Unspun apologizes for lack of postings lately because for the last week he’s been on a work-holiday visit to Chiang Mai and Bangkok. Chiang Mai was hot and hazy from the forest fires that have been prevalent in the area. Bagkok was also hot but very vibrant in spite of a dysfunctional new airport and military junta trying to do a better job than Thaksin.
One of the things Unspun does in any country he visits is to check out the supermarkets on some notion that it gives a good reflection of how the middle class lives. Thailand is a particularly interesting example for those of us living in Indonesia. Like Indonesia, Thailand has had its share of military rule and its transition into a democracy. Corruption is a problem. It also has large cities and a huge rural population. And unlike Malaysia or Singapore, which are small countries with small populations, and hence is easy to govern and control, Thailand has a population of nearly 65 million people. So there are more similarities between Thailand and Indonesia than the rest of Southeast Asia.
But go down the supermarket aisles and the impression that sticks with you is this: the Thai middle class is living and eating better and much cheaper than their counterparts in Indonesia. The supermarket shelves are so chocabloc full of variety that you are left wondering how a country with a population of less than a third of Indonesia’s can pull it off. And except for imported stuff, the products are all much cheaper than in Indonesia.
Going out of the supermarkets and onto the streets you notice that Bangkok is a mess but it is still much claener and better maintained than Jakarta. The infrastructure is also much better. Things work, the roads are not full of potholes or bumps and cracks that makes for a distinctive Jakarta ride.
Unspun then starts to wonder, as a thought experiment, how an Indonesian political leader such as SBY would feel like when they visit Thailand. Unspun would certainly hang his head in shame at seeing how the Thais have been able to make such progress, in spire of their corruption and political problems, compared to Indonesia.
Unspun‘s traveling partner, an Indonesian, says therein lies the problem. All the political leaders in Indonesia are so focused on how they can line their own pockets for the short run that nobody focuses on the long term good of society.
Unspun thinks this is a bit harsh, as there must be at least a few Indonesian political leaders who would be shamed by its neighbor to do something for the common good. But Unspun is at a loss to explain the huge discrepancy between Thailand and Indonesia. Any economists out there who are able to shed some light on this, as well as to tell us if there is such a things as a supermarket aisle index to poverty/affluence?
Unspun 
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