THE dispute has arisen from heaps of scrap iron that almost escaped notice. Unlike gold, it’s not the carats but the total weight that is the allure. The rusting metal parts are scattered over various sugarcane plantations from West Java, Central Java, to East Java. They take the form of freight-car rails, sleepers, freight-car wheels and also bridge frames.

According to the plaintiff acting for the heirs of the Wl. Gerald Tugo Faber family, w