Going beyond the first draft of history<\/p>\n
Endy Bayuni, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta<\/p>\n
\"The war ended at 11:35 this morning.\"<\/p>\n
These words, which appeared in a Reuters news flash on April
\n30, 1975, came from a dispatch by Nayan Chanda, correspondent for
\nthe Far Eastern Economic Review who was then working with a
\nBritish news agency while covering the last days of the Vietnam
\nWar.<\/p>\n
Being one of the few journalists to remain in what was then
\nthe capital of South Vietnam, his story virtually broke the news
\nto the rest of the world.<\/p>\n
But if a journalist is said to write the first draft of
\nhistory, India-born Chanda has gone one beyond most other
\nreporters who witnessed that monumental event which changed the
\nhistory of Asia. He got to write the history himself.<\/p>\n
As a trained historian, Chanda wrote an authoritative book
\nabout the Indochina war that broke out after the Vietnam War
\nended. In fact, Brother Enemy: The War after the War (Harcourt
\nBrace, 1986), starts with his personal account of the fall of
\nSaigon.<\/p>\n
\"I was fortunate to witness the end of a historic war,
\nalthough I was the very last to appear on the scene,\" Chanda, who
\nwas in Jakarta last week to visit friends, says, recalling that
\nthousands of journalists had been covering the war before him.<\/p>\n
The fall of Saigon was such a historical moment that Chanda
\ncan still recount the event vividly as if it was yesterday.<\/p>\n
\"I was sitting in the office that morning, writing a report
\nabout the end coming nearer because I just witnessed the last of
\nAmericans take off from the embassy roof top ... I went back to
\nthe Reuters office and wrote the report about the impending fall
\nof Saigon. I had hardly finished writing when, through the open
\ndoor, I saw a tank across the street. At the back of the tank, a
\nred flag (the North Vietnamese flag) was hanging. I rushed out to
\ntake pictures of the tank going into the palace. Then I came back
\nand wrote the one-sentence flash.\"<\/p>\n
Besides his familiarity with the history of Indochina, Chanda
\nhas had access to the various archives, as well as to the major
\nplayers, of the Indochina War - thanks to his profession - that
\nhe was able to piece together the events that led to the
\nIndochina War involving China, Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia.<\/p>\n
He admits that later historians would be in a better position
\nto explain the events that led to the war as more of the archives
\nfrom that period become available. \"But I'd like to think that my
\nbook is a sort of provisional history of the period.\"<\/p>\n
A journalist and a historian -- that's a potent combination
\nthat opens up all sorts of career possibilities. In Chanda's
\ncase, it turned him into a prolific writer.<\/p>\n
He has written and edited no less than 13 books. His latest
\nwork is The Age of Terror: America and the World after September
\n11 (Basic Books, January 2002) which he co-edited with Strobe
\nTalbott. Although no longer with the Review, he still regularly
\nwrites op-ed columns on Asian affairs for the International
\nHerald Tribune.<\/p>\n
It was his study of Asian history -- he majored in the subject
\nwhile doing his post-graduate studies in international relations
\nat the Sorbonne -- which gave him his first break into
\njournalism. In 1974, he was asked by the Review to become its
\nIndochina correspondent in Saigon on account of his academic
\nbackground.<\/p>\n
As a journalist he became privy to a number of historical
\nmoments, getting a \"front row\" seat as he calls it. The fall of
\nSaigon was only one of several. He witnessed the birth of
\nBangladesh in 1971, then, as a student in India, he was stringing
\nfor the Review and covering the declaration of independence from
\na village near the Indian border. He also witnessed the start of
\nthe Indochina War in 1979, covering it from a Vietnamese village
\nwhen it came under attack from China.<\/p>\n
His academic training as a historian served him well.<\/p>\n
\"Journalism, in many ways is writing the first draft of
\nhistory. You're watching things happening before you, and you're
\ntrying to assess the significance.\"<\/p>\n
He feels that history and journalism are entirely compatible.<\/p>\n
\"History gives you the rearview mirror. You're moving forward
\nbut you're looking in the rearview mirror of what has happened in
\nthe past, and assessing the present in the light of what happened
\nin the past.\"<\/p>\n
Chanda sees historical similarities between Afghanistan and
\nIndonesia in their struggle for a national identity in the post-
\ncolonial era.<\/p>\n
\"Indonesia as a nation was a new concept. Sukarno succeeded in
\nbuilding what historians called an `imagined community'. Soeharto
\nsucceeded in building the state, which was structured to hold the
\nnation together,\" he said.<\/p>\n
This historical awareness, he believes, is crucial not only in
\nunderstanding the present. \"This awareness is very helpful in
\nmaking the right policies.\"<\/p>\n
Chanda became familiar with Indonesia, especially on foreign
\naffairs and security policies, through his work for the Review.<\/p>\n
His first interview with an Indonesian political figure was
\nwith then foreign minister Adam Malik in 1973. Other figures with
\nwhom he became familiar include Ali Alatas, Mochtar
\nKusumaatmadja, Benny Murdani, and Ali Murtopo.<\/p>\n
As a stringer and later a correspondent, Chanda worked his way
\nup the career ladder at the Hong Kong-based Review all the way to
\nbecome its editor in 1996. He quit the magazine last year and
\nmoved to New Haven, Connecticut, to work as director of
\npublication for the Yale Center for the Study of Globalization,
\npart of the prestigious Yale University.<\/p>\n
His passion for writing and reading about East Asian affairs
\nand history remains as strong as it has ever been, although his
\nnew work takes him to a different field.<\/p>\n
\"Having spent close to 30 years in East Asia, obviously I
\ncannot walk away from it. In terms of writing a book on Asia, may
\nbe it is not something I will do in the immediate future. But I
\ncertainly would like to come back to some Asian themes
\neventually.\"<\/p>",
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