Indonesia’s president has a new rival

ANIES BASWEDAN was spoiling for a fight. Indonesia’s first case of covid-19 had been confirmed on March 2nd, and for weeks the governor of Jakarta, the capital, had been imploring the central government to act. Yet the government dithered as the virus made inroads, first through Jakarta, then throughout the country. Finally, on March 31st, the president declared a national emergency. Even then, local authorities were told to ask permission before instituting lockdowns—a process festooned in red tape. Mr Anies trumpeted his scorn. “[It’s] as if we are proposing a project that needed a feasibility study,” he told the Jakarta Post. “Can’t the [health] ministry see that we are facing a rising death toll? Is it not enough?”