Via calculated risk, Asian countries are reducing their subsidies for oil in an effort to lower demand. (more)
adam : It was not without protest. There were riots.
I think it was the right decision, and it did not bring down the government, but Indonesians were never likely to simply take the end of a 30 year tax break on the chin.
cam : Pundits like Zakaria argue that this maybe better done by a strong arm dictator who is enforcing capitalism; ie Pinochet-style, but in this instance the collective recognition of it being the right policy meant that liberal democracy handled it well.
I wonder why many assume that liberal democracy is often best added after capitalism when a strong arm has finished implementing those policies.
There is that individual wealth threshold that Zakaria quoted, IIRC it is about 3K per capita, where liberal democracy becomes more stable after that is reached.
Don't know.
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)
Alan : Indonesia\'s legislature: They have a uniquely complex legislature. The main legislative body is the
Dewan Perwakilan Rakyat
or Council of People\'s Representatives. Until 2004 the DPR also included appointed military representatives. There is also a new second chamber, although with very limited powers, called the
Dewan Perwakilan Daerah
or Council of Regional Representatives. The DPR and DPD together make up the MPR which approves constitutional amendments and impeaches the president. Until 2004 the MPR also elected the president.
Skulduggery in the MPR led to Adulrahman Wahid\'s unfortunate election ahead of Megawati in 1999. Under Suharto the MPR included the famous military representatives and a number of \'civil society\' representatives appointed by the president. Suharto parlayed control of the MPR and the armed forces into decades of corrupt rule.
cam : Good news: The
Indonesian ambassador is coming back
. The other good news is that Yudhoyono\'s dip into nationalism to try and shore up his support
didn\'t work
;
Indonesian president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono\'s job rating fell as people perceived the government isn\'t doing enough to create jobs and help increase household income, a Jakarta-based survey agency said. Just 37.9 percent of the people surveyed were satisfied with the Yudhoyono administration\'s performance in April, compared with 64.7 percent a year earlier, the Lingkaran Survey Indonesia,or LSI, said in a statement at a press briefing in Jakarta on Tuesday. \"People are disappointed. They are dissatisfied with the government\'s performance in dealing with problems related to the economy,\" Denny J.A., the LSI executive director, told reporters at the briefing. \"They are, however, happy with how the government has been fighting corruption.\"The last sentence is hopeful however.
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)
adam : Hardt and Negri: Did you have a link to the originating article, or did I miss it?
On the topic of postmodern government, saw this blog entry on the dizzying concept of
Postmodern Confucianism
.
cam : I am reading:
Multitude
which is where that is all from. The book is proving highly quotable at the moment, but I think I am being echo-chambered atm as it takes a systems architecture viewpoint on war and democracy. Interestingly Gary Sauer-Thompson has done some posts
on their previous book
as well as
this one
too.
Post-modern Confucianism == Transcendental selfishism?
cam
adam : Hardt and Negri\'s Empire: I only
read a review
, but I just noticed / remembered that the review had rather a good point:
Since the end of the Cold War, Neoliberalism has become so ideologically dominant that it is no longer clear whether the real Neoliberals are the leaders of the G8 or the people outside in the balaclavas and the overalls. Take Ya Basta!, the Italian group formed in 1996 in support of the Chiapas uprising, and a driving force behind the Tute Bianche. They are fighting under the slogan \'per la dignità dei popoli contro il neoliberismo\', but their two key political demands, free migration and the right to a guaranteed basic income, are policies that were once largely the preserve of Neoliberal think-tanks in the United States.Post-modern Confucianism == Transcendental selfishism?
The Master said, \'When the Way prevails in the state, speak and act with perilous high-mindedness; when the Way does not prevail, act with perilous high-mindedness but speak with self-effacing diffidence.\' Analects XIV.3Confucianism isn\'t selfish but it can be rather up itself.
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)
cam : I have probably been trolled: since
the media uses it as an economic model
, and unwittingly just linked to it, which will mean more eyeballs will look at it than otherwise would.
cam
