While it's all good news for Indonesia's security firms, the rising wave of expatriate jitters, has certainly not been good for the economy as a whole.
An estimated 1.3 million foreign tourists have cancelled planned trips to Indonesia in the wake of nationwide anti-US protests this month, losing the country about US$1.1 billion in unrealized income, and exports orders to the US market for Indonesian textiles and other products have dropped off this month.
Heightened security concerns, also adversely affect local investments and consumption, said James Castle, who heads the consultancy firm Castle Group and is the current chairman of the US Chamber of Commerce.
"Companies and individuals spend more money making their houses and places of work safe and less money on improving their business and consuming products that can be the lifeblood of local demand," Castle wrote in a recent article published in Business Times newspaper of Singapore.
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