Wearing a brown plaid shirt and black shorts, Indonesia's Coordinating Minister for the Economy, Rizal Ramli, appears bright-eyed. During his breakfast—eggs, chili sauce, fruit and other side dishes—he doesn't look like someone who is burdened with a heavy task: the 'mission impossible' of straightening out the nation's economy, and that is currently in its death throws. "I get bored if I always act serious," he says quite seriously.

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