Asia Times, May 13, 2006
BOOK REVIEW
Fear and reporting in Indonesia
In the Time of Madness: Indonesia on the Edge of Chaos by Richard Lloyd Parry Buy
this book
Reviewed by Scott B MacDonald
Since the upheaval of the Asian financial crisis in 1997-98, Indonesia has been a
country on the move - the old authoritarian regime of Suharto was pushed from power,
democratic government has taken root and the economy has been stabilized. East
Timor departed from Indonesia and a peace settlement is in place in the formerly
deeply troubled province of Aceh.
Although far from perfect, Indonesia's development since the late 1990s has been
largely within the confines of a representative political system and a capitalist
economy. Part of Indonesia's experience over this period has been captured in
Richard Lloyd
Parry's In the Time of Madness: Indonesia on the Edge of Chaos. If you are looking for
a depiction of Indonesia in the late 1990s, when the old order of Suharto's
authoritarian regime was coming to an end and societal upheaval ruled, this book is
for you, though none the positive developments are discussed.
Parry, who wrote for The Independent and now works for The Times of London, made
a number of forays into Indonesia from Japan. Through Parry's eyes we are taken into
the murderous jungles of Borneo, where Dayak tribesmen were seeking to drive out
the Madurese by ethnic cleansing, into Jakarta's universities during the drive to oust
Suharto, and into the turmoil of East Timor, seeking its independence from Indonesia.
Parry makes the point early on: "This is a book about violence, and about being
afraid."
One could add that Parry also is fascinated by what he found in Indonesia. As he
states, "Although I prided myself on deploring violence, if it should - tragically - break
out, I wanted to witness it for myself." Indeed, deeper in the book (and deeper into
Indonesia's heart of darkness), he notes: "In Borneo, I saw heads severed from their
bodies and men eating flesh. In Jakarta, I saw burned corpses in the street, and shots
were fired around and toward me."
The climactic last part of the book deals extensively with East Timor and the bloody
rear-guard actions taken by the Indonesian-supported militias in seeking to overturn
the popular vote for independence. It is in East Timor where the author comes to
terms with being afraid, yet carrying out the responsibility to report the injustice of
what happened.
The fear theme permeates the book, both on a personal level (as Parry opts to depart
from East Timor after several brushes with death) and with Indonesians. One
encounter is most notable, when Parry asked an Indonesian carpenter named Jamari
what he fears. The man answered: "We are afraid that 1965 will happen again. We're
afraid that if we speak out, somebody will come and take us away during the night,
and perhaps they will kill us." An abortive left-wing military coup in 1965 led to a
successful right-wing counter-coup and the rise of General Suharto as the country's
undisputed leader.
Parry also has a solid grasp of the issue of magic that permeates Indonesian society,
especially in the rural areas. Here again he touches upon the fear of dark magic and
the ability of Suharto, long at the helm of his country, to use that fear to help keep
order.
While this reviewer enjoyed Parry's opus, it is not without flaws. It helps to have some
prior knowledge of Indonesia's history and society prior to reading. While some
explanation is given to the turn of events, some explanations are brief. Sadly, we are
left with the image of Indonesia as a place of darkness, smoldering under the tropical
sun and the puppetmasters in Jakarta.
As Parry states: "It was a thrilling time. Like many people ... I was experiencing
self-conscious flushes of excitement at the momentous of it all. A struggle was taking
place between something old, murderous and corrupt and something new." Can it be
that Indonesian history from 1965 to 1998 was old, murderous and corrupt, nothing
more? And what was the "something new"? Could it be that Indonesia is struggling to
create a more open, democratic society in the post-Suharto era? These are lingering
questions when one finishes Parry's book.
Some have compared In the Time of Madness to Aidan Hartley's The Zanzibar Chest,
another book focused on the journalist dealing with a modern heart of darkness.
Parry's book is an echo of Hartley's, which deals with family history, colonialism,
barbarism and current affairs. Both books leave you with a sense of sweaty griminess
and a Joseph Conrad-like vision of the world. (Conrad's Heart of Darkness was
published in 1902 and looks at genocide, repression and imperialism by the Belgians
in the Congo.)
That said, Hartley's Africa has fallen into far harsher times than Parry's Indonesia, and
the Southeast Asian nation has made some advances in terms of the standard of
living and its effort in forming a more open political system. Indonesia is hardly Africa,
though similar problems afflict both regions.
And Hartley's personal adventures are given some degree of clarity - his relationships
are explained, his likes and dislikes covered, and his turn to drugs and alcohol
understandable considering the nature and pressures of his work. Parry makes brief
mention of a bypassed love and proposal of marriage among other personal musings.
The criticisms of his book are minor. In the Time of Madness is well worth reading,
especially for anyone interested in the events that shook Indonesia during the late
1990s. At the same time, one should not entirely write off Indonesia's history through
Parry's lens of a murderous, corrupt place, seemingly without any hope.
One of the points worth noting is that change did occur: Suharto was forced out of
office, and the country has gone to the polls more than once since 1998, finally having
the option of directly electing a president. All the same (and this is why In the Time of
Madness is worth the read), many of the problems of corruption and fear remain in
post-Suharto Indonesia, making it one of Asia's more interesting points on the map.
In the Time of Madness: Indonesia on the Edge of Chaos by Richard Lloyd Parry. New
York: ISBN: 0802118089. Grove Press, 2005. Price: US$24; 315 pages.
Scott B MacDonald is senior managing director at Aladdin Capital and a senior
consultant at KWR International.
Copyright 2006 Asia Times Online Ltd. All rights reserved.
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