IT was cold in Canberra, the thermometer indicating a low temperature on the Celsius scale. Indonesian Ambassador Teuku Mohammad Hamzah Thayeb was home at his official residence, only a three-minute trip from his office on Darwin Avenue, Yarralumla.

That night, on Thursday two weeks ago, the phone suddenly rang. Hamzah Thayeb was startled by the news from Jakarta. The caller was his boss, Foreign Affairs Minister Hassan Wirajuda. He had been summo