Dateline Jakarta

Places bring back old memories some good some bad. Events that make you appreciate the things you have. I Walked into the Singapore Airlines lounge at Singapore last week and the couch in the corner took me back to a tumultous two days a decade ago. Before anyone gets any ideas… read on…
It was a long business trip way back in May 1998. My first stop was Singapore, followed by Hong Kong (heard the news there about the Pokhran blasts and the US embargo on India), and then Indonesia. In all this I was accompanied by a German Colleague Dr. CB. We were together in Singapore and HK and I left for Indonesia on an earlier flight. Those days CB was one of the few people who carried mobile phones with International roaming.. multiple ones at that. He was (and still is) a well known figure in the Mobile Industry and operators used to actually GIVE him phones.

So as I left he gives me a mobile and says to me “Keep this phone. It might be useful. I’ll take it back when I see you in Jakarta”. International roaming for my India mobile phone was still not active.

So anyhow, I get to Jakarta without any problem. Check into a very nice hotel (owned by one of Suharto’s sons).

Indonesia was in turmoil. Suharto was getting unpopular and there was a popular uprising against him. Daily processions were commonplace. The army was having a hard time controlling the crowds. Suharto was also out of the country at that time. The place was boiling and about to explode.

First day passes by without any problem. On day two, at around 11 AM, our local partner (and CEO of the company) SBK suddenly rushes into the meeting room. “Pack your bags. Theres trouble”. CB who was in another meeting is already in the car. The streets were eeriely quiet. I could see smoke on the horizon.

The protests against Suharto had turned to violence against the ethnic Chinese.They were being targeted and their houses burnt. Our partner SBK was of Chinese origin (7th Generation) and was in grave personal danger. Yet he took the trouble of taking responsibility for CB and me. SBK was an extremely successful and powerful businessman. It was people like him that were being lynched.

Going back to the hotel was impossible as there was trouble on the streets. SBK took us to his house. Inside his wife and children were all packed ready to leave their house at a moments notice. It was there that we spent several hours waiting for the violence to abate. All the while SBK’s house was being guarded by his men and he’d get reports from the police control room. We could also hear mobs in the distance. Smoke from burning buildings was getting closer.

Sometime around 9 PM SBK told us that his driver would take us back to the hotel. “Pack up and be ready to leave any time. I will get you to the airport. Thats the safest place. You people will HAVE to leave Indonesia. No sleep he told me. Be awake”. CB and I go back to the hotel and wait. On the way we see entire shopping malls charred. From our rooms, we could see buildings catching fire one by one. CB suggested that we “take” the Mini-bar with us so we emptied both rooms (would be a lifesaver later on) including the little booze bottles.

At around 3AM, SBK calls and says “Go down. The driver is waiting for you”. He disconnected the phone before I could ask him how he and his family were. The driver was waiting at the lobby. We checked out of the hotel… paid for the mini-bar as well. We then started going through the side streets of Jakarta trying to find a safe passage to the airport. By now burning buildings were a common sight as were armymen checking each and every vehicle. I dont know what strings SBK had pulled but our car was waved through every checkpoint and soon we were on the highway heading towards the airport. We had to  get there and then find a way out of the country.

When we got to the airport an hour later.. it was chaos… it was going to be a looooong day.

To be continued