Novel tells tale of Jakarta's May riots

The Pathfinder of Love; By Richard Oh; Gamelan Press, Jakarta, 1999; 160 pages

JAKARTA (JP): The wounds caused by the economic crisis have yet to heal, but we already have the first novel set against the crisis to be written by an Indonesian in English.

The Pathfinders of Love is a tender tale by Richard Ho set in the aftermath of the May 1998 riots in Jakarta. Even though it is not a fabulous book, because it is so full of familiar facts and faces it is interesting to read.

There is LeeAng, or uncle Ang, the head of the giant GrupAstrix business group, who emigrated from a small province in Guangzhou. While still in his teens, he helped his uncle establish the family as dominant players in the commodity trade. Eventually the shrewd and big-hearted LeeAng branches out into property development and telecommunications. He builds his wealth not at the expense of indigenous Indonesians, but through his perseverance and thrift, and above all because of his close ties with farmers.

His daughter MayLin, who chooses to educate herself locally, is determined to bring to the public's notice all the charitable work done by Chinese-Indonesians. She is greatly troubled by the absence of ethnic Chinese in running the day-to-day affairs of the country.

She feels her family shies away from speaking out not due to a lack of a conscience, but from fear of being exposed and misunderstood by the public.

MayLin's friend and colleague is Rafida, an ardent social worker who often wonders in her most vulnerable moments why she weeps and wastes sleep over raped Chinese women instead of doing something about the illiterate indigenous children she sees on the streets of Jakarta.

The pages of this book crawl with strange men in beards and white flowing tunics, their heads wrapped in elaborate white turbans, who shadow the pious Rizal everywhere, like ominous bearers of ill tidings. Sheryl is also there from a foreign land and culture, yet she proves to be the soul mate of Jailudin, the book's protagonist.

The most interesting parts of the narration are those which describe how the lives of the common people are disturbed and destroyed by a handful of mercenaries who think nothing of starting a religious riot, creating terror and causing death at fairs and festivals where innocent people have gathered to celebrate life.

Through Syafudin, the cigar-chewing, crazy-about-golf, retired soldier, the reader is introduced to the way the military hierarchy operates.

Syafudin leads readers by the hand deep into the bowels of the Indonesian Military Headquarters, where they encounter an overwhelming bureaucracy and a labyrinth of dark places teeming with, "riffraff, hustlers, crooks and go-betweens, plying the offices for the prized rubber-stamp, for a permit or for the precious letter of recommendation that would open up doors to the corridors of ingratiating power and fortune".

It is here that Syafudin, the career soldier, meets a young cadet who accidentally helps him discover the whereabouts of the missing Jailudin. "He had seen droves of these young men, mostly peasant boys fresh out of high school paying their way into the armed forces and then later paying their way up into the ranks. They found refuge in the institution, took pride in the spanking uniforms, the rigmarole of the routine, the fear they inspired on common people, and the potent power in their command. All the wrong reasons, Syafudin thought, to be recruited into the ranks of offices."

Despite some jarring use of the English language and poor editing, the book is precious for being timely and also for making deafeningly clear that Indonesia is home to a plethora of people, from ethnic Chinese to pribumi (natives), Muslims and Christians, tycoons and tribespeople, of every hue and color. And no one dare say to any of them that Indonesia is not their home.

-- Mehru Jaffer