Swing State
November 2020 Commentary by Wayne ForrestThe US election has been focused on swing states, key places where our two political parties contest for electoral votes every four years. Even more than it may have in the past, the US government now sees Indonesia as a swing state, important in our own contest with China. You […]
Omnibus Struggles
October 2020 Commentary by Wayne ForrestIts hard to focus on economic topics during a pandemic that continues to grow and spread. But, it should not go unnoticed that the World Bank now predicts that the Indonesian economy will contract more than they had predicted only a few months ago and it issued a strongly worded […]
Labor Day 2020
September 2020 Commentary by Wayne Forrest With unemployment at record levels in both the US and Indonesia amidst an ongoing pandemic I’ve been reflecting on Indonesia’s struggle to find meaningful employment for her growing population of 270 million. Of course, our two nations do not share Labor Day: Indonesia observes International Labor Day on May […]
Remember America
August 2020 Commentary by Wayne Forrest On the 17th of this month Indonesia celebrates the 75th anniversary of Soekarno and Mohammad Hatta’s audacious declaration of independence from Dutch colonialism. With only a collection of militias and officers (some trained by the recently departed Japanese), an air force that consisted of one plane donated and flown […]
Rays of Hope
July 2020 Commentary by Wayne Forrest, President We’re close to America’s Independence Day, typically a time of public celebrations, parties, and mass gatherings. Of course, this year these events honoring the birth of our democracy are severely hampered by the pandemic. Indonesia modeled its Republic on ours, but only in part. After starting as a […]
The Souls of Two Pilots
The Souls of Two Pilots June 2020 Commentary by Wayne Forrest, President Over the past few months I have been trying to make sense of our current pandemic and find a coherent truth in the cacophony of news reports and government policies. How is our economy going to open ? What are we doing about […]
Is Indonesia a COVID-19 Outlier?
May 2020 Commentary by Wayne Forrest Reading the press must be troubling for Indonesian leaders. Many accounts describe an out-of-control virus, compromised healthcare system, and an impotent government reaction. Typical is this comment by a Carnegie Endowment scholar: “The government’s disregard for data, reliance on military personnel for crisis management, and political score-settling steered it […]
A Stronger Response
Indonesia’s President, Joko Widodo, joined the ranks of statesmen around the world who have grudgingly sharpened their response to the COVID-19 threat. Although the confirmed cases are still below 2,000, Indonesia has now become fully engaged in an effort to mitigate the effects of the pandemic based on recent grim projections. Whereas for several months […]
Disruption
Disruption Commentary by Wayne Forrest A popular Indonesian cartoon that has emerged since the onset of the coronavirus (COV-19) shows a series of boxes filled with various symptoms (severe cough, joint pain, runny nose, stomach ache, fever, headache, etc.) with lines all connecting to one containing the cause: masuk angin. Literally meaning the wind […]
Salvage Job
by Wayne Forrest Building Indonesia’s new capital in East Kalimantan may turn out to be easier than preserving its current capital. However, the “capital” I mean is what has been invested in Indonesia’s state-owned insurance and pension system, not Jakarta, a city sinking due to ground water loss and climate change. Once again a major […]