BEFORE she became a doctor, Health Minister Siti Fadilah Supari had wanted to be an engineer. Perhaps because of her rather ‘tomboy’ characteristics, Siti imagined the world from a technical prism, a masculine world that awed her.

Born and raised in Solo, Central Java, 57 years ago, Siti recalled playing along the railroad tracks that crossed the Bengawan Solo River. She would go across the rails, waiting for a train to approach, then run to