HE dreamt of being a soldier. Graduating from Public High School 1 in Magelang in 1985, he applied to the Indonesian Military Academy. But he failed to pass the tests. The man, Sarwo Edi Nugroho, 40 years of age today, then changed direction and entered the Mathematics Faculty of the Semarang Teachers College (IKIP).

Ironically, it was at IKIP that his ‘soldiering instincts’ came to the fore. Once in the campus, he joined the Islamic State o