LAST week, throngs of residents from Kowalu Village in Bululawang district, Malang, held up banners calling for an end to the Pohonmas plague. "Free our area from the Pohonmas virus," one banner read, from the Santri Forum for Anti-Credit (Forsar). The demonstrators were not demanding medical treatment, but rather calling for action to be taken against pyramid schemes.

One such scheme involved PT Pohonmas Mapan Sentosa, a credit loaning com