Seda snorted in disgust. He was intelligent enough to realise that the Indonesian people now faced starvation due to the folly of political misadventures by the country’s entrenched leadership, and that the days when the country exported rice were over. He did not trust the group headed by Subandrio. The President was too easily swayed by the Communists. Maybe Bung Karno, as he preferred to be called, was, in fact, becoming senile and did not realise the dangers of these people around him. The President had spent far too much of his valuable time chasing young women and, to the dismay of his first four wives, his latest acquisition, a Japanese hostess, was set to become the new First Lady!
Seda looked over his shoulder at the photographs and suddenly felt uneasy under the gaze of the powerful trio hanging there as if in silent rebuke. The President was still very popular although there had been several attempts on his life. The political scene created considerable concern amongst the army’s generals. Senior naval and air force personnel had joined the Communist Party swelling its ranks under Dr Subandrio’s leadership. Considering these problems, it was best not to involve oneself, the Colonel decided.
Rumour had it that the Communist Party would attempt to weaken the Army by convincing the President that only party loyalists should be promoted to senior positions in the services.
Their influence had reached into the schools and was evident on billboards and in the press. Seda recognised that the Communists were dangerous. They were dangerous to the nation and they were particularly dangerous to military personnel in positions such as his. Should the President permit their power to infiltrate defence control and policy determination centres, they would succeed in gaining control over the army.
The Timorese shuddered. All those years of study and obedience! These bangsat were no better than the blood-sucking Chinese leeches!
Unlike most in his peer group, Nathan Seda really did understand just how acute the problem had become between the Communists and the military in their power struggle during recent years. The President seemed to consider that competition between the two opposing groups was healthy. Seda thought inwardly that Bung Karno had lost touch with reality and with the very ideals which had originally brought the Republic together under the red and white flag.
Seda acknowledged that he had to utilise whatever connections he had developed here, at Defence Headquarters, to consolidate his position. He further understood that it was essential to identify himself with the current ABRI leaders who were anti-Communist to avoid possible suspicion of his allegiances. He was convinced that Indonesia’s uneasy political climate could easily result in the Communist elements gaining control of the military which would be disastrous for officers of his rank. Being Timorese, he automatically attracted suspicion. Only a handful of non-Javanese would ever make it to the top and with a little skill and a great deal of luck he felt that time would reward him for his patience and loyalty. It was therefore imperative that he maintain his position in HANKAM, avoiding transfer to any other unit where his career could be buried forever, or worse...
The President had seen his war against the Federation of Malaysia as a means of diverting the nation’s attention away from the economic and social nightmare created by corrupt and poorly educated leaders. Many of the hierarchy had little better than a primary education and were quite unable to cope with the problems posed by the failing economy. Indonesia’s natural resources were mainly undeveloped as the western nations were reluctant to risk their capital in a country whose Communist Party boasted the third largest membership in the world.
The United States and British Commonwealth countries were alarmed when the Indonesian government readily accepted Russian armaments. The CIA often flew missions against the Indonesian forces from Clarke Field in the Philippines. One such mission failed and the American pilot, captured after being shot down, became the charismatic Indonesian President’s personal pilot. The British, obliged to provide assistance to the fledgling members of the Commonwealth, prepared for major warfare. RAF Vulcan bombers, armed with atomic warheads, flew regular missions between Darwin and Singapore with their bomb bay doors open over Indonesia.
Australian soldiers served alongside their Malaysian counterparts in the jungles throughout this undeclared war. The Australian public knew little of what was happening as their government smothered almost all attempts by journalists to reveal the facts. Government ‘D’ notices prevented the release of news which was deemed detrimental to the security of the nation.
Australian SAS troops often carried out cross-border raids into Indonesian-held Irian and Kalimantan, capturing select troops for interrogation purposes and then dispatching them without ceremony. The Royal Australian Navy, whilst on manoeuvres, passed through the Sunda Straits with all hands ready at their battle stations. The fear of Communist hordes swooping down through the archipelago into the land of the Southern Cross was real. Or at least it was made to appear so by the leading politicians of the time.
Poorly trained and suffering low morale, many Indonesian soldiers died fighting against superior and more professionally trained forces. Nevertheless, Dr Soekarno was adamant; the war would continue. And so it did, much to the dismay of both his military commanders and Indonesia’s neighbours.
A posting to the ‘ Konfrontasi ’battalions was considered to be extremely dangerous as the unofficial lists of missing and dead were so unpalatable the figures were never released. A casual observer might be impressed by Indonesia’s fine array of weaponry but to a skilled eye, the appalling lack of maintenance was obvious. Sophisticated aircraft and other defence equipment often remained on the ground or broken in warehouses due to the inability of the unskilled personnel to maintain the armaments. Spare parts were lost or misplaced. Although Indonesia had been heavily armed by the Russians, training programs were limited to a select few.
The Communists urged the President to move the military from Java to front line encampments. Their logic was that this would be sufficient to cause the opposing forces to collapse quickly once they recognised the might of the Indonesian military. Dr Subandrio, in concert with his fellow party supporters, urged the President also to consider that this action would bring pressure to bear on those commanders whom they considered were shirking their responsibilities.
The President was easily flattered by Dr Subandrio. As Head of State, Soekarno had himself designated as the Great Leader of the Revolution, President for Life, Chief of the Armed Forces and this self-delusion led him to believe that he would, in the future, lead the Non-Aligned Nations and the New Emerging Forces of the Third World. Soekarno would not heed his army generals when they cautioned him against moving his military support to outposts where they would be unable to support the Java Central Command. The generals were gravely concerned. Deliberate delays were instigated to prevent the main stay of the army’s elite forces from being moved away from their direct control.
As a colonel in the Indonesian Intelligence, Headquarters Army Command, Department of Defence, Nathan Seda was privy to national secrets of considerable import. Clandestine meetings were often arranged to permit the exchange of secret memoranda to avoid discovery by the Communists. Reports regarding internal security were often passed, read, then burned.
Seda was not entirely at ease with this responsibility. It rested heavily on his shoulders; however he realised that, correctly used, he could develop considerable power through the accumulation of this sensitive information.
Lightning flashed again, this time followed by a crack of thunder that shook the building. Distracted, he checked his wrist watch, a square shaped Lavina which often opted to stop for no mechanical reason he could understand.
It was time to leave. Seda reflected on his immediate problem with transport then instructed the motor pool not to allocate a replacement vehicle for that evening. He elected to catch a becak as the three-wheeled contraptions often succeeded where powered vehicles could not.
Securing his desk, Seda strolled out through the old building into the courtyard, past white helmeted security guards and on to Jalan Merdeka Utara. There he beckoned towards the