Rano Karno, Banten deputy governor, dialed up Dedy 'Miing' Gumelar from Kerkrade, the Netherlands, last Tuesday. "The news media is rife with stories. Why didn't you tell me first?" Rano said, as quoted by Miing, a parliamentarian from the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P).

The media reports Rano was referring to detailed his intention to step down from his post. The stories took Rano by surprise. That was because the entire thing came