Thick mist covers Puncak in Bogor, West Java, the mountain retreat area where richer Jakartans get away from it all at weekends. Occasionally, the air thickens and thin rain starts to fall, which then becomes hard rain. The hard rain that fell every morning last week was very bad news for Nandang Hidayat, 62. He looked out miserably from his carrot and tomato patches.

The little market garden is located just 300 meters from the bank of the Cili