JAKARTA On the morning of Jan. 21, a bright-red excavator dug its claws into a patch of earth on the western outskirts of Bandung as Indonesia's president, Joko Widodo, looked on with a smile. He was witnessing the birth of the nation's first high-speed railway, which will connect the mountainous city to Jakarta.
Another president -- of a company, not a country -- was also in attendance. Bintang Perbowo, head of state-owned contractor Wijaya Karya, or Wika, may have been watching things unfold with a little more anxiety than the politician. After all, his career may hinge on the project.
