Via calculated risk, Asian countries are reducing their subsidies for oil in an effort to lower demand. (more)
Indonesia is planting seventy nine million trees in one day.
The human made construct of wilderness has an interesting comparison to Lovelock's idea of dumping nuclear waste in national forests to keep humans out. He argued that humanity is the most destructive component of any ecosystem; yet Mann is arguing that many of the natural habitats we call wilderness have been scaped by humanity's control of fire and in many cases human intervention in the ecosystem was keeping it in balance.
Man is an active and essential component or participant in the ecosystem, not one of pure destruction, or a malignant presence. It is cause for an interesting tension in how we view natural systems. Humanity is, after all, of Terra.
Originally via the Economist, the Asian Development Bank has a report on inequality in Asia [PDF]. The purpose of the report was to determine if economic growth in Asia matched the perception of inequality. Using percentage change in the Gini Coefficient:
The report notes that these figures are quite low, Latin American countries have Gini figures of greater than fifty. The report writes that it is not a case of the rich getting richer and the poor poorer; "Rather it is the rich getting richer faster than the poor." (more)
The report notes that these figures are quite low, Latin American countries have Gini figures of greater than fifty. The report writes that it is not a case of the rich getting richer and the poor poorer; "Rather it is the rich getting richer faster than the poor." (more)
Aceh had free elections for their governor in December which Irwandi Yusuf of the Free Aceh Movement won. Previously Jakarta appointed a Governor to the province. I cannot find any information on the form of government Aceh has chosen.
(more)
Indonesia is slowly becoming an active member of the international community in a more international liberalist manner after the expansionist and isolationist years of Sukarno and Suharto. Indonesia has contributed to United Nation deployments in Congo, Cambodia and Senegal amongst others. Yudhoyono earned much of his public profile by commanding Indonesia's forces in Bosnia. A deployment to Lebanon poses many messy political issues for Indonesia but which will probably not deter the new Indonesian internationalist outlook.
(more)
One of Indonesia's achievements in the last eight years has been to re-civilise their political institutions after Suharto militarised them to the point of permanent corruption. Many of the ills in the Indonesian system, and future challenges involve flushing the mix of military and civil responsibilities in the Indonesian political system.
(more)
Hardt and Negri comment on nation-building;
Nothing could be more post-modern and anti-essentialist than this notion of nation building. It reveals, on the one hand, that the nation has become something purely contingent, fortuitous, or, as philosophers would say, accidental. That is why nations can be destroyed and fabricated as part of a political program.The experience of Indonesia suggest that the forging of a nation has to come from a desire within, rather than an external imposition. (more)
I have long contended that Australian prosperity will come through Indonesia and vice versa. I was glad to see
that QANTAS is buying a twenty percent stake in Indonesia's AdamAir
. Though it may be prompted in part by Singapore's unruly airline regulation schemes, it is recognition that Indonesia's market is not only growing, but that Australian business has confidence in its economy and legal systems. Indonesia has come a long way since the corruption of the Suharto regime.
(more)
Back in November 2004 Avocadia asked,
" Where is the gain in refusing to sign up to the ASEAN Treaty of Amity and Cooperation?"
(more)
but Greg Sheridan is so
reflexively political
, that he wastes it. It is contempt for his subject matter and the dignity of the person he was interviewing.
(more)
