A life under three flags

I was born in the district village of Cilimus, a little mountainous place in the residency of Cirebon. Between five and nine years old I suffered from dysentery, typhus and eye disease which could have made me die or go blind. Praise be to God I recovered under the loving care of my parents. At that time the uprising of the PKI broke out and soon after the Indonesian Nationalist Party (PNI) was set up by Ir. Sukarno. From 1928 till 1932 Indonesia suffered from the Great Depression which caused much unemployment and business became very bad. At first my education was not a great success since my parents were hesitant in choosing between sending me to a Chinese school or a Dutch school. When I was successful in finishing at Dutch Primary School with good examination records I went to Solo and Yogyakarta to attend Dutch teachers’ Training College and a Dutch Theological College. I had to leave school when the Japanese arrived. My family had to move to Kadugede, a remote village on the slope of Mount Ciremai, 45 km from the city of Cirebon. I could not continue my studies since all Dutch schools were closed. All the young people had to undergo military training or serve the Japanese Military by building airports and so on. I underwent Japanese Keibotai (Intelligence) military training in Linggajati, a mountainous village, 5 km from Cilimus. The Keibotai military training centre in Linggajati was headed by Mr. Watanabe who was a colonel and quite likely responsible to Colonel Kurija, chief of the Joohoobu (Intelligence Staff) of the 16th Army. Some other assistants to Watanabe were Akano, Fukuda and Tomita. The purpose of this training was to train the Chinese youth to become auxiliary Intelligence Staff. I had to flee to the military training dormitory when I was not permitted to go home in order to get engaged to my fiancée. When I came back to the military training I was punished by one week’s room arrest. One month after the arrest I heard that Japan had surrendered to the Allied Forces after suffering from atomic bombardments on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. I returned home on 15 August 1945. Two days later, 17 August 1945, Sukarno and Hatta proclaimed the independence of Indonesia. Native young people underwent military training to defend their country. The republic set up the people’s Security Body (BKR) which later become the People’s security Forces (TKR), the foundation of the current Indonesian Armed Forces. Somebody was slandering me and accused me of being a spy for the Japanese military. I had an interview with the council of the BKR of Kuningan which trusted me and set me free. On 10 March 1946 my fiancée and I celebrated our wedding party. When the Dutch occupied West Java I went to Batavia (Jakarta) to find a job and asked my parents, my wife and children to come over when I settled. In Jakarta I improved my knowledge and achieved several diplomas, and degrees in Languages and Business. For many years I worked as manager and managing director of several enterprises until I ran a transportation business where I had 50% share and was appointed Managing Director. The business was running smoothly until the abortive coup of the Indonesian Communist Party (PKI). After the Communist coup and the rupia devaluation there came a slump in my business. I got a job at the National University as lecturer in English and Dutch. I also had private students in English, Dutch and Indonesian which became a good teaching business. But since I wanted to obtain a foreign degree, my wife and I migrated in 1983 to Australia. In this thesis I address the issue of the role of the Chinese in late colonial Indonesia. In many ways my family was typical of the Chinese as businesspeople and entrepreneurs. My attitudes to colonialism changed from enthusiastic admiration for the Dutch in my youth to a more nationalistic approach and embrace of the Indonesian Republic as a young man. While, like most Chinese, I was no supporter of Japan’s war aims, I was obliged to serve in Japanese-sponsored organisations and my analysis of the Japanese occupation is not entirely negative. This autobiographical analysis charts these important (and representative) changes in my attitudes, as well as providing a personal perspective on a crucial period in Indonesia’s history from the point of view of a representative member of a significant minority