The State That Didn't Fail

Marc Herman finds hope in Indonesia:

During the years the United States has been fighting wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, a third country accused of hosting terrorists, which was Indonesia, transformed itself into a democracy. It transformed itself into the kind of democracy the US was failing to build elsewhere by force. Today the chain of islands stretching from Thailand to the South Pacific is one of the world’s largest free countries. Only the United States and India have more voters (or citizens). It is also the country with the greatest Muslim population in the world. In 2004 it held the largest election in modern history and elected a President by direct vote after thirty years of dictatorship. [Two days ago], they held the second direct election since the dictatorship’s end, and it was so peaceful, it barely made the news outside Southeast Asia.