Author Peer Holm Jorgensen may have forgotten the handful of Indonesian words he learned 40 years ago during his days as a sailor. But his memories of the 1965 tragedy, which occurred when his ship was docked in Indonesia, remain fresh in his mind.
Jorgensen's memories during the year of living dangerously in Indonesia can be read in his novel The Forgotten Massacre (Den Glemte Massakre), published by Qanita (Mizan Group) and due to be launched during the Ubud Writers & Readers Festival this week.
"People have asked how come I remember the events that happened 40 years ago. But that experience would be something you remember for the rest of your life," Jorgensen says.
His ship docked at North Jakarta's Tanjung Priok Port in September 1965. It was his second visit to Indonesia after an earlier one in 1963, and he could feel the tension in the air.
"If you worked at the port, you would know the routine, what would happen next," he says.
"On October 1, no one arrived and there was no explanation. Instead there were a lot of soldiers, but somehow it felt normal. We also stayed one day longer."
From Jakarta, his ship traveled to other ports in Indonesia, including South Sumatra's Palembang and East Java's Surabaya, where he had the experience of a lifetime.
On the Musi riverbanks in Palembang, he tried to help several Indonesians go to Palembang, but then they met a group of people who stopped them. One of the people pointed a gun at Jorgensen and told him to go after taking away his clothes and belongings.
"I'm sure that I heard a gunshot. The people I tried to help to Palembang were shot," he says.
"At that time, you couldn't identify which one was a soldier and which one was not. There was lot of confusion."
In Surabaya, Jorgensen was at a bar when a shooting took place. He remembers a man coming into the bar, who looked like a soldier. He was followed by another man who also looked like a soldier. Then they started shooting at each other.
"I didn't know what exactly was happening at that time because I hid under the table. They trod on my hand and hit me with the butt of the gun," he says.
From Surabaya, his ship went back to Jakarta and continued on to Hong Kong. During the journey to Hong Kong, Jorgensen was half-paralyzed and could neither walk nor work. He was hospitalized for about one month and had to have stitches all over his body.
During his stay in 1965, he also had the opportunity to meet and talk with many Indonesians, most of whom said that then president Sukarno could do what he wanted to do.
"The more people I asked, the more different answers I got," he says.
"Some didn't even want to answer. It was a time full of tension, but at the same time they were very nice people. At that time, Indonesia was burned into my soul. I never forgot what happened.
"I don't want to accuse anyone with this book," he goes on.
"Many people didn't know what happened, even Soeharto *Sukarno's successor*. He had to do what he thought was right at the time. I think it was someone else doing it in Indonesia. No army, no political party was involved. I think it was the game of the CIA," he added, referring to the US intelligence agency.
Jorgensen wrote the first draft of his book in 1993, but had to stop because he could not find any source confirming what he believed had happened. He then wrote Backlog, a book about management, published in 2000, and May God Save America (M* Gud bevare Amerika), a novel about a black man becoming the president of the United States, published in 2006.
While his second novel was well received in Denmark, no American publishers wanted to publish it because the country was on the verge of the mow historic election.
During his work for the second book, he found what he says was proof of the CIA's interference in the 1965 tragedy. He points out quotes from Robert Martens, who worked at the US Embassy in Jakarta in 1965, saying, "I probably have a lot of blood on my hands. But it's not that bad!"
He read a phrase in an article written by Kathy Kadane, printed in the New York Times. That article also denied US involvement: "Robert Martens worked entirely on his own, without permission of any kind, it was clearly stated by officials."
Another remark by former CIA chief William Colby, who headed the Far East Division in the 1960s: "... maybe. I don't remember. Maybe we did it. I've forgotten," also became the germ for the third book.
Jorgensen says he hopes the book can help Indonesians heal the wounds inflicted by the 1965 tragedy.
"I don't think the court can help heal it," he says.
"You just have to accept that it happened, but not accuse anyone. It won't heal anything. Instead of seeking revenge, they can try to help Indonesia, what can we do for Indonesia, just as Kennedy said.
"My schedule doesn't include meeting with the families of the victims, but I would love to do that," he adds.
Born on March 3, 1946, Jorgensen had a special place in his heart for Indonesia since his school days. He says he had a teacher who told the class about routes to far-flung places. He would then draw lines from Denmark to the places on his atlas, which he still keeps to this day.
His teacher also told him about the 1955 conference in Bandung, West Java. After that, he and his friends gave each other nicknames such as Sukarno, Nehru, Nkruma and Lumumba.
"My name was Sukarno or Nehru, depending on the topic," he says, smiling.
"Indonesia has more to offer to the world besides cheap labor and white beaches. Indonesia can play important role on the world stage, just as president Sukarno did before."
Growing up in Frederikshavn, a small city on the northeastern coast of the Jutland peninsula in northern Denmark, Jorgensen spent his free time at the port, which was only 50 meters away from his home. Sometimes he would go out to sea and fish with the fishermen, who would ask him to skip school. He was eager to see the world at that time.
"When I was 15, I decided to go to sea," he says.
"I didn't dare ask my parents, so I asked my sister. She took it to my parents, and they said, *If you want to do it, then you should do it.'"
Working as a galley boy, Jorgensen traveled to many places and met people of various backgrounds, ethnicities, religions and ways of life, with each encounter confirming his belief that all people should have an equal opportunity.
"I'm not too happy about what the white race has done to the rest of the world. It doesn't give you right to do bad things to other just because of the color of your skin," he says.
"But there's a new kind of racism: financial. As long as we can keep someone in poverty, we can get control. This is why we don't see any well-functioning country in Africa."
He left the sea and returned to Denmark in 1969 to complete his education, trying his hand in many fields afterward.
He worked for a spell in the finance and systems department of shipping company Maersk, tried moviemaking and became a human resources consultant.
In 2006, he established the publishing company ISOTIA, to publish books connecting mankind to the past, through the present to the future. He is currently working on his next books, one about destiny and the other about the human passion to make war.
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