SMILING broadly, Ngurah Gde Wididana raised his clenched right hand. Simultaneously, dozens of the Pioneer Party Executive Committee applauded. The noise nearly brought the house down. That Saturday, two weeks ago at a café in Denpasar, the man fondly called Pak Oles officially declared himself ready to join the party led by Rachmawati Sukarnoputri.

Wididana was fired from the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) for g