ONE element of the New Order that was used effectively to muzzle democratic aspirations was the culture of sinyalemen or assumption. The word sinyalemen comes from the word sinyal, which means sign. In the verb form, it can also mean 'to assume' or to 'conclude.'

The compilers of the 2002 version of the Indonesian Dictionary were smart when they provided a sentence to give an example for the usage of the verb 'mensinyalmen': "The intelligence officer fel