SOMEWHERE in Jakarta in mid-December, a meeting took place between Muhaimin Iskandar and Muhammad Lutfi. The former, the general chairman of the National Awakening Party (PKB), and the latter, the Indonesian Ambassador to the United States, talked about a new government position for Lutfi.

PKB Chairman Faisol Reza, who attended this meeting, said that Muhaimin told Lutfi that he was a candidate for minister of trade. The position had previously