Ever hear of a government plan to empower the country's uninhabited islands by leasing them out to investors for development? The idea, broached in 1999 by then Exploration & Fisheries Minister, Sarwono Kusumaatmadja, triggered a controversy. Was it because the idea was not well socialized or was it a premature idea, given that Indonesians were still preoccupied with reformasi? The idea seemed to have disappeared into thin air.

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