History does repeat itself, as Marx said, first as tragedy then as farce. Days after being evacuated from Dili in the aftermath of the Timorese ballot on independence, I found myself in Jakarta's Merdeka (Liberty) Square. Angry young "patriots" were besieging Western embassies or UN buildings and one such group had gathered here, many the children of Indonesian soldiers killed in East Timor.
The theme of the demo was the "intrusion" of "foreign aggressors" into "Indonesian" affairs. Perturbed at events within "his country's" illegal colony, one youngster bore a banner saying "Neokolim Go Home". The word Neokolim (neo-colonial-imperialist) is part of the rhetoric of the angry 1960s when, then as now, Jakarta seethed with belligerent nationalism.
Highway
Walking down the Jalan Thamrin highway, I came to the circular fountain with its twin pylons, on top of which are two ecstatically gesturing figures. My imagination hit rewind as I crossed the traffic-clogged highway to the Hotel Indonesia. Like the pseudo-Stalinist Welcome Monument, it was called into existence in 1962 by President Sukarno for the Asian Games.
Just inside the lobby, I noticed some mounted sepia brown photos. Dr Sukarno, distinctive in his trademark dove-grey uniform with black fez-hat and gold swagger stick, jokes with Robert Kennedy and surveys plans for rebuilding the capital.
The Hotel Indonesia, paid for by the Japanese (reportedly with wartime reparations) and managed by an American company, was then an oasis of modernity in a fetid and diseased city of six million. Outside the air-conditioned lobby was Konfrontasi; Confrontation.
Dr Sukarno had coined the slogan Tahun Vivere Pericoloso (the Year of Living Dangerously) 35 years ago. Indonesia would confront the world.
Lording over a vast nation on the brink of economic meltdown, Sukarno told cheering crowds at his Soviet-financed stadium that the UN could "go to Hell". If the newly independent Federation of Malaya was admitted into the community of nations, Indonesia would withdraw.
In retrospect, the diminutive despot, nourishing his ego within his "palace of dreams" at nearby Bogor, was never anything more than a petty megalomaniac.
Paratroopers
But in 1964, Konfrontasi echoed the 1933 withdrawal of Germany from the League of Nations and the coming war. Meanwhile, Sukarno was dropping paratroopers over the Malay frontier. The same Gurkas now stationed in Dili once engaged Indonesian troops on the Sarawak border.
When I came out of the Hotel Indonesia, I could see the British embassy which, so far, has been relatively unscathed in the 1999 Konfrontasi. In the early 1960s, it was sacked by communist students (British troops were fighting Chinese-backed geurillas in Malaya) as was the Indian embassy (Indian troops were fighting the Chinese in the Himalayas).
At his rallies, Sukarno vilified the USA and USSR with equal bile; the wave of the future would be a "Jakarta-Peking Axis". All foreign assets were to be nationalised. The Ganyang Malaya (Crush Malaya) campaign hinted at invasion. The political balancing act which had sustained the country since independence was breaking up. Hyperinflation was at 10,000 per cent.
Suharto purge
In the end, of course, the anti-communist generals prevailed. In September 1965, the horribly mutilated bodies of five of them were pulled out of a well at Halim Airfield. Blame was attributed to the Communist Party, led by D.N. Aidit. The little-known General Suharto seized power and wiped out nearly one million Indonesians in a purge, ostensibly directed against the Left, in time consolidating absolute rule by the military.
Thus, after 35 years of a Jakarta-Washington Axis and a 25-year Ganyang Timor campaign, Indonesia is one of the most corrupt societies on earth. The flamboyant nepotism of General Suharto and his wife, Ibu Tien (Madame Tien per cent) has been the stuff of legend. Over 100 million people there live in absolute poverty.
In the new "Year of Living Dangerously", Suharto's close friend and protege, B. J. Habibie, knew the true implications of Timor's independence. Does the new incumbent, Abdurrahman Wahid?
Despite the "patriotism' of the stone-throwing and flagburning youths, today's Konfrontasi is internal. The world's fourth most populuos nation now faces a historic showdown between civillian and military forces.
A full half century after the Dutch departed, the contradictions of Sukarno's dreams are colliding. The West Papuans want their own Merdeka. So do the people of Aceh. Christians and Muslims are clashing in Ambon. The old hatred of the ethnic Chinese is being revived.
As for the Jakarta students, brandishing red and white flags or "Kill Xanana Gusmao!" posters, if they truly hate the "Neokolim", I urge them to protest outside the nearest Army barracks.