Every three years, Indonesia’s education system goes through the ritual humiliation of the PISA tests, comparing the performance of 15 year-olds in 65 countries in reading, maths and science. Indonesia has more teachers per student than most much richer countries, and an amendment to the constitution guarantees that 20 percent of the national budget is spent on education. And yet the 2012 PISA results, released this week, show that Indonesia ranked at the bottom of the heap in maths and science, and did only marginally better in reading….

“Living in the moment” is all the rage, and Indonesians excel at it. But is it ok to forget the lessons of the past, or to ignore predictable threats in the future? With 22 out of Indonesian’s 22 tsunami warning buoys neglected into inaction, I wonder…