The Road Back (19 page)

‘This is a pretty privileged sort of affair,' said Norma to Alan and me quietly. ‘I'm not sure that as volunteers we should be at this sort of do.'

‘Nonsense,' said Alan. ‘We work very hard for practically nothing, so when a chance like this comes along, I say we should enjoy it.'

‘Well, since this is being paid for by the Australian taxpayer, the least we can do is to mingle with the guests,' I told them.

Later in the evening the ambassador's wife came and talked to us and asked how we were enjoying Indonesia. We were all enthusiastic.

‘It's an intriguing country and we have been through interesting times here,' she said, smiling.

‘You were here through the riots?' asked Mark.

‘Several of them. First were the Konfrontasi riots. There was a lot of anti-British feeling and we were caught up in that. We had to be evacuated to Singapore for three weeks. Then we were here for the '65 coup. It was awful. There were continual demonstrations, so we really couldn't go out much. Our life was significantly curtailed. Qantas stopped flying into Jakarta and we couldn't leave the city except to get away for short periods in the hills, where things weren't quite so volatile. Food was drastically short, so we all lost masses of weight. In our street, we had four private armies and our children used to play with the young men and their guns. Through it all, however, many Indonesian students still came to apply for study visas. They had an eye to the future.'

‘How frightening,' said Norma.

‘It's been a very interesting experience, but also a time for making great friendships, as you too will also discover,' she said.

That evening I met some very interesting people; an Indonesian general, a couple of politicians, including the governor of our province, who had no idea about our existence, and the master puppeteer Jimmy had told me about. They were all very keen to tell us what a wonderful and rich country Indonesia would be to invest in. I think they were disappointed when they found that we were only poor volunteers, but they were very polite and said they were grateful for our efforts. Overall, I found the whole high-powered evening a very heady experience. Indonesia had presented me with some exotic experiences I would never have encountered at home.

But in spite of my growing acceptance of the Indonesian way of life, I found that it still had the capacity to surprise and upset me.

Jimmy and I loved to wander through Bogor's magnificent Botanic Gardens which the Dutch had created centuries before. The gardens contained fabulous banyan trees, enormous palms and serene ponds filled with fish. We could stroll close to the presidential summer palace, built by the Dutch and now housing the deposed president, Sukarno. Walking hand in hand past the magnificent old building, I couldn't help but wonder about the former president sequestered so close by.

‘Do you think he still harbours dreams of returning to power? Is he bitter? What does he think of how the country is now being run?' I asked Jimmy.

‘I don't think we'll ever know. He isn't in good health, so I doubt he's writing his memoirs. Maybe his wives will tell stories about him one day.'

‘Hmm. Now that could be interesting.'

We were alone, walking through a grove of giant bamboo, when Jimmy leaned over to kiss me. We paused, holding each other, and I was feeling a little overwhelmed by a rush of emotion, when there was a horrible screech and something flung itself towards us from behind the bamboo.

I screamed and clutched Jimmy. Both of us leaped back. I initially had no idea what had launched itself at us, but as Jimmy held me, I saw that it was a woman. Her skin was very dark and her long tangled black hair streamed over her scrawny shoulders. Her clothes were tattered, but it was her wild eyes, flailing arms and her shrieking mouth that unnerved me.

She advanced, stabbing a finger towards Jimmy and jabbering at him. He took a step forward, trying to speak calmly in the face of this tirade as I shrank back. I couldn't understand what she was saying. It made no sense, but it seemed almost evil. Then the woman fell down, writhing and twitching on the ground.

‘Jimmy, don't touch her!' I shouted as Jimmy bent over her. I felt gripped by some unfathomable fear.

Just then a gardener holding a bamboo rake came running along the pathway, followed by several curious locals. He began shaking the rake at the woman as if to protect himself from a rabid dog.

‘What's wrong with her?' I asked, and started to cry.

The woman lifted her head and for a moment her eyes focused on Jimmy and she howled at him again before collapsing, her eyes rolling back in her head. By now there were more people and a security guard had arrived. He gathered up the woman as though she was weightless and carried her away.

The gardener looked at us and tapped his head. ‘Bad spirits. You need to see the
dukun
.'

I was shocked. The
dukun
were the traditional medicine men, the men whose authority came from their ability to use magic. The villagers had told me about witchcraft and they all accepted without question the power of those who had this special knowledge.

The gardener was telling us that the poor woman had said something to us that was so potent that it could only be removed by a
dukun
. Here in the beautiful Botanic Gardens of Bogor, on a bright sunny day, I was being confronted by witchcraft. It seemed completely bizarre.

‘What was she saying?' I asked Jimmy, bewildered.

‘It was nonsense. I couldn't understand it.'

The gardener, however, reiterated his opinion that we should see a
dukun
.

‘That was so scary. Why would she attack us like that?' I asked, still shaking.

‘Forget it, Susan. Don't let it trouble you. These things happen.' He thanked the gardener and gave him some money and we walked away, but I could tell Jimmy was unnerved.

That night, we were all able to meet for dinner at a small restaurant down the road from the comfortable hostel where Evan and Norma lived and where I would be bunking in with Norma for the night. The accommodation was clean and spacious, if bare, but I was beginning to like the simplicity of the furniture in Indonesia and I didn't at all mind sitting on mats on the floor, or even sharing the big wooden platform that served as a bed. Outside the door, an elderly lady, bent over her short-handled whisk broom, always wished us ‘
Selamat jalan
' as we set out.

At the restaurant, smiling, barefoot boys in crisp white drill suits and black caps served us an array of local dishes with a cheerful chorus of ‘
Selamat makan
'. We had a view of the river and somewhere behind the rain clouds Mount Salak towered over the town.

I shared the story of the wild woman and
her curse with the others over dinner.

‘That's so creepy,' said Norma. ‘Do you believe in that magic stuff? I certainly don't.'

‘It seems the more you learn, the more real it appears. I've seen people brought in to hospital convinced they will die because someone has performed magic on them,' said Evan.

‘And do they die?' asked David.

Evan nodded. ‘Sometimes, although one could put the death down to any number of health issues besides superstitious beliefs.'

Norma agreed. ‘The health problems here are endless; no wonder their life expectancy is so short.'

‘We do what we can to change things, and can do little more,' said Mark pragmatically. ‘How's your bridge coming, Alan?'

‘I think it will be a long time coming. The access road is creating problems.
Korupsi
, corruption, has reared its head. It's Rafferty's rules around here.'

‘Maybe the Chinese should be allowed to run things,' said Mark lightly. ‘They seem to have a much better head for business. Certainly that's true of the ones I've come in contact with.'

Alan shrugged. ‘You have to be joking, Mark. In my opinion they are the root of all that is wrong with this country. Communists, every last one of them, all working for the Reds in China. As far as I'm concerned, mate, this country will never progress while there are still Chinese in it.'

Mark looked at Alan and replied, quite calmly, ‘Yes, I appreciate that your view about the evil Red Chinese is shared by a lot of other Australians, but all I can say is that when you get to know individual Chinese, like the Tans, then you know that not all the Chinese in Indonesia have communist sympathies.'

After we'd eaten, Jimmy asked me if I'd like to see a puppet show that he had heard was performing on the other side of town. He asked if any of the others wanted to come along, but they all politely declined.

I quite enjoyed the performance of the puppet show, but after a couple of hours we decided that we'd had enough and decided to return to our respective beds for the night. It was late when we headed back towards Norma's hostel, and we were surprised to see a lot of people still about on the streets. When we asked the
betjak
driver what was going on, he muttered something about it being a festival.

Jimmy, who was staying with Mark at the Tans' place as usual, kissed me good night at the entrance to the hostel and left. Norma was asleep when I tiptoed into her room, so I quietly changed into my sarong and climbed under the mosquito net beside her.

I was awakened some hours later by a cacophony of noise that sounded like shouting, banging and even gunshots.

Norma quickly rolled onto the floor beside the bed and put her hands over her head.

‘Get down!' she cried.

But I wanted to know what was happening. ‘I'm going to see what's going on!' I said, crouching down and making my way towards the door.

‘Are you mad? Just get down,' she said, tugging at my arm.

I heard the voices of other hostel residents, and I snuck out to see if they had any idea what was happening. A few people were milling in the corridor whispering to each other.

‘It's a riot. Students again,' said another resident.

‘What's brought this on?' I asked, peering out a window. The hostel had been built on a rise and we could see the streets below us. I was worried by the number of people out there, especially as some were brandishing what looked to be guns.

‘I heard that something is going to happen at daybreak,' said a Swiss pharmacist we knew who was working temporarily at the hospital.

‘There are always rumours. But there seem to be so many people running around; where are they going?'

I caught sight of Evan rounding the corner of the corridor. He hurried towards me and even in the darkened space I could see his face was pale. ‘One of my orderlies has told me that he heard that Sukarno is being released from the palace. That's what's causing the riot,' he said when he reached me.

‘What does this mean?' I said.

‘I think that if he's released there will be a lot of bloodshed,' replied Evan. ‘Too many people don't want to give him any chance of returning to power.'

Suddenly the night sky was lit up by a flash of fire.

‘They're throwing fire bombs, torching cars or even houses,' said Evan, standing back from the window.

‘We should stay here inside where it's safe. These mobs can get out of control quickly,' said the Swiss pharmacist.

‘We have friends down there in the town. I hope they're okay,' I said anxiously.

‘They should be, just as long as they're not on the streets. I'm going back to my room,' said the pharmacist.

Evan and I waited in the darkness a little time longer, and as the sound of the mob disappeared into the distance we headed to our rooms.

Norma was now lying back on the bed. I climbed in under the mozzie net, but couldn't settle. I kept thinking about the stories the ambassador's wife had told us about the coup little more than two years before, and how the riots had gone on for weeks. I was fairly convinced that this was an isolated event, but it was unnerving to say the least, so I found it impossible to sleep.

I don't know how much time passed while I was just lying in the dark, but suddenly there was a commotion and I heard Mark's voice. He was shouting frantically for me and Evan. I leaped out of bed and ran down the short hallway as Evan, half asleep, stumbled to the entrance of the hostel, with me close behind.

Mark, looking dishevelled and dirty, rushed to Evan. When I got closer, I could see that Mark's clothes were soaked in blood.

‘Quick, Evan, Susan. You have to go to the hospital's emergency ward!' he cried.

‘What's happened? Are you all right? You're covered in blood,' exclaimed Evan.

‘I'm fine. It's Jimmy. I've just left him at the hospital, he's in a bad way. Susan, you have to go to him. He's been stabbed!'

My head spun and I felt weak at the knees. I groped for something to hold on to and Mark supported me as I slumped to the floor. He glanced at Evan.

‘Susan, I'm going to go to help Jimmy, okay?' Evan said. ‘There's a short cut through to the back of the hospital. I'll go ahead and you follow.'

I nodded, dumbly, and then Evan, bare-chested and in cotton shorts, took off around the side of the hostel and into the hospital grounds.

My head was swimming, but I needed to know what was happening.

‘What happened to Jimmy?' I asked Mark, my voice cracking. ‘Will he be all right?'

Mark took a deep breath, steadied himself, and held my hand tight. ‘It's pretty bad, Susan.'

I burst into tears. ‘What happened, Mark?' I sobbed.

He took another breath. ‘You heard the mob, didn't you? Well, a few rioters came down our street but they didn't stop. The Tans told us not to put a light on and stay still and quiet. A bit later, there was shouting and banging on the door and threatening voices, shouting that unless the door was opened up, they'd burn down the house.'