ONE day not long ago, at the Kampung Rambutan bus terminal in Jakarta, a group of people dragged off five men suspected as thieves and subjected them to a vicious beating and kicking. But that was not enough for the angry mob. As they lay insensible on the ground, gasoline was poured on their bodies and set alight. They were soon dead in the sickening conflagration that resulted.

What actually prompts apparently normal people to