TWO young men stood near the entrance to Taman Ismail Marzuki, Jakarta, on Monday, June 27, 1977. They were wearing white T-shirts with a picture of Jakarta Governor Ali Sadikin with the caption “He is the Best, We Choose the Best Leader.” The phrase was taken from “Why Not the Best?” the slogan used by Jimmy Carter during his campaign in the 1976 United States presidential election.

The two young men were Dipo Alam and B