Indonesian Gold (15 page)

At the end of the escrow period, Kremenchug and the
Baird-Subroto partnership found that their stock was practically worthless, and moved on to other
ventures to keep themselves afloat. Kremenchug and Baird kept in touch, both maintaining
interests primarily in Kalimantan's burgeoning mining sector. However, as Indonesia's gold fever
had revitalized interest in prospects
Down Under
, Kremenchug decided to visit Western
Australia where many of his ilk were amassing fortunes, by floating near worthless mining
companies. Unable to resist the hordes of speculative investors lining up to be fleeced,
Kremenchug headed into the West Australian outback, where he became embroiled with a group of
would-be-mining magnates in the small, gold mining town of Meekathara.

****

Sharon Ducay peered through the window, the landscape blurred by sheets of rain. She looked back over her shoulder at the elderly man slumped in an oversized, carved teak and leather chair, and smiled, sadly, then moved to his side. ‘Thank you, General,' she placed her hand on his, the threat of tears real as her eyes dropped to the black armband he wore on the anniversary of his younger brother's untimely death. ‘It means such a great deal to me.' ‘When will you leave?' he asked, Sharon concerned at how he had aged since his recent illness. ‘Tomorrow,' she replied, stroking his arm. ‘You will return in time for Easter?' ‘Of course, General, I wouldn't dream of missing the holidays with you.' ‘Are you certain you can't stay a few more days?' he pleaded, not at all looking forward to her absence again. ‘I should go, General. The timing is right. Besides, Alfredo will take care of you while I'm away,' she consoled, referring to her uncle's muscular manservant who had served under the Filipino officer and then followed him into retirement, at the President's personal request.

‘You should find a young man, get married and settle down,' he suggested.

Sharon
gave him her customary response. ‘When I find someone like you, General,' knowing how dearly he enjoyed having her say so.

‘I will miss having you here,' he complained, but they both knew that it went deeper than that.

‘I will ring you every day,' she promised, ‘and Alfredo, to see if you are taking your medicine.' The General's wry smile greeted this announcement with a wave of one hand in dismissive gesture.

‘Alfredo would be happy to see me gone,' he lied, enjoying this game they so often played whenever Sharon was to leave.

‘General,' she warned, participating in the charade, ‘if he did so, who would he have to beat so easily at chess?' General Narciso Dominguex's once powerful lungs rasped laughter at the thought of Alfredo ever beating him at his favorite pastime. He looked Sharon directly in the eyes, the exchange filled with love.

‘Be careful,' was all he said, and she nodded, squeezing his forearm gently.

‘I always am,' she reassured, confidently. She observed Alfredo waiting at a discreet distance. ‘Now, it's time for your afternoon nap.'

The General sighed heavily, tapping Sharon's wrist softly with his free hand, signaling that he was ready to be led away. Sharon rose, permitting Alfredo with his powerful arms to lift the General to his feet, placing a cane in his left hand, then leading him down the passageway to his sleeping quarters. The aged officer stopped, mid-shuffle, turned with half-bowed head and spoke.

‘We will dine together tonight?' he asked, having forgotten that Sharon had already said so earlier.

‘Yes, General,' she tilted her head, ‘I'll still be here.' The old man nodded then permitted Alfredo to lead him the remaining short distance to his room.

****

During the turbulent past decade, Sharon had been witness to considerable change in her country that had, in turn, required that she develop her own networking skills as the destabilized situation threatened established relationships. When Cory Aquino took up the torch of opposition leading demonstrations against Marcos, until finally driving the former dictator from office in 1986, Sharon accepted the inevitable, believing that the General and his associates would be completely cut off by those elected through the phenomenon of People Power. When the seventh President took charge, her office was continuously threatened with insurrection, separatist movements in the south, and a spate of various natural calamities such as typhoons, earthquakes, volcanic eruptions and even floods. Because of this ongoing instability, the General's former associates managed to maintain some semblance of influence over the new government. The Philippines military, not unlike their Indonesian counterparts, still called the shots regardless of who was in power, and former generals such as Narciso Dominguez continued to enjoy their privileged positions. After six years of experimenting with democracy, General Fidel Ramos replaced Cory Aquino when he won the presidential election in May of that year. Even her uncle had been surprised as, not only was Ramos a protestant in a predominantly Catholic country, but he managed only twenty-three percent of the popular vote.

It seemed that business circles were satisfied with their new president, the stock market rising significantly as did property prices and inflation. Sharon realized that there were considerable opportunities for promoting mining ventures in the Philippines, and her interest in the stock market grew by the day. The country's mining fraternity boasted that there were viable deposits of nickel, zinc, copper, cobalt, gold, silver, iron, and even chromite but, as these had not been seriously investigated, Sharon found herself traveling extensively searching for foreign investors who might be interested in exploiting these resources. Unfortunately, her endeavors were unsuccessful as the mineral exploration in neighboring Indonesia continued to produce frequent, new discoveries of extremely high traces of gold, resulting in a lackluster response to her entreaties. She had gathered groups of local miners and flown to Jakarta in her attempts to drag visiting mining investors back to her own shores. A number of smaller companies did arrive, but not nearly in large enough numbers to create anything like the minerals boom which continued to grow in Indonesia.

Frustrated by falling interest in her country's deposits, Sharon started looking elsewhere for her own El Dorado, finally convinced that her fortunes lay not in the ground, but by what was perceived to be there. She threw herself into studying the stock market and trading, concentrating on mining companies that were basically in the general exploration game, amazed at how easily many of these had raised capital. Sharon compared the different markets, examining mining prospectuses, monitoring results with growing astonishment, as speculative, public floats were frequently oversubscribed, the millions pouring into operations that were, in her opinion, highly questionable. She visited Canada and Australia to discover for herself why these countries were so active in Indonesia, keen to identify parties she could work with – convinced that the right people for her own operation could be found there. Then, after almost two years in the planning, Sharon Ducay was ready. She laid her plan out for her uncle's consideration, and he had unhesitatingly agreed.

Tomorrow, she would fly to Australia and execute the first step in her strategy, by making Alexander Kremenchug an offer he would not refuse, Sharon believing that if her assessment of the man's character were correct, neither she nor the General would ever have to be concerned with a shortage of money, ever again.

****

General Narciso Dominguez lay stretched out on top of the quilted cover, his eyelids closed and still, sleep would not come, his head filled with concern about Sharon's execution of their plan.

His mind roamed – recalling the beginning of the end to the Marcos era. The incident, which would later become known as the
First Quarter Storm
began on January 26, 1970 when a crowd of some twenty thousand threw rocks and bottles at President Marcos and his wife, Imelda. Although the police successfully scattered the angry demonstrators, four days later, thousands chanting revolutionary slogans smashed their way through the Malacanang Palace gates using a commandeered fire truck. The police killed six of the demonstrators, resulting in an even larger mob attacking the American Embassy with Molotov cocktails. Throughout the next decade, Marcos' position deteriorated, and with changing loyalties, so too did many amongst the officer corps. The President's family ignored growing resentment – their frequent and bitter marital disputes clearly marked for public display, when Marcos built bridges and other infrastructure to support his wife's family-related projects, as a token of his retribution for his many extra-marital affairs.

In the 1970s and 80s there had been a gradual build-up for the Philippine Army in terms of manpower, organization and equipment. The Army's strength grew from twenty thousand to nigh on sixty thousand over those years, primarily to combat anti-dissident campaigns, and maintain Marcos' rule as president. There had been communist rebellions in both Luzon and the Visayas and, in Mindanao, highly trained and well-armed Bangsa Moro Army soldiers fought for their secessionist movement, successfully challenging Marcos' troops. Faced with these challenges the President increased defence spending which, in turn, further filled his coffers with gold and US dollars, much of which was used to secure the loyalty of his Army officers; amongst these, General Narciso Dominguez, whose own wealth had multiplied due to his position as Defence Contracts Coordinator, the collections he made, split equally with his erstwhile President.

Competition was growing among Marcos' officers and envy-driven politicians for a greater share of the spoils. As he was prominent amongst those who had greatest opportunity to siphon off millions during Marcos' time, the General decided to move the fourteen tons of gold he held in trust, to a less conspicuous location. At that time, the USAF worked closely with the Philippines Air Force, and the General was aware that a number of their transports were permanently assigned to the PAF. He summoned his younger brother, a senior PAF officer and arranged for a Hercules C130 to transport the hoard to Hong Kong, his brother taking all the family for a timely shopping spree. When they died tragically in the aircraft disaster, two hundred million dollars' worth of gold bars were lost somewhere over the South China Sea, forever. General Dominguez was left with less than five million dollars to see him through to the end of his days and, although a frugal person, this sum had diminished by half, with time.

Years of corruption and fraud in the 1986 elections provoked a popular uprising that sent Ferdinand and Imelda hastily fleeing into exile in Hawaii. But not before their billions in gold, silver and crates of hard currency had already been shipped to Switzerland and the United States. When it appeared that the military would continue to maintain power even under Cory Aquino, the General became concerned for his own welfare.

Dominguez had been loyal to Ferdinand Marcos, even up to his last days and, although saddened by Marcos' death in 1989, when the former dictator's body was returned to the Philippines, he elected not to attend the funeral, not wishing to attract undue attention to himself.

During Marcos' reign, the General had never wanted for anything, the end to Ferdinand's rule having a most disastrous effect on the Dominguez household finances, and the General's health. A mild heart attack had convinced him to disclose to Sharon how he had survived over the years under Marcos, deciding also to place the remaining gold under his niece's guardianship. He recalled taking her down into the damp cellars, watching as Alfredo opened the steel-covered trap. Sharon had inhaled sharply as the overhead light struck the loosely strewn, half-kilo yellow bars in the ground vault, and squealed with delight. A loving smile crossed his lips as he also remembered Sharon reaching down to retrieve one of the metal bricks, surprise on her face at how heavy such a small amount of gold could be. He'd watched, as Sharon counted the hoard, the tally reaching six hundred and thirty seven bars. The secret cache was worth four million dollars, the war chest his niece would require to rebuild their fortunes.

****

‘Boleh juga!'
Angela agreed that the guest speaker was, indeed, handsome; one of their fellow students sitting behind playfully hushed the pair. Jonathan Dau's daughter then pinched the soft flesh of her girlfriend's upper arm in friendly gesture, turning her attention back to the American's closing statement.

‘…and, it is therefore obvious that mining ventures do, in fact, benefit local communities providing sound environmental considerations are strictly adhered to. The grave consequences of irresponsible mining procedures will have lasting effects on not only current generations, but also those still to come. Today, you are students. In the future, many decisions relating to good-mining practices will fall on your shoulders and I ask you to remember the talk I have given today when you make those decisions, and consider how your future determinations will impact on society. Thank you.'

The hall exploded into applause as Stewart Campbell completed his presentation titled
‘Mining and The Environment',
the students rising to their feet in respect, as their professor moved across the dais to thank the visiting geologist for his address.
‘Cakap amat!'
Siti Rahajo thought that the American was up there with her favorite film stars, leaning forward and whispering loudly for all to hear. Angela pretended not to hear, nudging her girlfriend, Nani, and pulling a face. Siti was unpopular with the other girls because of her promiscuousness – and popularity with the boys. This class was now more than halfway through the four-year course and Siti had already slept with most of the male students during their first semester.