Thousands of people gathered around Golkar's offices in Surabaya that day, its two-story form vaguely reminiscent of a Javanese mansion. They came from cities all over East Java. Yelling "abolish Golkar", some pushed forward in a bid to get inside. Hundreds of police and soldiers tried to prevent them. A group of young kids, armed with sickles, refused to back off. "Go on, shoot me, shoot," they cried.

But the security forces did not. Seizing the opp