Monday, July 23, 2001. A ray of hope was beaming from the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) building at Senayan, Jakarta. Tired of all the political rows between the House of Representatives (DPR) and President Abdurrahman Wahid, the population happily welcomed Megawati Sukarnoputri, who was inaugurated as Indonesia's fifth president. The nation's optimism, almost gone with the protracted crisis, was promptly revived.

The emergence of Megaw