Two decades ago, the Asian financial crisis revealed Indonesia to be the weakest link. While the trouble started in Thailand, it was the collapse of Jakarta's financial system that generated full-blown contagion.
Indonesia experienced another reckoning in 2013 as the Federal Reserve's "taper tantrum" savaged emerging markets. Again, its frailties surged to the surface, unnerving neighbors. Fast-forward five years and President Joko Widodo's economy is back on the brink. And, once again, it could be a chaos transmission mechanism at the heart of the globe's most dynamic region.
