Indonesian Gold (91 page)

Maria threw Alfredo a petulant look. ‘And what if I
forget?'

The aging Filipino flinched, then placed his hand behind
the maid's back, steering her gently towards the bank. ‘Think of your daughter, Maria. Just think
of the child.'

****

Months before, when the
M.V. Rager's
captain
reported Sharon Ducay's failure to materialize off the Samarinda coast, Alfredo remained hopeful
that Dominguez's niece was still alive. The Philippines Embassy in Jakarta had arranged for
‘Sharon's' remains to be sent home to Manila where her body was cremated, as stipulated in
Sharon's notes. Alfredo was aware that the ship's captain, Bartlett had limited knowledge of her
plan and, apart from the helicopter pilot, there was no one else who knew that the real Sharon
Ducay remained alive. But, the enigma of her disappearance rested heavily on his mind.

When long, slow, painful weeks dragged into months with
still no word, Alfredo reluctantly accepted the worst, firmly convinced that had Sharon been
alive, she would have contacted him. The
M.V. Rager
was no longer on standby and, with a
constant barrage of journalists banging at the mansion's gates requesting interviews, sadly,
Alfredo decided it was time to move on. He retrieved the sealed, manila envelopes from the cellar
vault in search of some clue of her disappearance and, upon examining Sharon's documents, learned
of the fortune sitting idly in the Hong Kong bank. Staggered by his discovery, Alfredo was then
absolutely certain that she had met with foul play. With Sharon, and, he postulated, the woman
whose identity she had intended to assume now both dead, Alfredo was then faced with the dilemma
of finding someone to take their place. After considering this conundrum over a period of weeks,
he determined that there were really only two prerequisites that person would have to meet. The
first, she would have to pass inspection and, secondly, the woman would have to be someone he
could control. He decided that the unmarried maid, Maria, with coaching and considerable
makeover, could meet these requirements.

Alfredo had commenced work immediately and, by the end of
November even he had been surprised with the results. Angela Dau's signature had been mastered
and Maria's cosmetic transformation was adequate, in his opinion, for her to pass as the
Indonesian woman. Maria's reward, the late General Dominguez's mansion Sharon had left to
Alfredo, and a modest pension for life. And, as additional leverage, Maria's child would be left
behind in the gardener's care to ensure that she complied.

****

Smith, the newly promoted, assistant manager for new
accounts smiled so widely his cheeks hurt, the ambitious banker aware that his predecessor's
promotion had been linked to the opening of this Indonesian client's account. Perhaps, he hoped,
Miss Angela Dau's visit would make more than just his day. The relative junior officer fussed as
Maria took her place across the table, accepting her documentation with recently acquired flair.
‘Thank you, Miss Dau.' He opened the passport, the photograph receiving less than a perfunctory
check. ‘That seems to be in order.' Then officiously, ‘I believe you wish to open another account
with us?'

Alfredo's ashen face recovered with the identification
test being passed. He remained rock-still praying that weeks of rehearsals had placed Maria in
good stead and, more importantly, that she did not forget her lines.

‘Thank you, Mister Smith, yes. I wish to have funds
transferred to the following accounts.' Alfredo wanted the funds out of Hong Kong before the
colony's handover. He would ensure that the paper trail would disappear, and with it, all
evidence that the wealth was now his.

The banker accepted the typed instructions and read these
quickly, with lips and finger tracing the words. ‘You wish to close the account?' he asked,
disappointment evident in his scratchy voice once he totaled the amounts. Suddenly his day was
not looking so good.

‘Yes.' Maria sat posture perfect – then, smiling demurely,
‘You do still have my money, don't you?'

Embarrassed, the expatriate banker coughed, rose, and
unconsciously commenced wringing his hands. ‘There is no problem, Madam. I will have the
transfers seen to, personally.'

Alfredo's heart stopped pumping with Maria's impromptu
deviation. He ground his teeth, a myriad of worry lines suddenly appearing above his cheeks. The
banker gave the aging Filipino a curious look and for Alfredo, the landscape went suddenly
blank.

‘Call an ambulance!' the banker shouted, as the
gray-headed figure slumped to the floor.

Maria knelt down and called his name. ‘Alfredo?' But, the
former aide did not respond. She felt for a pulse and, finding none, recognized the incredible
window of opportunity that had come her way. She remained by Alfredo's side until bearers arrived
and removed his body then returned, confidently, to her seat.

‘You're not accompanying the gentlemen, Miss Dau?' Smith
asked, surprised.

The maid glanced at the transfer forms in the banker's
hand and, with a newfound confidence, acted out the play. ‘Yes, but first I'd like to cancel
those instructions, Mister Smith,' she said, with affected sigh, ‘under the circumstances I think
I'll just leave the funds in your bank after all. Well, perhaps not all of it. I will need a cash
advance.' With which, the relieved officer tore the transaction orders in half, and set these
aside for the shredder.

****

Maria never went to the hospital where Alfredo had been
pronounced dead on arrival – she went shopping, instead. Having filled a dozen suitcases with
clothes and presents, she caught the next flight home to Manila. With her Gucci handbag stacked
with dollars to see everything right, Maria was now far less concerned that the gardener might
hurt Alexandria, her daughter from that one lustful night arranged two years before, at Mistress
Sharon's request. Maria returned to the Philippines and paid off the gardener and, the following
month, made application to migrate to the United States. Upon acceptance, she took Kremenchug's
illegitimate child and moved to the United States. With the generous, monthly interest payments
of one million dollars forwarded by the Hong Kong bank each month, Maria and Alexandria were,
indeed, the most fortunate incidental beneficiaries of what had been Indonesian Gold.

****

Postscript

That the Canadian mining company, BRE-X Minerals' Busang
project in Kalimantan went from being ‘the world's largest gold deposit' to the greatest gold and
stock swindle, is now history – as is the death of the BRE-X Chief Geologist, a Filipino by the
name of Michael de Guzman who ‘fell' from a helicopter over a Borneo jungle, two months before
the fraud was revealed. During the 1980s and 90s, there was, indeed, a gold rush into Indonesia,
amongst the many bona fide operators, a plethora of the would-be-mining entrepreneurs originating
from Australia and Canada whose machinations created a most distorted image of Indonesia's mining
opportunities. As the owner of the only minerals analytical laboratory operating in Kalimantan
during the initial rush for the precious, yellow metal, and the drilling company which carried
out a substantial amount of investigative drilling along the East Kalimantan seaboard, I can
assure the reader that there were some extremely contradictory press releases made by foreign
exploration companies during that time.

****

Dayaks are the predominant non-Muslim tenants of the
island of Borneo. ‘Dayak' is a generic term for Borneo's two hundred indigenous tribes whose
traditional lands host one of the world's greatest rain forests and embraces the mighty Mahakam
River system. Sadly, the Dayak culture in the (Indonesian) southern half of Borneo is vanishing
under the overwhelmingly dominant Javanese, and Jakarta's poorly planned, transmigration
policies. Today, more than three quarters of West Kalimantan's population live below the poverty
line, encumbered by an unemployment rate in excess of forty percent. Marginalized, the Dayak
people remain without political or economic influence as their lands continue to be plundered and
their forests stripped, now fertile soil for growing dissent – their future mortgaged by
Jakarta's powerful elite. In the twelve months following the close of this story, between Summer
of 1997 and Spring of 1998, more than five million hectares of land was scorched across the
province of East Kalimantan along the Mahakam River, once a gateway to promise – now a road to
destruction.

Over the past fifteen years, there have been three major
Dayak uprisings aimed at driving Javanese and Madurese migrants from Kalimantan. On each
occasion, there were thousands of trans-migrants slaughtered – the most recent, in 2001 when more
than four thousand were killed, many amongst their number young children, whose decapitated
bodies were stacked along roadsides for the international press to see. Unfortunately, the
historical and ethnic imperatives which have led the Dayaks to resort to headhunting practices of
old, remain misunderstood by their new colonial masters, the Javanese.

****

Of all the birds in Borneo, the hornbill most readily
stirs the imagination. The Dayaks remain deeply superstitious and consider the hornbill to be a
descendent of the mythical bird-spirit, this belief originating from the mists of time when
mankind was in chaos, and ancestors sought help from the Supreme Being. According to the legend,
an eagle was dispatched – and rejected. The Supreme Being then assumed the shape of the eagle,
returning to earth, copulating with a beautiful woman, creating the first shaman – the Son of
Wisdom and female energy. Dayak warriors believe that, in battle, the spirit enters their body
rendering them invisible, providing them with great speed and the capacity to fly. Today, the
Dayak remains as superstitious as his forefathers, the village dukun, or shaman, often the most
important member of the community.

****

Some events, based on historical fact, have been shifted
in time. Amongst these, the March 1960 MiG-15 attempt on Soekarno's life when an Indonesian
MiG-15 pilot sympathetic to
Permesta
rebels strafed and rocketed the Presidential Palaces
in Jakarta and Bogor. The pilot eventually ran out of fuel near the town of Garut in West Java,
and crash-landed in the rice paddies. There were no casualties. However, the reference to the
expatriate, Bell helicopter pilot being beheaded and his body cannibalized, is true. In 1971, I
flew with Lee Archer of Commonwealth Aircraft Corporation, on the first successful, non-stop
helicopter flight from Singapore to Jakarta in a Hughes

500. Three weeks before, our competitor, Bell had
attempted the same crossing, incredibly running out of fuel short of the Java coast. Some months
later, the same pilot attempted a flight across Kalimantan's forests, became disorientated in the
haze and mist, hit the treetops and crashed into the jungle. He walked away from the accident
only to be killed by Dayaks who had never seen a helicopter before.

****

As for the references to Yamashita's Gold, this hoard did,
in fact, exist. In the Philippines, during the closing months of World War II, several of Japan's
highest-ranking imperial princes, under orders from the emperor's brother, Prince Chichibu, hid
tons of looted gold bullion and other stolen treasure in caves and tunnels, for later recovery.
This was the wealth of many Asian countries, accumulated by those dominions over thousands of
years. Expert teams accompanying Japan's armed forces had systematically emptied treasuries,
banks, and art galleries to build this hoard which was sealed, entombing the engineers to
maintain the secret. Yamashita Tomoyuki escaped to Tokyo and later surrendered to the Americans.
Former Filipino President, Marcos, is believed to have obtained part of his personal fortune from
the hoard. In 1995 the Philippine Government recovered two metric tons of platinum (valued at
US$500 million), from some of the caches.

The reference to (Danny) Dewanto Danusubroto, the Kosgoro
President Komisaris is also true. I knew Danny well and, in fact, met with him in the Sahid Jaya
Hotel the day before he was arrested for complicity in his mistress' murder. At that time, Danny
was President Suharto's personal Palace aide. He was sentenced, and incarcerated for nine
years.

****

My fictitious character, AVM Subroto's story of the
Australian Sabre jet incident when an ejection seat killed a farmer is accurate. In the early
1970s the Indonesian Air Force (AURI) accepted a squadron of Australian Sabre fighters and US –
T33A trainers. Prior to this, AURI aircraft were predominantly from Soviet supply. The accident
described over Java rice fields actually occurred. These Sabres were originally based in
Malaysia. When finally recalled, the ageing aircraft were flown back to Australia, refueling at
Tuban Airport in Bali in 1969. At that time, my Attaché, Group Captain Brackenridge flew to Bali
to oversee this operation, sending me to the Indonesian Fleet Air Arm base in Djuanda, near
Surabaya where I was present as the Embassy representative to assist facilitate the covert
transit of our Mirage fighters northbound. The entire squadron landed, refueled and, apart from
one near mishap, departed safely, in less than thirty minutes.

For months, we enjoyed the probing questions and
speculation from our Soviet counterparts, as to how the Mirages managed to arrive in Butterworth,
Malaysia. When this airfield was closed for repair and the squadron moved, temporarily to
Singapore, the Commanding Officer was lost during a night training exercise. During a
traumatizing week which required my hanging out the side of an RAF helicopter searching the
Malacca Straits' communities for evidence of the disaster, an elderly, toothless woman on the
island of Rangsang took me aside, and produced part of the officer's last remains, an ankle bone
which she had secreted in an old, Bushell's tea bottle. A piece of the Mirage, showing the
aircraft's number was also recovered. As for the antiquated Sabres, once refitted, the aircraft
were gifted to AURI, within the framework of rapprochement, and future defence
cooperation.