THE 48-year-old Soekarwo beamed from ear to ear. He held his wife, Nina Kirana, with his left hand, while his right hand was busy waving to the crowd. “Thank you, all of you,” he said with a cheerful face. The crowd that had assembled at his campaign team’s command center on Jalan Comal 17, Surabaya, triumphantly yelled his nickname, “Pak De! Pak De!”

Tuesday last week, the East Java Regional General Elections Commission declared Soeka