THE absence of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono as plaintiff in the defamation case hearing was predictable from the time he filed the lawsuit in August 2007. The court has now summoned the President to appear as a plaintiff. SBY will be asked to explain charges that he was married prior to being a cadet at the Indonesian Armed Forces Academy (Akabri). This is a private matter.

When House of Representatives Deputy Speaker Zaenal Ma’arif made