The Timor Man

The

Timor

Man

Published by:

Sid Harta Publishers for Kerry B. Collison and

Asian Pacific Management Co. (S.A.) Ltd.

Telephone: (61) (0 414) 958623

fax: (61) 03 9803 4414

Address: PO Box 1102 Hartwell,

Victoria
, Australia
3125

 

First published 1996 as
The Tim-Tim Man
Revised Edition, January 1998 Third Printing, March 1999 Copyright © Kerry B.Collison, Sid Harta Publishers and Asian Pacific Management Co. Ltd. S.A, 1998

Text: Kerry B.Collison Cover Concept: Guy W. Collison Typesetting Corrections: Rachel Carn Final Proof Reading: Judith Bibo Author's Photograph: Courtesy of Ned Kelly and the Bundaberg News Mail, Queensland

This book is copyright. Apart from fair dealing for the purposes of private study, research, criticism or review, as permitted under the Copyright Act, no part may be reproduced by any process without the written permission of the copyright owners.

Collison, Kerry Boyd

ISBN 9781877006128 (Epub)

To my wife Ni Nyoman Sukasani

and our children Sinta Dewi and

Guy Winston Collison

Kerry B. Collison followed a distinguished period of service as a member of the Australian Embassy in Indonesia during the turbulent Sixties followed by a successful business carrier spanning thity years throughout Asia.

Recognised for his chilling predictions in relation to Asia's evolving political and economic climate and as the only Australian ever to have been personally granted citizenship by an Indonesian President, he brings unique qualifications to his historically-based vignettes and intriguing accounts of power-politics and the shadowy world of governments' clandestine activities.

The author's biographical data is avaliable on the Internet at:
http://www.sidharta.com.au

 

“And the beast was captured, and with it th
e

false prophet who in its presence had worked th
e

signs by which he deceived those who had received th
e

mark of the beast and those who worshipped its image
.

 

These two were thrown alive into the lak
e
of fire

that burns with sulphur.
”

 

Revelation 19, verse 2
0
From the Revelation to Joh
n

(The Apocalypse
)

New Testament, Holy Bibl
e

Prologue

Map of S.E. Asia

 

Book 1, 1965, Indonesia in turmoil

 

Nathan Seda, Jakarta — January 1965

Albert Seda, Stephen Coleman — April 1965

Kampung Semawi, Java — October 1965

Magelang Detention Centre for Communist Detainees

Jakarta — 1966

Canberra — Australia

Jakarta — Irian Barat

 

Book 2, 1975, Timor

 

Map of Timor-Timur

 

Canberra — Jakarta

Jakarta
— the Kongsi

Wanti

Jakarta
— the riots

Melbourne

Timor
— 1975-1978

Canberra
— Jakarta

Canberra
— East Timor

Jakarta

Jakarta
— Timor-Timur

Timor-Timur

 

Book 3, the Present

 

Saigon

Jakarta
— Macau

Canberra — Ho Chi Minh City — Jakarta — Hong Kong

Hong Kong

Canberra

Canberra

Independence Day — Canberra

 

Epilogue

Glossary

There are many who have assisted with this novel.

On more than one occasion, I wanted to give up and surrender all hopes of finally completing this tale and had it not been for the support of those who believed in me then this book would not be a matter of fiction but merely a figment of my imagination.

Determination is obviously not enough. And by itself, neither is energy. Together they are sufficient to see one through the endless months and in this case, years, of work and self examination.

Often, just one critique is sufficient to break a writer's spirit; I was fortunate to have the critic and the guide who provided the way out of the dark literary jungle I had created for myself. In this respect, I wish to acknowledge the support and assistance of Denise Cox, without whose honest criticism this novel would not have been published.

I also wish to thank Judith Bibo for re-proofing the new release and the many readers who have written to support my work on the trilogy.

The
Timor Man
is a work of historical fiction.

Originally, this story was released with the title
The Tim-Tim Man
, however, out of respect to the East Timorese people I have re-titled the book.

Fact and fiction are often held to be difficult bedfellows. In this novel, I have attempted to weave both into a narrative that general readers will enjoy, readers who have not had the benefit of witnessing at first-hand the incredible changes that have occurred in Asia over the last few decades.

Perhaps some of the descriptions of events and military hardware could be challenged, but for the greater part, the novel is supported by what I believe to be a solid foundation of fact.

In 1965 and 1966, during the time which many of us later understood as the
‘Year of Living Dangerously
', almost half a million people died in one of the worst blood lettings since the Jewish Holocaust.

Later, between the years of 1975 and 1990, almost a quarter of a million East Timorese were killed by Indonesian soldiers. More died, in fact, than were lost in the terrible wars in what are now known as the Former Yugoslavian Republics.

Although this story was not written with a political purpose, I hope it will reach your heart and appeal to your soul. As our world enters the twenty-first Century, we still go about killing each other more than ever before. Human nature doesn't seem to change.

Only the historical facts do.

Kerry B.Collison,

Kompong Som

The Present

   
The explosion erupted through the assembly.

Figures danced momentarily before disintegrating into heaps of lifeless flesh and bone. The blast ripped through the guests hurling musical instruments into the maelstrom of human carnage, decapitating a bandsman.

Then, for an immeasurable moment, silence ...

A shrill cry pierced the quiet, then a cacophony of screams emphasised the full horror of the blasts.

    

1965
Indonesia in Turmoil