WHEN he was appointed by his boss to lead research on creating a brake canvas from sugarcane pulp, Agus Suhardjono reacted in a typical Surabayan native (bondo nekat) manner. The employee of Sugar Factory Rajawali II Cirebon, West Java, was not even familiar with the technology. Well, I am a bonek, my strength is in my conviction that I can, he told Tempo laughingly, last week.

It was the beginning of 2004, three years after PT Graha Artha Citra,