New Beginnings
It’s the end of August, people are preparing to return to the grindstone after holidays and new beginnings are in the offing. After months of back and forth, Indonesia and […]
A Positive Narrative
If I look back over the past year, the story lines surrounding Indonesia have mostly been negative. Of course, part of the reason is that the main principle of the […]
Pancasila to the Rescue
May 31, 2017 Some say today’s Indonesia is not your father’s Indonesia. A political scientist I know believes that in 15 years all of Indonesia will be under sharia law. […]
Ambiguity and Sadli’s Law
May 9, 2017– My recent visit to Indonesia underlined a defining feature of Indonesia’s political economy: ambiguity. The common theme among all my meetings with local as well as international […]
Is Barbie Guilty ?
I will be visiting Indonesia next week and will likely be asked about President Trump’s trade policy, articulated in his recent executive orders. Will Indonesia, one of 16 countries under […]
Regret
There’s a lot of regret going around these days. Democrats, who lost a close election, no doubt regret they didn’t do more to convince Midwest rust belt voters worried about […]
Honking in the Free World
Commentary by Wayne Forrest Their signs read “Om Telolet Om”. It simply means, “sir, honk your horn, sir”. Young girls and boys, especially in Jakarta, hold them up for passing […]
Golkar Returns
For those familiar with Indonesian politics Golkar is the party synonymous with Indonesia’s economic development. More than a just a political party, Golkar was an amalgamation of various “functional groups” […]
Duane Gingerich’s Pivot: In Memoriam (1942-2016)
As President Obama prepares to receive most of Southeast Asia’s heads of state at the US-ASEAN Summit February 15-16 in Rancho Mirage I am thinking of a recently fallen friend […]
Soekarno’s Echo
Indonesia’s first President became so frustrated with the “West” that he famously declared ” go to hell with your aid”. A combination of the Cold War and misjudgments of Soekarno’s […]