THE storm created by the 1997/1998 economic crisis devastated the economies of almost every country in Asia. Banks were ruined, thousands of companies collapsed, and millions lost their sources of income.

There was no choice for Indonesia but to forego economic sovereignty and become a patient of the IMF. The people paid dearly to cover the costs of recovery. Hundreds of trillions of rupiah were squeezed out of the public to cover the capital g