Lessons to be learned from China.

(From The Jakarta Post)

Byline: B. Nicodemus, Brussels

"Get the knowledge, even from China". The question is, "What can we learn from China?". As China is becoming a major player in the world economy, the question can be slightly rephrased: "What does China teach in economy?"

One of my colleagues argues that Indonesia should learn a lot from China, from their economic textbooks if necessary. He might be right. Unlike other developing countries, such as Chile with its Chicago Boys or Indonesia with its Berkeley Mafia, we've never heard about some technocrat graduating from China and learning about its remarkable economic performance.

China is indeed a phenomenon. The dragon enjoyed economic growth at an average of 9 percent per year from 1980 to 2003. Income per capita increased three-fold during that time. In 2003, China was the world's fourth-largest exporter of merchandise and the …