Indonesia :: One and Only

Indonesia As the New India

This stable democracy with a hot market economy resembles another Asian giant in the 1990s.
George Wehrfritz
NEWSWEEK
From the magazine issue dated Oct 20, 2008

Jakarta today could be any of Asia’s 21st-century boomtowns. The malls buzz, traffic snarls and modern office towers dominate the skyline. It all feels profoundly normal—but that’s big progress in a place that, barely ten years ago, seemed destined for ruin. Following the fall of longtime strongman Suharto, and with Indonesia reeling from the 1997-98 Asian financial crisis, many analysts feared that Asia’s third-biggest country (population: 235 million) would go the way of Yugoslavia. Instead, it has become a cohesive, robust and exuberantly democratic moderate Muslim nation. Things are so buoyant that Indonesia invites comparison to another Asian giant: India.

Both remain corrupt, chaotic and excruciatingly complex. Yet each is also an attractive emerging economy, and in India’s case, a star of the developing world. Could Indonesia be next? Its economy grew by 6.3 percent last year, the main stock exchange ranks among the world’s best performers since 2003 and last year foreign direct investment nearly tripled, to a respectable $4 billion. All of which resembles India in the 1990s, when reforms kick-started a potentially massive economy—though outsiders barely noticed until the IT sector took off and growth passed 8 percent. In Indonesia, the key sectors are energy, mining and soft commodities like rubber, palm oil and cocoa. And in an exclusive interview, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono says he sees no inherent reason why a big democracy like his can’t grow as fast China, which has posted 10 percent growth rates in recent years. (more…)

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Source: AsiaOne

MANILA, PHILIPPINES - AN INDONESIAN Muslim who preaches religious tolerance and a crusading governor from the Philippines are among the winners of this year’s Ramon Magsaysay Awards, the committee said on Friday.

A Thai man who makes prosthetic limbs from recycled plastic bottles was also honoured at the awards, widely regarded as the Asian version of the Nobel prize.

Mr Ahmad Shafii Maarif, retired leader of one of Indonesia’s biggest Muslim organisations the Muhammadiyah, was named winner for promoting peace and international understanding The Magsaysay foundation said the 73-year-old had spent his life preaching religious tolerance and had stressed terrorism was ‘not the authentic face of Islam’. (more…)

16 Jul 2008
Xinhua Newsfeed
JAKARTA (Thomson Financial) – Indonesian authorities arrested a lawmaker Wednesday for allegedly taking bribes from developers, the sixth MP to be detained so far this year in a major corruption crackdown, an official said.

Yusuf Emir Faishal of ex-president Abdurrahman Wahid’s National Awakening Party was arrested by the powerful Corruption Eradication Commission in the early hours of the morning, commission spokesman Johan Budi said. (more…)

Indonesia Energy Minister installs new senior officials

Eric Watkins
Senior Correspondent

Oil & Gas Journal

LOS ANGELES, July 21 — Indonesia’s Energy and Mineral Resources Minister Purnomo Yusgiantoro, coinciding with a wider government investigation of corruption, is expected to install several new senior officials at his ministry.

“Eight officials will be replaced during the upcoming reorganization,” said Purnomo, who has received intense criticism from lawmakers and analysts for his performance in managing the country’s energy and mining industries.
(more…)