World Banker Assails Indonesia’s Corruption

Of the “Asian tiger” nations, Indonesia has been the slowest to recover from the financial crisis of the 1990’s. Mark Baird, the World Bank’s chief representative in Indonesia, argues that this is in large part because of pervasive corruption present in the Indonesian government, which deters foreign firms from investing in the nation. While expressing his belief that it will take years before the Indonesian government can rid itself of this corruption, he also suggests five areas in which the government can make improvements: better tax collection; more balanced labor regulation; a curb on excesses in a decentralization policy; sale of more state-owned enterprises; and greater investment in infrastructure. – YaleGlobal