ACCORDING to the Indonesian dictionary, the word "broker" can mean a business intermediary or a person who buys and sells shares on behalf of someone else in return for commission. It is a member of this profession that is now being used to settle a case that could make Indonesia poor: the Karaha Bodas case.

It seems as if several parties involved in the geothermal power plant project—Pertamina (the state oil & gas company), PLN (t