Indonesia: Operating on a Giant

These are the hot and sticky days in Djakarta. From countless roadside stands, spicy odors of cooking food mingle with the smell of the clove-scented cigarettes so favored in Indonesia. Skeletons of unfinished skyscrapers still stand as bleak monuments to the grandiose dreams of the Sukarno era; three-wheeled betjak rickshas duel with decrepit cars on the capital's crowded streets, just as they have for years. But despite the outward resemblances to the bad old days, change is coming to Indonesia. In sharp contrast to the early '60s, that change is for the better.

Given the near-total economic chaos left behind...

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