Last updated at 1:22 AM. Saturday 20 March 2010
It is impossible for any middle-class resident of Jakarta or any other big city in Indonesia not to notice the sprawling slums that exists in their midst. Even in up-market areas such as Ancol, million dollar homes sit side-by-side with hovels, the two sides of a coin that defines most developing countries.
10:25 PM March 19, 2010
I had lunch the other day with Joop Ave, the minister for tourism, post and communications in the New Order era and a man difficult to ignore as much for his flamboyant character as for his generous physical proportions. And, of course, as someone who, if I may say so, was good at his job of promoting the country, especially when compared with his lukewarm successors.
9:48 PM March 19, 2010
Mix tasty fish from the wild with growing global demand and industrial fishing, and you have a recipe for disaster. That is what is facing the Atlantic bluefin tuna, a single one of which was auctioned in Tokyo’s Tsukiji market earlier this year for more than $181,000.
7:22 PM March 19, 2010
Much ado has been made about the flowering of democracy in Indonesia and how it serves as an example for other countries in the Islamic world. If Indonesia, which has around two-thirds as many Muslims as the entire Middle East and North Africa combined, can transform itself into a democracy, doesn’t that prove the rest of the Islamic world could possibly achieve the same?
James Van Zorge | 7:15 PM March 19, 2010
While around the world women’s achievements in fields such as medicine, the arts, politics and film are celebrated, in Malaysia women are apparently a problem for men. The secretary general of the Congress of Unions of Employees in the Public and Civil Service, Ahmad Shah Mohd Zin, complained recently that too many women were in decision-making roles in the administrative and diplomatic service. Is Ahmad Shah afraid his own job might be taken over by the fairer sex?
Mariam Mokhtar | 7:11 PM March 19, 2010
Globe readers weigh in on whether corruption is getting worse, and where economic reforms should be targeted first.
3:50 PM March 19, 2010
Indonesia’s stock market is on a bull run. The rupiah is at its highest level since August 2008 and investors and local businesspeople are increasingly optimistic about the country’s economic outlook.
Editorial | 10:12 PM March 18, 2010
After a long and restless day recently, I enjoyed a cup of coffee on the campus of Paramadina University near the Senayan sports complex. From the window of a high-rise building, Jakarta looked picturesque, with a view of the Gelora Bung Karno main stadium, one of the largest football stadiums in the world.
Wijayanto | 7:32 PM March 18, 2010
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