[image: Profile photo for Douglas Cole] <https://www.quora.com/profile/Douglas-Cole-20> Douglas Cole <https://www.quora.com/profile/Douglas-Cole-20> · Follow Former Journalist, Lived in Indonesia, Travelled AsiaFeb 20 <https://www.quora.com/A-Vietnamese-economist-based-in-Hong-Kong-said-Indonesia-has-a-long-way-to-go-in-improving-road-and-rail-transportation-How-do-Indonesians-feel-about-this/answer/Douglas-Cole-20> A Vietnamese economist based in Hong Kong said Indonesia has a long way to go in improving road and rail transportation. How do Indonesians feel about this? <https://www.quora.com/A-Vietnamese-economist-based-in-Hong-Kong-said-Indonesia-has-a-long-way-to-go-in-improving-road-and-rail-transportation-How-do-Indonesians-feel-about-this>
I am not quite an Indonesian - rather I am an Aussie with Indonesian family and friends who has lived in Indonesia for nearly two decades and explored and inquired widely. I feel this qualifies me to answer. First the Vietnamese economist is absolutely right. But that isn’t saying anything that the Indonesian government, business and most citizens are not already well aware of. That’s why Indonesia has embarked on a massive infrastructure program in recent years, including major road and rail projects. Section of the trans-Java tollway system Section of 2,800km trans-Sumatra tollway system due for completion in 2024 The major rail projects include a high-speed train link between Jakarta and Bandung in a Chinese-Indonesian partnership. It is due for completion by the end of this year (2022). Other rail projects include urban rapid transport systems (particularly Jakarta) and a plethora of rail systems to link major city CBDs to new and expanded airports. More new rail has also been built in regions like Sulawesi to service mining and freight operations and the rail system in Sumatra is being extended. Ballast-free track laying for the Jakarta to Bandung high-speed train link But the questions raised by all of the above are how come all this is just happening now? And how come there remains so much to be done? Well, if you take a few moments to think about it you will probably realize that an archipelago country of 17,000 plus islands faces some difficult challenges when it comes to road and rail networks. Roads, railway lines and seas do not go well together. And Indonesia’s islands extend over more than 5,000km and are bordered by two oceans and no less than 15 seas! That’s one of the reasons why Indonesia has prioritized and worked so hard at developing extensive and sophisticated maritime and air transport networks. The expansion and upgrading of both over the past two decades has been nothing short of amazing. Batam Centre International Ferry Terminal - one of six Batam terminals. Kualanamu International Airport in Medan, North Sumatra Modernistic departure lounge at new Yogyakarta International airport A second reason for infrastructure deficiencies in Indonesia has to do with its emergence as a relatively new nation, It is barely 73 years since the Dutch departed and just two decades since the Reformasi and transition from dictatorship to decentralized democracy. The transformation over those 20 plus years as been staggering. I am contributing this answer in part in response to an earlier answer by Rand. I probably would have simply commented, but comments were turned off. While I do not like to criticize I probably would have used the pompous term ‘balderdash’ to respond to his or her answer. But whatever term I used would have meant rubbish - pure and unadulterated. In case you missed it here is Rand’s offering - “ Indonesian people always think they are top of ASEAN in term of….everything. Especially they always boast about their population and GDP compared to neighbors of ASEAN and used that as a ground to back up their claim. The fact tells different story…One more thing, look at ISRAEL, its population is only a bit above 9 millions but its GDP is way above Indonesia and also its influences upon the world theater. Indonesia had been no war at all but it couldn’t excel. I feel bad for them, especially facing China actions of South China Sea…When one never admits it is not improved, it never excels.” The fact is that in many respects Indonesia IS at the top of ASEAN. And as I have written elsewhere, on the whole, Indonesian people have every right to be proud of their achievements despite often difficult challenges and circumstances. And as for those so-called facts - sorry Rand WRONG again, bigtime. In terms of GDP, on a nominal US$ basis Indonesia ranks at 16th in the world and Israel at 30th, which is as you would expect taking into account population, size, resources etc. When adjusted for exchange rate distortion and using the purchasing power parity measure preferred by economists, Indonesia’s GDP jumps to $3.5 trillion for a ranking of 7th. Israel slips to 50th just ahead of Iraq and Peru. But, again as you would expect, Israel shines if you look at GDP per capita on a purchasing power parity basis with just over $42,500 for 46th ranking. Indonesia still has quite a way to go with $12,880 and and a ranking of 132nd. This compares with China’s $19,000 and a 100th ranking. These figures are variously for 2020 and 2019 and based on IMF stats. You can readily check them on Wikipedia. All-in-all it is a pretty dammed silly argument and I would not have bothered except that I hate seeing misinformation being loosely thrown around as facts and allowed to stand. Especially when a few minutes of checking will reveal they are BS. Could that be why the comments are turned off? -- Anda menerima pesan ini karena Anda berlangganan grup "GELORA45" dari Google Grup. Untuk berhenti berlangganan dan berhenti menerima email dari grup ini, kirim email ke [email protected]. Untuk melihat diskusi ini di web, kunjungi https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/gelora1945/CAGjSX2Ag2PMXOXtniY4efLt1c2qSbVvnaHm%2Be9Yfc330DFH4MA%40mail.gmail.com.
