Jakarta 2012

Have been traveling quite abit, and this is what I notice.

The Indonesians are getting richer whether you want to accept it or not. The middle-class is growing and getting more wealthy. This is not just confined to the business-centric Indonesian Chinese. You can see that there is a rising segment of liberal Muslims who are getting alot wealthier as well. This bodes well for the stability of the country given it's 90% dominance by Muslims in that country.

I could spend time digging out positive stats and data to prove this but I don't have to. All I need to use is my simple observation on the simple everyday goings-on in it's capital, Jakarta.

Everyone's using an iPad these days, the blackberry is obviously a given, the streets are alot safer to walk on, the taxi queues are getting alot longer, and everything is getting more expensive. Sure there are still the poor and slums abound, but they are getting less obvious to the frequent traveller,

What the Indonesians need to fix is their reputation for corruption, pollution and transport infrastruture. Already we are seeing alot of new regulations which are driving out the bucketshops, and there is finally an MRT line being built to ease the traffic congestion.

Assuming that they can keep doing what they're doing, Indonesia, using Jakarta as a proxy, will one day be a force to be reckoned with,

Perhaps it is finally time to start investing in Indonesia once more.