The Silver Lining of Indonesia’s Big Economic Miss

By his own standards, Joko Widodo has fallen well short of a major economic goal during his decade leading Indonesia. Growth has been laudable in a neighborhood where the pace of expansion is undergoing a long-term slowdown, but nowhere close to the outgoing president's lofty ambitions. That's a pity, because part of Jokowi's attraction as a candidate in 2014 was his image as a self-made businessman, an outsider who could nudge the country toward achieving its much-promoted potential.

This is a failure that comes with some important caveats. Business notched some important wins under the stewardship of Jokowi, whose successor will be elected Wednesday. Landmark legislation reduced red tape in some key areas and lowered barriers to hiring and firing. A tax amnesty unearthed more than $300 billion in hidden assets. Infrastructure, long a demerit for Indonesia, is slowly improving — or getting less bad. (Everyone still nurses their favorite horror stories of Jakarta traffic.) The rupiah has held up relatively well against the strong dollar.