‘Double-A Team’ inspires new hope for Indonesia

Government officials hope that international investors will look afresh at Indonesia. Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono’s government made history with its re-election. It is using a strong popular mandate to tackle corruption and bureaucratic shortcomings head-on. Eric Ellis reports from Jakarta.

Left to right: SBY (Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono), Agus Martowardojo and Darmin Nasution

Left to right: SBY (Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono), Agus Martowardojo and Darmin Nasution

AFTER 30 YEARS of kleptocratic dictatorship and a decade or so of wobbly democracy, Indonesia has no shortage of monuments to bad government, corruption and squandered foreign investment opportunities in a country whose 240 million population, third only to China and India in Asia, suggests it should be a regional champion. There’s the bane of any business visitor to Jakarta, the seaside tollway between downtown and a dated international airport that’s liable to disappear under a high tide.

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