Distracted by bikinis

Indonesians are taking to the streets to demand the government heed their complaints. Are they livid about corruption? No. Fed up with poverty? Not really. Angry over political gridlock? Not so much. It's those damn bikinis.

In recent days, the nation with the world's largest Muslim population has been consumed by protests against the Miss World pageant finale next Saturday, originally scheduled to be held near Jakarta. Muslim groups have threatened violent attacks. The government has moved the event to Bali - the Hindu-majority island popular with Westerners - and increased security.

This column is not a defence of beauty contests. My question is, why the misplaced anger? Where is the outrage over obscene levels of graft, which eats up national wealth and forces 115 million Indonesians to live on less than US$2 a day? Where are the placards condemning policies that have made the rupiah Asia's most pathetic currency? Why don't we hear chants for accountability from leaders?

It's great that Indonesians are worked up, but their ire would be more constructive if it were focused on the right target. And investors know the trouble.

The risk of Southeast Asia's biggest economy going into free fall, as it did in 1997, is small. Its banks are much healthier. The government is far more transparent, and the central bank is sitting on US$93 billion of currency reserves. That is more than twice the size of the International Monetary Fund-led bailout Indonesia received 16 years ago. Also, short-term foreign-currency debt levels are manageable.

The political stability that President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has established since 2004 has won investment-grade ratings from Fitch Ratings and Moody's Investors Service.