THE 58-year-old man was welcomed like a kiai (Islamic cleric) Sunday last week by dozens of people who shook and kissed his hand upon his arrival at the stage on a dusty field across from the Sombo apartment houses, Simokerto, Surabaya. The man, Achmady, a gubernatorial candidate backed by the National Awakening Party (PKB), kicked off his first day of campaigning.

Prior to Achmady’s arrival, his campaigner had introduced him as an official ca