The Jakarta Post, November 16, 2003
The Spice Garden: A proxy clash of civilizations
Rich Simons, Contributor, Jakarta
The Spice Garden Michael Vatikiotis, Equinox Publishing, Jakarta, 2003 253 pp
Not too long ago (about four years, to be exact) and not too far away, there was an
idyllic tropical isle called Noli, where the gentle fisher folk lived in almost perfect
harmony and peace, with nature and themselves.
They were Nolians before anything else, even though they were also nominally
followers of a pair of giant world religions (a legacy of the spice trade which began
some 400 years ago involving European and Arab traders).
They were Nolians before they became part of the giant Republic, which had sent one
slothful, bored police officer from the main island. However, through machinations,
scheming and deceit, wicked men from the main island managed to tap into the
animal instincts that lie within the soul of every man to generate some of the wildest,
most bizarre and sadistic mayhem ever seen on earth.
Neighbors began hacking the heads off people they lived next door to for years. Boys
who grew up together, played with each other and battled together on the high seas to
bring in a load of Nolian tuna were suddenly swept into a bloodthirsty frenzy of
murderous rage against each other.
"Ladies and gentlemen, the story you're about to hear is true. Only the names have
been changed to protect the innocent." That was the opening line from the hit U.S TV
show Dragnet, but it could easily be adapted for this chillingly accurate piece of
historical fiction by Michael Vatikiotis, who has been a writer in Southeast Asia for 20
years.
For the story of Noli and its people, the opening could go something like this: "The
story you are about to experience is true, the names have been changed to protect
the innocent ... and perhaps to prevent a major upheaval against the state institutions
that perpetrated this mayhem in pursuit of dubious ideological goals."
Many readers may have heard the news of this tragedy via the BBC, newspapers or
the Internet, but rarely if ever in those news soundbites or articles, which talked about
death tolls and fresh clashes, is one painfully aware of the very real personal, human
tragedy that took place on the ground.
This story is in-depth, with well-constructed, true-to-life characters: villains, duped
pious fanatics, heroes and tragic victims.
Throughout the story, there are the antagonistic forces of the two major world religions
in open war, religion versus traditional forms of communal harmony, the perfection of
nature against the imperfection of humankind, the state apparatus versus the people,
but most of all the men and women striving to be civilized and good as they battle the
barbarian that lies dormant within us all.
It is by no means all tragedy and grief, however. There is the underlying theme of a
passionate romance between a young boy and an exquisitely beautiful girl, from either
side of the religious divide, bringing to mind Maria and Tony of West Side Story or
Romeo and Juliet.
Their undying love for each other survives and eventually becomes the catalyst for
renewal on Noli, defeating the forces of evil.
The reader comes away breathless, but with a profound understanding of the events
that caused so much pain that the world hardly knew about, and also enriched by the
power of love and goodness that eventually wins out over barbarism.
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