THE Coordinating Minister for the Economy, Hatta Rajasa, arrived out of breath at the Presidential Palace, on Thursday last week. Half running, the 57-year-old minister entered President Yudhoyono’s meeting hall, about three-quarters of an hour late. That morning the President was to receive the Speaker of the People’s Consultative Assembly (MPR), Taufiq Kiemas.

Taufiq had arrived 45 minutes early, intending to invite the President to open t