Indonesia, Etc Quotes

“We, the people of Indonesia, hereby declare the independence of Indonesia. Matters relating to the transfer of power etc. will be executed carefully and as soon as possible.’ Indonesia has been working on that ‘etc.’ ever since.”
― Elizabeth Pisani, Indonesia, Etc.: Exploring the Improbable Nation

“All you have to do to make money in Indonesia is to figure out what no one else is doing,' Ade said. It made me think of how often I had noticed copy-cat businesses in smaller Indonesian towns. I was caught out by it early on. In Waikabubak, for example, every third shop prints photos. Even the little tailor opposite the market has a sideline in photo printing. This made me lazy; having promised to print photos and send them to people before I left Waikabubak, I thought: I'll do it in the next town I go to. But the next town is all pharmacies- there's not a single photo printer. Here it's wall-to-wall perfume sellers, there it's all hair salons... 'People see a business doing well, and they just copy it,' said Ade. 'The concept of market saturation is not well understood.”
― Elizabeth Pisani, Indonesia, Etc.: Exploring the Improbable Nation

“There’s no doubt that Indonesia’s infrastructure is in a parlous state. It’s the largest country in the world to consist entirely of islands, yet the World Economic Forum ranked it 104 out of 139 countries for its port infrastructure; even landlocked countries such as Zimbabwe, Switzerland and Botswana reported better access to ports. It did nearly as badly on roads, air transport and electricity.*”
― Elizabeth Pisani, Indonesia Etc.: Exploring the Improbable Nation

“More dizzying in its diversity, but also bound more tightly together in ways that I had not expected, it is a nation quite different from the one I thought I knew.”
― Elizabeth Pisani, Indonesia, Etc.: Exploring the Improbable Nation

“Indonesia is forever curdling the expectations.”
― Elizabeth Pisani, Indonesia, Etc.: Exploring the Improbable Nation

“Jakarta has no mass transit system to speak of, so traffic jams are legendary... Each year, another 200,000 cars pour onto the streets. That means more traffic, and longer commutes. The chauffeur-driven rich kit their cars out with mobile offices so that they can use the time they spend on gridlocked roads more productively. A few years ago, the city government decided it would cut congestion on the city's main arteries by insisting that in rush hour, each car must have at least three passengers. Again, Jakarta's infinitely creative residents made the most of the change. Within days, the pavements of the feeder roads were crowded with unemployed people hiring themselves out as 'jockeys', extra passengers for rich people's smooth, air-conditioned cars.”
― Elizabeth Pisani, Indonesia, Etc.: Exploring the Improbable Nation

“When the country’s founding fathers declared independence from Dutch colonists in 1945, the declaration read, in its entirety: ‘We, the people of Indonesia, hereby declare the independence of Indonesia. Matters relating to the transfer of power etc. will be executed carefully and as soon as possible.’ Indonesia has been working on that ‘etc.’ ever since.”
― Elizabeth Pisani, Indonesia Etc.: Exploring the Improbable Nation