You are right in the sense that they seem to have been ill...

You are right in the sense that they seem to have been ill prepared for doing business in Indonesia. However one has to realize that the project is now known to be worth quite a few dollars and that this person may not be acting only as a lobbyist.

It is also worth noting that the 13% is conditional and that local revolts with or without violence against foreign interests could always be arranged regardless of the legal context under which the operations were being carried out.

A few years ago an Aussie firm gained through a tender process ownership of a hotel in the Philippines. Not satisfied with having lost to the Aussies a local Filipino business man went to court and to the astonishment of every body the Judge ruled that the hotel in question was of heritage value and could not be owned by foreigners.

In a decent country this could not have happened because first, the issue would have been raised during the tender process and not after; and second, it would not have been feasible for a judge to declare a building as being of heritage value but for the administration to do so, which in this case did not. Judges are only there to review the decisions made by the competent authorities on appeal.