The Fifth Season (64 page)

I went to visit once and it was nothing. That's the truth. If she writes to you and
tells you things like that, please don't believe her. Fancy telling people you had
a swimming pool! I can tell you for sure that her place was always very dirty. I
only went over to see her once or twice because she was in some of my classes. Did
she write and tell you any of this Mary Jo?

Please don't tell her what I write.

Your friend, Hani.

And, a month later:

Hi, Mary Jo.

I have been sick. The doctor here says I can't go with the others because I am
still not well. I don't understand why Lily won't stay with me. She is going to 
move somewhere, I can't remember the name. Lily says that she was told by the
office here that she will be able to remain in Australia. I think it's because she is
Chinese. It's always been like that, Mary Jo. They get everything they want. I
asked if she would stay with me but she has stopped talking to me now. I think
she really does hate me for the way she was treated. Has she written to you, Mary
Jo? I hope she has not said bad things about me. If she has, then she is lying. Did
she tell you that she was once raped? Lily has other friends here. I think that's
why she doesn't have any time for me anymore. All her friends are like her and if
I go up to them they all stop speaking until I leave. I am very lonely here, Mary
Jo. I wish you could come to see me as you are my only true friend.

Hani

Finally, her first letter from Lily arrived. Now, as she read this, Mary Jo bit her lip, the memory of its contents still as fresh in her mind as the day she first read the brief communication.

Dear Mary Jo,

I write to you in English. Please understand and forgive me for mistakes.

I am sorry Hani is dead. I am sorry also not writing to you before now. She die from something wrong in her stomach. They took her body away and we did not see her. I am very sad for her, even she tells so many stories.

If you write back to me like you write to Hani I promise to answer.

They take me to another place soon. I can do some study there.

Goodbye,

Lily Ong. (Here, in this country, we are free to use our own names) 

And then, six months later when she returned from her last trip through the desperate camps of East Timor and West New Guinea, Mary Jo found this letter waiting at her office.

Dear Mary Jo,

I am writing to tell you I have a job. I am very happy here in Australia.

I work at an office every day but on the weekends I also help at the Golden Galleon restaurant. At night, I study. Next year I will have my degree.

Then I will have a better job.

Mary Jo, I have seen your name in the magazine. Did you take those photographs? I am very proud to show this to all my friends. Would you send me one with your autograph please? I want to show it to them so that they believe me better. But there is something I want to tell you also.

That is another reason for my letter. It is about Hani. I want to tell you that I did not hate her even though she thought I did. It is difficult for me to explain but I think that as you have been in Asia a long time, you will understand. I sometimes think of going back to Indonesia. After all, it is my country where I was born. But I am afraid. In Australia I feel safe but it is not the same. My memories of what happened are still in my head and sometimes I still have terrible dreams. Hani was once my friend. One day she and others turned on me. Even now I do not understand why this happened that way because I really did like her. Some of the bad things which happened to me I don't want to tell you. These would only make you sad. When I go to church I pray. This is true, Mary Jo. I pray that one day I can go back to Indonesia and visit, and no one will attack me or hate me because I am Chinese. Do you think that day will ever come? Or will it never change and, because we are different and our culture or religion is not the same, we must be afraid to go back there?

* * * *

It was always at this point in Lily's letter that Mary Jo ceased reading, folded all the letters and placed them back inside the drawer. She leaned back to rest her head on the soft pillow, permitting her thoughts to wander.

She had replied to Lily's last letter, unable to offer her any solace, for Mary Jo was convinced that such deep rooted racial animosities would always exist, particularly in an environment such as Indonesia's. Its kaleidoscope of ethnic biases seemed to naturally nurture discrimination.

No, she thought, turning off the bed lamp and sliding snugly down into the soft cotton sheets, it was unlikely that racial tolerance would ever exist anywhere in this imperfect world. Not in her lifetime.

She sighed forlornly, unintentionally disturbing her partner.

‘Better get some rest, Jo,' the muffled voice alongside suggested. She smiled and leaned across to kiss Hamish tenderly on his forehead, then lay in his arms, soon drifting into a deep, satisfying sleep.

* * * *

The question must be asked as to why the authorities in Jakarta, and many other Indonesian cities, failed to prevent the tragedy which occurred during ten days in May 1998; the rape, murder and torture of Chinese women, whose ethnic group had been specifically targeted for political gain.

The Republic of Indonesia now lives in danger of becoming an economic dust-bowl, inflicted with poverty and pestilence, the number of unemployed and destitute reaching catastrophic proportions because of the self-serving interests of those entrusted with the country's leadership.

I find it most ironic that, as Indonesia slid into chaos and more than twenty million citizens' incomes fell to impoverished levels, the United Nations awarded President Soeharto, the architect of this disaster, an award for his fight against poverty.

During the period Lieutenant-General Prabowo Subianto, President Soeharto's son-in-law commanded the Kopassus Special Forces or influenced their role as a result of his relationship with the First Family, the following acts of genocide were recorded:

Aceh, North Sumatra, approximately 3,000 killed, their bodies thrown into mass graves, 1988- 1998.

East Timor, approximately 200,000 killed, or died as a result of the Indonesian occupation, 1975- 1998; and the killing continues.

During the period now known as Ten Days in May 1998, there were 1,198

people killed, 437 reported cases of rape, 40 shopping malls and 4,000 shops razed.

That Indonesian ethnic Chinese have suffered so cruelly without international indignation bringing those responsible to justice is a clear indictment of our ‘trade before human rights' mentality. Not all Chinese are wealthy. That they are perceived to be so was, perhaps, the genesis for what now must be deemed as the greatest of all Indonesian tragedies.

We have seen, and mainly ignored, the systematic eradication of Christian places of worship in Indonesia over the past thirty years. We have also witnessed the ethnic cleansing by powerful, militant Moslem factions of weak and isolated Christian communities in that country.

Statistics relating to the number of churches damaged or destroyed during President Soeharto's reign, are as follows: 

Total number of Churches severely damaged or destroyed during the Soeharto Presidency, 401. (Churches continue to be attacked under the new Presidency)

* * * *

It is most unlikely that the ethnic Chinese will be easily encouraged to return to Indonesia. And one would ask, why would they wish to? Legislating against racial discrimination is not enough but it may lead to a greater understanding of the racial undercurrents which continue to flow through Asian cultures, dominated economically by Chinese minorities.

This story is a work of fiction based on my personal observations of events, and is not meant to denigrate any individual, ethnic group or religion in any way whatsoever. Although some readers may associate my characters with those in real life, that act would merely be a product of their own imagination.

* * * *