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Muhammad Nazaruddin’s mysterious return to Indonesia and his bout of willful amnesia last week got me thinking about questions that have no answers.

In that context, the wealthy young Democratic Party politician did nothing surprising. While some may have expected a flood of revelations that would finally get to the bottom of corruption in government, it is far more likely that Nazaruddin’s media-fueled charges against the Democratic Party will stay in the twilight of speculation.

Even without his incredibly odd open letter to the president, in which he offered to stay silent as long as his family remained safe, it seemed unlikely that Nazaruddin’s tantalizing narrative would ever be fleshed out.

Leaving aside the Southeast Asian Games scandal touching major figures in the Democratic Party, there are just too many other questions surrounding Nazaruddin to realistically hope for resolution.

Who tipped him off ahead of the immigration hold order? Was his Colombia arrest really a surprise? Was Nazaruddin’s wife with him when he was arrested? Why was it reported that she was on the private plane that took him home when she wasn’t on the plane? Or was she?

Who was on that chartered executive jet? The Gulfstream G550 has a range of about 12,000 kilometers. It is about 20,000 kilometers to Jakarta from Bogota, a flight that should take about 26 hours. Why did it take 36 hours to reach Jakarta? Why did Nazaruddin not have a lawyer with him on the plane? What went on during that flight and the many unexplained stopovers?

Does Nazaruddin have real evidence of wrongdoing that he can document? How high does it go? Is he choosing to remain silent because he feels threatened or is it a tactic? Why did he make such charges in the first place, knowing the potential risk to his family? Was there an earlier deal for his silence that went wrong, leading to his capture?

And what about the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK)? Did two commissioners try to cut a deal with Nazaruddin, as he implied in one of his broadsides delivered from the road? Was that a double cross or evidence of rot inside the KPK? Can the KPK unravel the Nazaruddin affair or is the commission itself now likely to sink?

Let’s not stop here. As Democratic Party treasurer, might Nazaruddin be connected to the attempt to frame two KPK commissioners in 2009? Did that have something to do with the General Elections Commission (KPU) and rumored irregularities in the 2009 elections? Former KPK chairman and current convict Antasari Azhar has said he was framed for murder because he was going to investigate the KPU. Is that true? Will he get a judicial review of his conviction now that irregularities in the trial have finally come to light? Susno Duadji, another current convict and the former chief of detectives of the National Police, alleged that higher-ups, whom he would name later, were behind case-broker scandals involving tax officials. Is that also part of this? Will we ever know?

And what of headline fugitive turned convict Gayus Tambunan? He was supposedly going to name 140 companies who benefited from his tax-office favors. How many have been named in court? Then there is Bank Century. Who really benefited from the 2008 bailout and where did the money go? Is that connected to Nazaruddin, the KPU and the Democrats?

It’s dizzying to ponder the many questions that will likely go unanswered.

But unlike the days when the bloody aftermath of the 1965 coup would be forever obscured by dictatorship or the masterminds of Jakarta’s 1998 anti-Chinese riots would slip quietly into the dark, in today’s Indonesia people are truly impatient with the stink of scandal and the lack of conclusions. The press agitates for results, the booming economy creates an expectation that a transparent legal system will be required if the country is to sustain its growth and increasing numbers of educated young Indonesians want a modern and accountable society.

All countries have cover-ups and secrets and most maturing countries grapple with the need to uncover a legacy of sleaze. It may not be Nazaruddin’s fate to supply the answers and many questions may simply stay questions. But my guess is that the day is coming when a few brave Indonesians will latch onto one scandal or another and get to the heart of something. When that day comes, everything will finally change.

A. Lin Neumann is a senior adviser to the Jakarta Globe.