Indonesia performs the miracle. What awaits Sudan? ✍️ Police Human Rights Team – Mahmoud Qesm Al-Sayed
While the world today talks about the “Asian century”, Indonesia is no longer on the sidelines, but has become one of its major pillars. This vast country, spanning more than seventeen thousand islands, was seen for decades as a nation mired in corruption and divisions, but in just two decades it has transformed into a rising economic power within the Group of Twenty (G20) and the largest digital economy in Southeast Asia.
This miracle was not born out of nowhere or in palaces, but rather from remote villages transformed into production factories and local decision-making circles. Development in Indonesia began from the bottom, from the simple man who regained the right to shape his destiny, and not from the top of the administrative pyramid.
From stifling centralization to conscious decentralization
After the fall of the Suharto regime in 1998, Jakarta realized that the path to reform was not through slogans but rather through the transfer of power and resources to the people. The Villages Act was enacted in 2014, providing for approximately 10% of the national budget to be deposited directly into village accounts.
Since then, more than 600,000 billion rupees have flowed into villages, more than 260,000 kilometers of rural roads have been built and the number of poor people has fallen by millions.
Villages became centers of decision-making and development, and development became “organic” and not “cosmetic”. Born from a local need, not imposed by capital.
So the Renaissance began from fields not towers, and from clay not marble.
A network economy… without a center
Indonesia has adopted the networked and non-centralized economy model, assigning each island its function:
Java: Manufacturing and Technology Center
Sumatra: Agriculture and energy
Kalimantan: mining
Sulawesi: Strategic Minerals
Bali: tourism and digital services
These islands were connected to modern transportation networks and ports, which created what resembled an internal supply chain, reduced dependence on the outside, and generated a balance of development that distributed wealth instead of hoarding it.
Absence of dependence… and independence in decision-making
After the harsh experience with the IMF in the 1990s, Indonesia understood that independence is not only measured by political sovereignty, but also by the ability to make economic decisions.
It stopped exporting raw nickel in 2020 and forced foreign companies to establish factories on its territory. Revenues increased and equal partnerships were established with China, South Korea and Europe.
Jakarta has adopted the philosophy of “effective independence”: being the friend of all and the disciple of none. It has succeeded in becoming a neutral strategic axis between the great powers, without losing its development compass.
Human first
Indonesia is not only betting on infrastructure, but on human capital.
He created technical universities and training centers in all regions and launched the “1,000 national engineers per year” program in partnership with the private sector.
True renaissance – as Jakarta believes – is not created by machines, but by the minds that manage them.
Sudan..lessons learned
Today’s Sudan, with its geographic and demographic diversity, has more capabilities than Indonesia had at the start of its renaissance.
But the difference lies in the absence of an integrated vision and in the persistence of the old centralization which stifles parties and wastes energies.
Sudan can benefit from the Indonesian experience through five pillars:
1. True developmental decentralization
There is no development without local accountability.
Localities and villages must be transformed into directly financed decision-making centers and held accountable for their performance and not their loyalty.
2. Diversify the economy
The dependence on gold and primary commodity exports is similar to that of Indonesia before reform. The solution is to create integrated production chains: mining + manufacturing + export.
3. Invest in people
Education must be linked to local development: vocational institutes, technical colleges and training initiatives funded by both the state and the private sector.
4. Fight against institutional corruption
Indonesians succeeded when they made transparency a national culture and not slogans.
The creation of an independent integrity and transparency body with real powers is a necessary step.
5. Independence in economic decision-making
Sudan must free itself from the mentality of “donors and financiers” and turn towards the mentality of partners and investors.
He who does not have his economic decision does not have his political decision.
conclusion
Indonesia has taught us that renaissance is not achieved through natural resources, but through trust between the state and the citizen, and that real development begins in the village, not the capital.
It also taught us that poverty is not inevitable, but rather the result of poor management and a lack of vision.
Will Sudan learn its lesson and turn its villages into bridges to progress and its diversity into bridges of trust, not walls of division?
The road is long, but it is not impossible if there is will, management and vision.
God is the Giver of success
