FROM the Department of Finance office in Central Jakarta, Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati rushed off to Tanjung Priok Port on Thursday morning last week. Apparently, the flood of reports in the mass media about the discovery of illegal gas cylinders motivated her to pay a sudden visit to the Customs & Excise Office at Tanjung Priok.

What the officials had found was quite surprising. Lined up were 30 or so containers filled with gas cylin