LAST Monday morning dozens of unknown people arrived together and began shouting in the grounds of the regent's office on Morotai Island in the North Maluku. They burnt old tires of various sizes in the compound, which had just been used for the office staff's morning roll call.

Rather than leaving the grounds, the regency's staff, whose roll call had just been completed, instead opted to join the unruly mob. What they did then was no less extreme.