Indonesia attracts attention because, lo and behold, it’s a front-runner when it comes to Asia’s expanding middle-class consumption.

People thought Indonesia was important when it exported oil, but that supply function is nothing compared to the global attraction created by this new demand function.

From WSJ story

So we are told that “booming jungle outposts” are what’s generating all the attention, leading most observers to name Indonesia as the third great coming of Asia’s new middle class, after China and India.

The look and feel is right out of the American West: booming coal town that’s tripled its population since 2000, with incomes rising rapidly. Samarinda doesn’t trip off the tongue like Deadwood, but we’re talking the same dynamics.

Packaged food spending in Indonesia–that ultimate in early indicators of a rising middle class–should outpace the growth rate in both India and China through 2011.

240m consumers, a stabilized economy, and a respected, democratically elected government that promotes global connectivity.

One very sexy package, all right.

Credit: thomaspmbarnett

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