Rice and the Elementary Politics of a Nation

The entire political-economic history of Indonesia has given a strong message that the politics of economic development in Indonesia from then on, now and in the future must be based on food self-sufficiency.

The discussion over one million tons of rice imports has reminded me of two articles I wrote for Kompas several decades ago.

The first article, published on November 30, 1978, was Menjadikan Desa sebagai Guru Orang Kota [making the villages teacher for urbanites]. The article received recognition from the Association of Agricultural Economics Scholars (Perhepi) under the leadership of Prof. Mubyarto (1938-2005).