THE virus of debt is the same as the leptospirosis virus that hit Jakarta after the recent flooding. After being infected by this virus, people get headaches, fever and feel queasy. This is the way people at the Indonesian Bank Restructuring Agency (IBRA) feel—at least as far as headaches and fever are concerned—when dealing with the debts of small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).

Maybe because of this dizzy feeling, there