For months the sign of the banyan tree has been sprouting all over Indonesia. Planes dropped leaflets and kites that displayed the spreading tree. Be-tjak (three-wheeled ricksha) drivers wore polo shirts imprinted with it. Practically every civil servant in the sprawling archipelago nation sported a button emblazoned with the symbol. Radio and television stations frequently played a song extolling the tree, traditional symbol of security, as the place "to hail while expecting the blessings of God."
The message was clear: the blessings of God would come only if President Suharto and his regime remained in power. The tree is the...
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