DOZENS of people were beating Salim, savagely, as his 13-year-old child looked on. They struck the 52-year-old man repeatedly, using sticks, wooden blocks and other objects. The child, Dio Eka Saputra, was running back and forth, shouting for help. None of his neighbors came to his father's aid.

Dio began to cry. A man turned to him and snarled, "You shut up or I'll kill you!" Dio told Tempo on Sunday last week.

That morning, his father had been gettin