J

uly 7, p7

A purview of many international studies regarding Indonesia'€™s politics and economy is dominated by foreign organizations, consulting companies and NGOs. Simply too many chefs tend to spoil the soup. The amount of studies and reports on Indonesia is enormously redundant at times, filled with '€œshoulds, coulds and woulds'€, and can lead to paralysis by analysis, not action. (By Will Hickey, Jakarta)

Your comments:

The NGOs, studies, forums, etc. also make money to survive. The impact of the studies is not immediate. It may take time. Like autonomy for Aceh, Aceh is a half-hearted autonomous region.

Aceh does not have much money. The Medan-Banda Aceh road kills at least seven persons in a week because the road is too narrow for the existing traffic.

Aceh has no industries or factories. Jakarta or Java has so many factories. So, people in Jakarta or Java are civil servants, factory workers and farmers. People in Aceh just work for government and as small farmers. Aceh does not even have a cigarette factory, let alone big scale factories like in Tangerang or East Java. That is why Aceh is proceeding its poverty with its autonomy degree.

Syarwan

Indonesia has, for far too long, maintained a disproportionate focus on developing Jakarta and as you mention, the spillover effect is evident in Java.

However, to truly realize its potential, Indonesia needs to leverage on its biggest force '€” a large young population '€” to focus on their education and skill development and make them competitive on a global scale so that they are not compelled to flee and make a better future abroad.

It doesn'€™t hurt as well to move towards a more intensive manufacturing sector, since it is already such a big producer of raw materials that are widely exported today.

PS