What Indonesia needs from the United States and the rest of the West is more "carrot" and less "stick." Devastated by an economic crisis not unlike the Great Depression, its principal requirement right now is leadership.
The endless lectures by foreigners from the International Monetary Fund and repeated World Bank threats about ending "crony capitalism" should be junked. Western embargoes should be undone, United Nations sanctions lifted and positive measures implemented. The world should give Indonesia a sweeping amnesty for its supposed transgressions and allow Jakarta a fresh start.
What is needed is no less than a revolution in the nation's institutions. At a conference last year, former U.S. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger asked in an aside, "Why is it that the U.S. is always left with the role of rebuilding, of picking up the pieces? Where are the Europeans, the Japanese?"