THE house, showing its age by the peeling paint on its walls, is normally used as a soya milk plant. It is located at Sayangan Kulon village, where batik traders live, near Solo, Central Java. It’s not a very big house, about 40 square meters in size, divided into two main areas. On some parts of its walls, fungus seems to have taken hold.

But on Tuesday afternoon last week, the house became instantly famous. Journalists surrounded it. The