ONE afternoon, mid-October last year, a number of guests paid a visit to the Pawarta (Yogyakarta Civil Network Society) room at the Yogyakarta local government office. They were not there to identify themselves individually; rather, they were there together as victims of the earthquake from the village of Borontokusuman in Margangsan regency, Yogyakarta. “We want to file a complaint,” they said.

A journalist who happened to be present at th