g'day Chip & all [and Lee, thank you for pointing me to this thread,] Chip, you sez "With it's ethnic, religious and cultural diversities....they have had a fairly tolerant society." I am curious to know more about this comment [and certainly hope so.] I don't know much about that country except for some very basics. However, one thing has stood out as the indonesian drama unfolded since last year. Some siblings of mine went to Indonesia on vacation 4 or 5 years ago. So happened that the tour guide [who also owned the co] was ethnic chinese. Anyway, he and my siblings hit it off and so he told them that he was making good money [Indonesia then was booming;] however, he could still remember the dark hours back in the late 60s [or early 70s;] therefore, he has been keeping some of his assets on the safe haven of Singapore. Also, he had a one way ticket validated at all time. To spell this out, basically, when things turned ugly, he was willing to abandon his business, his house etc and get out of Indonesia with his family. Sad to say, it seems that he wasn't that paranoid afterall as the world witnessed the riots and mayhem a few weeks ago.
As I ve said, I don't know much about this country, so this story may very well be an isolated case. Regardless, I certainly hope IMF is able to help Indoesia to become a more enlightened and prosperous country
Best, Bosco |
