INDONESIA: First Fruits

Industrial nations, particularly the raw-material-starved Japanese, long hungered after Indonesia's largely untapped hoard of oil, copper, nickel and timber. But intense nationalism and chronic political upheaval kept foreigners out until volatile President Sukarno was overthrown in 1965. Since the new government began encouraging outside investment two years later, hundreds of companies from Japan, the U.S., Europe and the Philippines have poured $250 million into the archipelago, mostly for mining and logging, and have pledged to spend another $1.15 billion. On top of that, they are spending $150 million annually exploring offshore...

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