Foreign vets join freedom fest

Foreign vets join freedom fest

JAKARTA (JP): Eighteen foreigners who took part in Indonesia's
independence struggle were invited by the Armed Forces as special
guests of Indonesia to take part in the various events to
celebrate the nation's golden anniversary.

The eighteen were among guests of honor during the
presentation of the State of the Nation Address by President
Soeharto at the House of Representatives on Wednesday.

One of them was Bijuyananda Patnaik, 77, an Indian pilot who
flew the nascent republican leaders Mohammad Hatta and Sutan
Sjahrir in 1946 out of Indonesia to New Delhi for a meeting with
Indian prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru.

That meeting led to India giving its full support to Indonesia
in the bitter struggle against the Netherlands, both on the
battlefield and at the United Nations.

Patnaik was assigned by Nehru to go to Indonesia to check on
the allegations that Sukarno, the republic president, was a
Japanese puppet. "When I went back, I told Nehru that Sukarno was
like (Mahatma) Gandhi in Indonesia, so he changed his opinion,"
he said. "I'm very pleased to see the development of your
country," Patnaik told The Jakarta Post.

There were Pakistanis who were members of the British Indian
Army sent to fight against Indonesian freedom fighters.

Mohammad Kasam Dad, 76, said he and a few others deserted
their corps on the first day of their arrival, after learning
that the Indonesians they were fighting against were Moslems and
shared some of their own culture.

He recalled sharing the good and bad times with Indonesian
fighters when they were fighting from within the forests.

He stayed in Indonesia after the war was over, and married an
Indonesian women. He later returned to Pakistan and worked for
the Indonesian embassy there.

Abdul Rahman bin Abdul Basar, 75 years, is a Malaysian citizen
who came to Indonesia in 1946 to join in the independence fight.
He felt obliged, for his father was an Acehnese.

Toshio Okihara, 73, was a Japanese naval officer stationed in
Jakarta during World War II. He was one of the Japanese officers
who were very supportive of Indonesians's desire for
independence. "I feel that I have been an Indonesian, even to
this day," he said.

On his return to Japan, he helped found the Jawa Society
Nihhun Indonesia in Tokyo. (03/05)