IN the space of two weeks Muhamad Geng Wahyudi must repeat a bitter decision. At the beginning of the Year of the Rat he has no choice but to terminate 91 employees. The Ageng Jaya cigarette factory which he owns in Pakisaji, Malang, can no longer afford to pay their salaries. Chokingly he has to say a second farewell to the desolate faces before him. The number of his workers continues to decrease, from 216 to merely 88.

The successive cuts follo