Are We More Palistinian Than The Palistinians? Commentary by Wayne Forrest Indonesia doesn’t usually receive worldwide press attention for its accomplishments and reforms. Rather, it takes something bad like a disaster or cultural anomaly for Indonesia to get a lot of ink. So the world doesn’t hear stories such as Ford and Vale have
March Crazy Weather Commentary by Wayne Forrest Where I live, 20 miles north of New York City, March is a complete mix of weather patterns. Snow one day, warm temperatures the next. “In like a lion and out like a lamb”, goes the saying. To read about developments in Indonesia is to experience this
Issue To Watch: Outlook for 2023 Commentary by Wayne Forrest As we predicted last January, Indonesia’s 2022 economic performance outstripped 2021, itself a return to growth following the first year of the pandemic. It was more than just government spending and higher mineral prices that helped boost GDP to over 5.0% by Q3: manufacturing
November 2022 Issue To Watch: Halloween, Inflation, and the Quantity Theory of Money by Wayne Forrest We’ve just experienced a Halloween in which frightful fantasies become reality as the young seek happiness, expecting they are protected, but they are not. Who knew that the American costume and candy holiday (at one time it raised
October 2022 Issue To Watch: The Increasing Role of Indonesia's State-Owned Enterprises Commentary by Wayne Forrest You send your kids to school in America, thinking they’re safe, and then a shooting occurs. In Indonesia, it could be a flood collapsing a school’s wall. America’s infrastructure issues are internal, between our ears; in Indonesia, they’re
SEPTEMBER 2022 Issue To Watch: Indonesia After 3 Years Commentary by Wayne Forrest It was wonderful to be in Indonesia for two weeks in August for the first time in three years. Not only did I see old friends and make new ones, I had a chance to travel on one of the many
July 2022 JOKOWI ON THE WORLD STAGE Commentary by Wayne Forrest It has been many years since an Indonesian leader actively engaged in global affairs and its current President has scrupulously avoided many international engagements because of his singular focus on improving the nation’s infrastructure and economy. President Jokowi recently departed from this scenario,
May 2022 CHALLENGE TO NEUTRALITY Commentary by Wayne Forrest Since 1966 Indonesia has always often prioritized development over geopolitics. Other than its early years, Indonesia has usually kept a low profile internationally, subscribing to an international, mostly Western-driven, common consensus. Its famed practical neutrality is now being challenged by not just the Ukraine War
February 2022 Reforming the Sembako Economy Although Indonesia actively courts an image of a modernizing economy interested to develop high technologies, such as the electric vehicles, contrasting narratives often occur reminding us that the nation’s underpinning as well as the core interests of its people remain the sembako (9 basic daily necessities): rice, salt,
Tolerance/Intolerance Commentary by Wayne Forrest The uptick of attacks against Asian Americans is a sickening reminder of the intolerance that raises its head all too often in the US. Indonesian Americans have been attacked, as well as Americans with Chinese, Filipino, and other heritages. AICC stands decidedly against these outrageous acts. AICC was established