IN February of this year, Siswanto arrived in Jakarta full of hope. He had been entrusted with presenting a disaster funding proposal from the Regency of Purbalingga, Central Java. This was worth a total of Rp11.4 billion. I was given the job of presenting the proposal by the regent, he said last week.

Siswanto is head of the Sub-Section for Social Infrastructure at the Purbalingga Regional Development Planning Board. He had been given the job of