A brief message was sent to Tempo last Tuesday evening. Members of Pertaminas board of directors were summoned to the official residence of SOEs Minister Sugiharto at 20:30. Tempo immediately cruised down to Jalan Widya Chandra III No. 11, in South Jakarta, arriving there at 20:45, to find dozens of cars neatly parked by the roadside.

The sudden meeting was to have been a secret. Up until that afternoon, the news circulating was that the plan to