EVERYTHING was set for the counting of votes: the ballot boxes, the white board, and the felt pen with which to write the yay, nay, and abstain votes in the respective columns for them on the board. That Thursday night last week, 54 members of the House of Representative (DPR) were preparing to decide on the appointment of Darwin Nasution as the new Governor of Bank Indonesia, the country’s central bank.

The meeting opened at 9:30am, not with