in the title refers to the somewhat vague 1945 declaration of independence from Dutch colonialists: ‘We, the people of Indonesia, hereby declare the independence of Indonesia. (And for those who attended Mari Pangestu’s recent address at our centre, if you are seeking anecdotes to back up her points on the need to engage local actors and recruit local champions to drive policy reform, this book has plenty.) As an ex-journalist myself whose own interest in development was in part sparked by seeing the contrast between life in Jakarta and the other parts of Indonesia I saw in my travels, I very much enjoyed Pisani’s take.