Then, for an immeasurable moment, silence ...
A shrill cry pierced the quiet, then a cacophony of screams emphasised the full horror of the blasts.
Canberra bomb toll 'horrific' - PM
By PETER JENSEN
The Australian Prime Minister has issued a statement strongly condemning last night's terrorist attack which claimed more than 100 lives here in the Capital.
Amongst those believed killed were the Indonesian Ambassador to Australia, Mr. Nathan Seda, the Indonesian Chief of Army Staff, Lt. General Umar Suprapto, and the Indonesian Minister for Foreign Affairs, Mr. Abdul Nasution, and the former Australian Ambassador to Indonesia, Mr. Duncan O'Laughlin.
A further 337 people have been reported as seriously injured. Local hospitals where the bomb blast victims were recovering from severe burns have been placed under tight security.
An informed source has stated that the condition of the Papua New Guinea Foreign Affairs Minister has improved but he is to remain on the critical list.
Eye witnesses reported that the Indonesian Embassy foyer erupted into a fireball moments after commencement of the Indonrsian national anthem.
The explosion was felt throughout the area. Local residents in surrounding areas have reported extensive window damage. Meanwhile, the Prime Minister has expressed deep regret concerning the attack and has sent a personal note to the Indonesian President expressing sympathy and offering Australia's condolences to the Indonesian people.
He stated he hoped current relations would not be further strained by what he described as "international terrorists and vested interest groups bent on sabotaging Indonesian-Australian relations."
Yesterday's reception was held to celebrate Indonesia's Independence Day in Australia, Mr. Seda's first since taking up his post.
Both Governments had hoped that his appointment would create an air of rapprochement between the countries since relations were strained over the Timor shelf oil disputes and New Guinea's recent border clashes with its giant neighbour.
Border violations throughout the past twelve months have resulted in Australian military units being positioned in New Guinea to assist under the terms of existing defence commitments. A number of Indonesian RPKAD troops and New Guinea soldiers were killed during a recent clash. At the time, Indonesia claimed that their troops had been on an anti-guerilla sweep and had inadvertently strayed into New Guinea territory. Political relations deteriorated further when the Australian Embassy in Jakarta was partly gutted by fire during student demonstrations.
It is not known whether Indonesia will now sever diplomatic ties as a result of this attack. Opposition Shadow Foreign Affairs Minister David Carroll demanded that the Prime Minister act to protect Australian interests in Indonesia as students are expected to demonstrate in retaliation to the Canberra Bombing.
A Government spokesman has indicated that steps have already been taken in Jakarta but warned that tourists should be aware of possible incidents in response to the deaths of the senior Indonesians here.
A man claiming to be a member of the Frente Revolucionada de Timor Lest Indepente (FRETILIN) party had phoned claiming responsibility for the bombing.
The Prime Minister has instructed the police and security chiefs to mobilize whatever forces necessary to investigate the bombing and pursue those responsible - AAP
PAGE 3: Continues
Book One
1965
Indonesia in Turmoil
Chapter 1
Nathan Seda Jakarta — January 1965
Lightning cracked yet again, signalling there would be no break in the tropical storm. The city began to choke as rain fell incessantly creating chaos with the traffic. Trucks, buses and cars remained stuck where they had broken down under the deluge, their electrical systems saturated and rendered useless. Scores of drivers waded through the deep and filthy flows which threatened to carry the abandoned cars over the roads into the flooded canals.
The downpour continued throughout the day, threatening to close the capital, as most major roads became small rivers feeding shallow lakes which had suddenly appeared where once there had been parks and fields.
The air was thick with the musty damp smell of the rain. Humidity rose to unbearable levels.
The more congested intersections would remain blocked for hours as children played in waist-deep ponds covering the Capital’s pot-holed protocol roads. Electricity flow would have ceased almost immediately rain had commenced. Without power there would be no water — the irony of being without adequate water while rain flooded the city was not lost on the Capital’s inhabitants.
The transition from Dutch colonial rule to Independence had thrust the archipelago’s one hundred and fifty million people into a political and economic quagmire peppered by religious rivalry and diverse cultural differences.
Soekarno’s brilliant use of rhetoric, and support provided by the military, enabled him to take the helm of the world’s fifth most populous country, a land rich in unexploited natural resources.
The national philosophy, the Panca Sila , provided for five basic principles around which the people were expected to build their way of life. This philosophy eased the racial and religious tensions which otherwise might have caused civil war. Although the country had the world’s largest Moslem population, political power was determined more by ethnic rather than religious considerations. Leaders from Java, the most heavily populated island, controlled the country’s numerous and politically unstable provincial centres.
The sky remained ominously dark. Lightning flashed again, striking the unfinished skeleton of the Wisma Nusantara building overlooking the British Embassy. Jalan Thamrin, Jakarta’s main protocol avenue, ceased to function.
Canal water flowed along the footpaths bringing with it unmentionable sewage and the occasional dead animal. Since seasonal maintenance was invariably neglected the kali, or drains, could never handle the sudden downpours. Putrid garbage and human effluent flowed into the streets and through the houses. Pedestrian traffic disappeared as the footpaths became increasingly inundated.
Houses built along the avenues adjacent to these canals always suffered the fierce odours from these sewage streams. Jonguses waited apprehensively as the rivers of foul waste threatened their masters’residences. Instructions were given to female servants, the babus, to stand-by to clean up after the occasional vehicle which passed immediately in front of a residence, throwing small waves into the well kept yards, creating havoc.
Most resident foreigners were members of the Diplomatic Corps. Their houses were grand old Dutch designed mansions built during the colonial times to provide for the numerous Dutch colonists. Now they were occupied by career men and women, many enjoying their first posting overseas.
Expatriates, generally speaking, were provided with vehicles. Transport was expensive and car smuggling was practised in many of the Third World Embassies to compensate for the poorly paid civil servants’meagre incomes. Drivers ferried their masters to and fro, enjoying considerable privilege within the domestic ranks of the expatriate household. The wet season was, however, when these drivers