'The Year of Living Dangerously' author returns after 34 years<\/p>\n
Hera Diani, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta<\/p>\n
For the first time in 34 years, Australian author Christopher
\nJohn Koch, better known as CJ Koch, returned to Indonesia, the
\nsetting of his 1978 best-selling novel The Year of Living
\nDangerously.<\/p>\n
Arriving on Thursday, the 70-year-old author will be here
\nuntil next Tuesday, to take part in a fundraising event arranged
\nby the Jakarta Foreign Correspondent's Club in a program called
\nThe Harry Burton Memorial Scholarship for local journalists.<\/p>\n
The program is aimed at commemorating the death of Burton, a
\nTasmanian (Australia) cameraman who worked in many parts of
\nIndonesia for two years, before being killed in Afghanistan last
\nNovember.<\/p>\n
The scholarship will be awarded to a television journalist or
\na camera person for a one-month journalism course arranged by
\nUniversity of Indonesia and an international Non Governmental
\nOrganization.<\/p>\n
The first prize was given last month to cameraman Erawan Deny
\nNugroho from LNG TV Bontang in East Kalimantan.<\/p>\n
As for Koch, he was invited by the Club due to his particular
\nnovel and another work entitled Highways to a War which touched
\nthe lives of foreign journalists covering Southeast Asian
\ncountries.<\/p>\n
The latter novel is based on the career of Tasmanian cameraman
\nNeil Davis who apparently was Burton's role model.<\/p>\n
\"I knew Neil in high school, back in Tasmania. I didn't know
\nHarry, but as a Tasmanian, the tragic death of Harry makes me
\nsad. He is a very special man. I've read about his career and his
\nrespect for Neil. So there's a connection between us,\" Koch told
\nreporters on Friday morning, prior to a charity gala at the Hotel
\nMandarin in Central Jakarta.<\/p>\n
Besides the fundraising, Koch is in town to for The Year of
\nLiving Dangerously book signing at QB World Books on Jl. Sunda in
\nCentral Jakarta on Monday at 5:30 p.m.<\/p>\n
The event is important as the novel has long been
\n\"unofficially\" banned here as it plays out against the backdrop
\nof political strife in Indonesia in 1965.<\/p>\n
The story tells about Australian journalist Guy Hamilton, who
\nwas thrust into a hotbed of political turmoil and the alleged
\ncoup attempt by the now extinct Indonesian Communist Party (PKI)
\nin President Sukarno's last days as the leader.<\/p>\n
Later on, the movie -- produced in 1983 with the same title
\nand which Koch co-wrote the screenplay -- was also banned here.<\/p>\n
The Year of Living Dangerously was directed by Peter Weir
\n(Dead Poets Society) and starred a dashing young Mel Gibson as
\nHamilton, Sigourney Weaver and Linda Hunt.<\/p>\n
\"The book, as far as I know has never been officially banned.
\nBut I don't think it's ever distributed here. As for the movie, I
\ncan understand why it was banned as there was a part where
\ncivilians were being shot by police. While it never happened
\nduring the coup,\" Koch said.<\/p>\n
At the book signing, Koch will be accompanied by his brother
\nPhilip, a retired ABC reporter who helped a great deal in writing
\nthe novel as he was here in 1965, covering the historical events
\nthat led to Soeharto becoming president.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/the-year-of-living-dangerously-author-returns-after-34-years-1447893297",
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