ON Heroes’ Day, November 10, a number of victims fell in Bandung regency. Instead of fighting with remnant colonizers, they had taken drugs to fight filariasis, a disease which can ultimately lead to elephantiasis. In fact, it was the day of mass prevention of filariasis—locally called kaki gajah after the resultant foot enlargement.

In Bandung regency in 2008 there were 15 districts with endemic filariasis, including Pameungpeuk, Banjaran,