See photos of Suharto's Indonesia here). On another level, however, it is a story that explains why Indonesia has slipped in status from roaring economic tiger to chronic underachiever. Considering...
...when Deng Xiaoping was first nudging China toward the free market, Indonesia's per capita GDP was more than double China's. Throughout the 1980s and early 1990s, Indonesia's fast-growing manufacturing sector was a magnet for foreign investment, and rural development schemes were so successful that the nation became self-sufficient in rice for the first time. The government even had ambitions to build commercial jets and cars. But since the 1997 Asian financial crisis, Indonesia has been virtually marching in place while its neighbors hit their strides. Last year China's GDP was nearly 30% higher than...
...economists contend that Indonesia's performance could match that of India and China if 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...
Indonesia used to be a reliable punch line for jokes about Third World ineptitude. Crippling corruption? Check. Homegrown terror movements? Check. Protectionist policies that dissuade foreign investment? Check. But in recent years, Indonesia's leadership has matured. In a region where one nation's political system is still reeling from a military coup (Thailand), another's top economic advisers are confounded by runaway inflation that's threatening much-vaunted growth (Vietnam) and the politics of a third is mired in racial recrimination (Malaysia), Indonesia - led by its first-ever directly elected President - has emerged as Southeast Asia's unlikely star...