Indonesian politics feels like take your child to work day

The next generation: Puan Maharani (left) and Agus Harimurti Yudhoyono at an event in Senayan, Central Jakarta, in June. Agus is the son of former president Susilo and Puan Maharani comes from the politically powerful Soekarno clan. — The Jakarta Post/Asia News Network

MUCH has been written about Indonesia’s business oligarchy, an academic concept employed to explain the situation where a small cluster of elites controls most of the wealth in the country, so significant is the size of this wealth that members of this elite group can exercise significant control over the country’s politics.

It is almost a given for analysts, journalists and the average person to blame this cluster of oligarchs for the country’s economic and political predicament.