09-16 Jakarta 1994

It was supposed to be a joyful experience, but instead this trip was one of our truly scary adventures. We arrived in Jakarta about three days in advance of the 21st International Small Business Congress, and were met at the Airport by the Canadian Trade Commissioner.
He asked us to look at the local English language newspaper that showed bodies floating down a local river. He said a large gang had been harassing tourists and the army was rounding them up, shooting them and dumping their bodies in the river. And a photo on page 2 showed locals lining up in a hospital to have their tattoos removed, which identified them as gang members.
I met with a wide range of senior officials and politicians, most of whom were generals. Indonesia is a very diverse society, and I was trying to understand the nature of entrepreneurship in a dominant Muslim country.
During a discussion with one of the generals, I asked him if there was a left-wing political party. He said there wasn't because, during the Korean War, they rounded up over 600 thousand Communists and shot them. I was utterly shocked and did not know how to continue the conversation. I later found out from the Ambassador that the anti-communist purge of 1965-66 was one of the worst mass murders of the 20th century.
We spent a day touring Jakarta and enjoyed the Old Town. Sadly, it was not much fun getting out of the air-conditioned limousine because the air was so polluted. What was satisfying was to see the substantial buildings from the Dutch colonial era.
Our trade commissioner suggested visiting one of the many thousand islands not far from Jakarta by boat if we wanted to breathe some fresh air. Excellent postcard shot of one of these many islands. And, of course, we have our own 1000 islands in Canada near Kingston.
At the Congress, we were all bussed to a unique building which was reinforced concrete ten feet thick. Apparently, at that time, President Suharto was not terribly popular and had many attempts on his life. After his address to the Congress, members of the Steering Committee were ushered to a particular compound about 100 feet down into the ground, where the President had an apartment. He gave each of us a special Indonesian medal, which was supposedly a very big honour.