Indonesian/Asian Financial Crisis Forged Reform.

[Vanhelsing]

For Fuad Bawazier, the financial crisis that moved like a wrecking ball through the Indonesian economy two decades ago remains a source of deep regret.

As finance minister in the dying days of Suharto’s dictatorship, Bawazier said he tried to warn the president against accepting a bailout of more than $40 billion put together by the International Monetary Fund because of the strict austerity conditions linked to it.

Today, the Southeast Asian nation stands in stark contrast to what it was 20 years ago: It’s now a vibrant democracy with a more resilient economy, near-record foreign-currency reserves and investors lining up to tap a growing and youthful population. It has Southeast Asia’s largest economy that’s posted annual average growth of more than 5 percent in the past five years.

Yet Indonesia remains a very inward-looking nation that doesn’t live up to its potential as the world’s fourth-most populous nation and 10th largest economy. O’Rourke said that’s because of a three-way struggle that exists between a patronage system that entrenches the influence of political elites, religious and ethnic tension in politics and reform-minded officials, who want to get the economy onto its next stage of development.

Full article.https://www.bloomberg.com/news/arti...rippled-indonesia-also-forged-economic-reform