The return of the Dutch
The commanding officer of the Netherlands Indies Central Administration (NICA) acted more or less as the governor of the new re-occupied territory. I came to work in the legal division as a translator. Colonel Klein was my direct boss. I had to translate the letters from Dutch into English. I was often asked to accompany guests to the interior.
I came to know an undergraduate student from Jakarta who came to Makassar to observe the current situation. He was later known as Prof Dr Kalim. Once I had to accompany him to Maros or Pangkadjene. I did not remember the place so well. Kalim was to attend a meeting between Colonel Klein and the local authorities about an election. We arrived earlier than predicted, so we had time to visit a home industry where the well known "lipa sa'be" (silk sarong) were woven. He bought several sarongs and asked me to send it to Jakarta by post. Afterwards, he sent me a letter to say that one sarong was missing. At that time, such case was not a rarity, and to complain about it was an impossibility.
Not long after this trip, I was informed that I had been put at the disposal of the Australian battalion which has its office in the former residence across the street. I was surrounded by Aussies. Captain Ray was the leader of the legal section. He asked me to interrogate a Japanese Prisoner of War. I also had to translate Japanese documents into English which was not always so easy. After all, I had not had a normal course in Japanese though I had picked up quite a bit of it.
However, there was one boy, Alister, who was born and educated in Japan as his father had his business there. He often helped me. Then, there was Len Opie who was the Adjutant of Captain Ray. These Aussies were so young, still in their teens, I suppose. Len was also very helpful. In the beginning, it was hard to follow their Australian "slang". Len explained to me that he could speak English correctly, but his friends would frown at him. So, he was obliged to speak as they did!
When talking to me, Len was very careful. I got a liking to those young Aussies. They had been away from home for a couple of years. When Christmas came, I invited them for a simple Christmas dinner. Luckily, one of my relatives who was a clever cook was in town. She made sharks' fin soup and some other dishes from the available ingredients at that time. I wrapped some picture frames, a letter opener, Balinese statuettes, etc. as my Christmas presents. There was nothing available at that time. No shops were open. Only the local market opened for daily meals.
A simple Christmas indeed, but enjoyable! The first since the end of the terrible war! In spite of the absence of wine, those young boys were really grateful. It was not very much of a Christmas party but at least there was peace and gratitude in our hearts!
I could sense their eagerness to be home again. However, they still need to spend some more time in Indonesia. They had to replace the Dutch who had not enough troops yet to occupy the area.
Len often came to see me. One Sunday morning I provided him with a bicycle, and we cycled to Sungguminasa which was about 11 km south of Makassar. It was very pleasant to cycle along the deserted roads. It gave us a feeling of peace.
I knew a peasant's family living in this village. He welcomed us in his typical Makasaresse house of bamboo on stilts, surrounded by rice fields. He was very pleased to see us and offered us some tea. When it started to get raining, we excused ourselves. Len put on his army raincoat and gave me his jacket. We took leave of those friendly people. By then, Len had the idea of how an ordinary family lived in South Celebes.
Soon the Aussies left us. The situation became more and more normal.
(Note: real names were not checked as it was not easy to find the sources of bibliography)
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