ON a July day in 1996 all was quiet for the shady residence at Kebagusan IV Number 45 in South Jakarta. Then a ringing telephone broke the morning calm. An uneasy silence returned when the owner of the home, Megawati Sukarnoputri, took the call.

On the other end of the line Soesilo Muslim made a hurried report. This deputy commander of the pro-Megawati security detail said that the Jakarta office of the Indonesian Democratic Party (PDI, now PDI-P