DURING the Polish national day commemoration in Jakarta last week, "the old star" climbed towards the podium. In front of hundreds of guests-senior government officials, diplomats, academics, journalists and other professionals-the 66-year-old Lech Walesa gave a speech in a still-resonant voice.

Nine years ago at Gdansk-the historical city where Walesa led the Solidarnosc movement which brought down the communist hegemony in his country-Walesa met