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Curriculum Indonesia's Economy

Indonesia's Economy

The world's largest archipelago economy: geography and diversity, the Suharto era, the 1997-98 crisis, democracy and decentralisation, palm oil, coal, the nickel downstreaming push, the new capital Nusantara, digital giants like GoTo, free school meals and lessons for India.

  1. An Economy of 17,000 Islands How Indonesia's geography of thousands of islands shapes its economy, from logistics costs to regional inequality, and why Java dominates. 📄 Read-aloud
  2. Suharto's New Order How Suharto's authoritarian "New Order" from 1966 to 1998 delivered rapid growth using technocrats, oil revenue and export factories, alongside corruption. 📄 Read-aloud
  3. The 1997-98 Crisis and Suharto's Fall How the Asian financial crisis hit Indonesia hardest, causing the rupiah to collapse, the economy to shrink by 13 percent and Suharto to resign. 📄 Read-aloud
  4. Democracy and Decentralisation How Indonesia's "big bang" decentralisation in 2001 shifted power and money to districts, and what it meant for services and corruption. 📄 Read-aloud
  5. Indonesia's Palm Oil Power How Indonesia became the world's largest palm oil producer, its importance to smallholders and India, and the 2022 export ban that shook global markets. 📄 Read-aloud
  6. Coal Exports and the Energy Transition How Indonesia became the world's largest thermal coal exporter, why its own power depends on coal, and the Just Energy Transition Partnership. 📄 Read-aloud
  7. Indonesia's Economy: Checkpoint 1 Quick checkpoint - five questions on Indonesia's geography, Suharto, the 1998 crisis, decentralisation and palm oil. 5 questions
  8. Downstreaming: Banning Raw Exports How Indonesia banned exports of raw nickel ore to force processing at home, how it attracted Chinese smelters, and the debate over this industrial policy. 📄 Read-aloud
  9. Nusantara: Building a New Capital Why Indonesia is moving its capital from sinking, congested Jakarta to Nusantara in Borneo, the costs, and doubts about the project. 📄 Read-aloud
  10. GoTo and Indonesia's Digital Economy How ride-hailing and e-commerce super apps like Gojek and Tokopedia grew into GoTo, how the digital economy boomed, and the 2023 TikTok Shop ban. 📄 Read-aloud
  11. Free Meals and Fiscal Rules How Indonesia's 2025 free nutritious meals programme aims to feed tens of millions of children, its huge costs, and Indonesia's 3 percent deficit rule. 📄 Read-aloud
  12. Indonesia and India How Indonesia and India trade coal and palm oil, cooperate in ASEAN and G20, and share challenges as large, young democracies. 📄 Read-aloud
  13. Lessons from Indonesia What Indonesia's experience teaches about resource management, crises, decentralisation and industrial policy, and a recap of the module. 📄 Read-aloud

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