Eighty-Eight: Laying the Plan

The Chinese in Indonesia have long had to endure ethnic persecution. As far back as the days when the Dutch East India Company ruled the archipelago, there had already been massacres of Chinese by the local population. After the events of September 30, 1965, roughly three hundred thousand Chinese were slaughtered, and more than a hundred thousand were sent back to the mainland. Suharto and his faction seized power through a military coup, and once in office they issued a series of decrees stripping Chinese citizens of the political and cultural rights they should have enjoyed as Indonesians. The Chinese were forced to abandon their language, culture, religious beliefs, and customs. The Interior and Justice ministries of the Suharto government even issued repeated orders requiring Indonesian Chinese to change their surnames and given names, casting off their Chinese names entirely in favor of Indonesian ones. Chinese were forbidden to hold public celebrations for their religious observances and traditional festivals; all rites and activities related to Chinese culture were permitted only within the household or by individuals in private. The Suharto government especially suppressed the Confucian tradition rooted in Chinese culture, demanding that Chinese either convert to Islam or to the officially recognized Buddhism of Indonesia, and forbidding marriage registrations under the name of Confucianism.

In May 1966, the Indonesian government ordered the closure of all 667 Chinese-language primary and secondary schools across the country. After that, all Chinese-language newspapers and Chinese associations nationwide were successively shut down. From 1967 onward, the government largely ceased approving new Chinese immigration and did not allow overseas Chinese or ethnic Chinese Indonesians to return to the mainland for family visits or tourism. In the mid-1970s, the Suharto government issued a continuous stream of decrees restricting the proportion of Chinese capital in enterprises and limiting the scope of their operations, while also banning Chinese businesses from using Chinese signs. In December 1987, the Jakarta municipal government ordered that both Chinese business owners and Chinese merchants must conduct conversation in Indonesian. During Suharto’s thirty-two years in power, Chinese people were excluded from political, military, and cultural professions in Indonesia. They were barred from working in government agencies, the armed forces, and state schools, and could only engage in commerce and industry in the economic sphere, or seek opportunities in sports. Yet even ethnic Chinese athletes who brought honor to Indonesia on the world stage were often discriminated against by government offices and subjected to all manner of deliberate obstruction.

A Liang was staying in Indonesia as an American citizen, so over those few years he had done quite well and no Indonesian dared to trouble him. Before A Liang went to Indonesia, Wei Hua had instructed him that once he arrived, he should actively make contact with the local Chinese and help wherever he could. Wei Hua had once considered assassinating Suharto, but after carefully reviewing much of the biological computer’s stored information on the Suharto regime, he came to the conclusion that even if Suharto were killed, it would not change the present fate of the Chinese in Indonesia. Suharto had the backing of a group of Indonesian officers; if Suharto died, Indonesia would fall into chaos, and at that time the Chinese might suffer an even worse fate. The feasible plan Wei Hua considered was to covertly support the Chinese resistance organizations in Indonesia. At the very least, he could provide financial backing, and he could also train combat personnel for them.

On March 20, 1981, Wei Hua flew to Jakarta, the capital of Indonesia. The plantation estate managed by A Liang was several hundred miles from Jakarta, so A Liang drove over with a few bodyguards to welcome him. Wei Hua did not go to the plantation estate; there was nothing worth seeing there. Only the families of the Vietnamese bodyguards lived there, and even their number was dwindling. Many of the Vietnamese guards had already obtained American green cards and brought their families to the United States. The salary Wei Hua paid was enough for a large family to live a stable life in America. Most of the people now employed at the plantation estate were local overseas Chinese.

A Liang booked Wei Hua a presidential suite in the best hotel in Jakarta. After entering the room and sitting down, Wei Hua asked, “A Liang, have you made contact with the Chinese resistance organizations here over the past few years?”

“No. A Hua, the situation of the Chinese here is miserable. The Indonesians simply do not treat them as human beings. We can help a few people, but there are far too many Chinese in Indonesia, and we are truly powerless. Besides, I have never even heard of any resistance organization among the Chinese here. There are Chinese who mix with the underworld, but they are all at the very bottom of the gangs, just cannon fodder. For a few pitiful rewards, they will throw away their lives.”

“Then have you found any younger people with some backbone and a sense of reason? If there’s no resistance organization, we’ll help the Chinese here build one. I refuse to believe our people can’t beat these Indonesian dogs.”

“ A Hua, I have found a few such people. Over the past few years I’ve gained a little reputation among the Chinese here, and following your instructions I’ve spent quite a lot of money improving people’s lives. So whenever the Chinese near the plantation run into trouble they cannot solve, they think of me. I do my best to help them, and through that I found a few people like that. Your old friend William also helped us a great deal. He introduced me to a military attaché at the American Embassy in Indonesia, so when I help these Indonesian Chinese, the Indonesian officials do not dare to give me any trouble. Otherwise I would not be sitting so calmly here right now. But is it really all right for us to do this? If the Indonesians find out, won’t we be in trouble?”

“Why wouldn’t it be all right? Are we supposed to stand by and watch our own people suffer? So what if the Indonesians find out? At worst, we just won’t come to Indonesia anymore. You and I both have green cards, and if necessary I can even secure diplomatic immunity. Your safety and mine are not an issue. Besides, we can arrange things carefully, and then we should be able to avoid exposure. Building a resistance organization will also show the Indonesians that we Chinese are not so easy to bully. Arrange a time for me to meet those people you mentioned. If they’re suitable, I’ll find someone to train them, and then we’ll begin the resistance movement. I want to see whether these Indonesian dogs are afraid of death.”

Wei Hua’s mention of obtaining diplomatic immunity was no empty boast. Early last year, he had donated a substantial sum to Reagan, who was then running for president of the United States. Reagan was now president, so it would not be difficult to arrange a diplomatic identity for A Liang, who was already an American citizen.

“All right, I’ll listen to you. I’ll have them come to see you tomorrow,” A Liang said to Wei Hua. He still trusted this friend of his deeply. He regarded Wei Hua as his brother. A person like him, a roughneck who had not even finished middle school, had his life today entirely because of Wei Hua. He also felt indignation at the condition of the Chinese in Indonesia. These people were his own countrymen; helping them was only right.

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