“I beg your pardon, Colonel.”
He repeated the question loudly and even less articulately, but this time I got the meaning.
“Yes, I am qualified.”
“Then you will consider yourself under the orders of the National Freedom Government. Any delay or negligence in the carrying out of such orders will be punished immediately by death. Major Suparto …”
“A moment, Colonel.” It was Sanusi who had spoken.
Colonel Roda stopped speaking instantly, his eyes alert and respectful within their nests of fat.
Sanusi considered me in silence for several seconds, then he smiled amiably. “Mr. Fraser is a European,” he said; “and Europeans expect high payment for their services to natives. We must fix a good price.”
Roda laughed shortly.
“Were you paid a good price in Tangga, Mr. Fraser?”
“Yes, General.”
“And yet you hope to leave us?”
“A man must return to his own country sometimes.”
“But what is a man’s own country, Mr. Fraser? How does he recognise it?” He still smiled. “When I was a child here in Sunda and worked with my family in the fields, I did not know my country. If we were near a road and a Dutchman came by, or any European, my father and mother had to turn and bow respectfully to him. Us children, too. It was the Dutchman’s law and, therefore, the Dutchman’s country. Are you married, Mr. Fraser?”
“No, General.”
“The woman with you. Is she a Christian?”
“I don’t know, General.”
“There are three fine Christian churches in Selampang. Did you know that?”
“Yes, I knew.”
“And the Buddhist and Brahmin places of worship, they are also very fine. Have you seen them?”
“Yes.”
“Tell me, where are the mosques?”
I hesitated. Roda laughed again.
“I will tell you,” Sanusi continued; “one is by the cattle market, the other is by the Chinese fairground. They are small, decayed and filthy. They are insults to God.”
He was probably right; but I could not see what it had to do with me.
“And yet President Nasjah wears the cap.” He touched his own significantly. “And so do the members of his Government. Which mosque do they go to for prayer? The cattle market or the fairground? Or do they worship in the toilets of the Presidential Palace?”
I stood there, woodenly.
“They say they won our independence as a nation from the Dutch,” he went on. “They lie. It was the Japanese forces who defeated the Dutch, and the forces of circumstance that gave us our independence. But the hands of Nasjah and his gang were there to receive it, and so they seemed to the people like great men. The people are loyal but misguided. We have no great men. Under the Dutch, no Sundanese was permitted to rise in the public service above the rank of third-grade clerk. So now we have an administration controlled by third-grade clerks, and a government of petty thieves and actors. We are corrupt, and only discipline can save us from the consequences. To you, to any European, that much is certainly obvious. But it will not come from outside. Not from China, not from America. It will come from what is already in us, our faith in Islam. Of that you may be sure. Meanwhile, we need help. That we must ask help from Europeans and Unbelievers is humbling to us, but we are not vain men.”
There was a pause. Some comment seemed to be expected of me.
“What is it you wish me to do, General?”
“A trifling service. Major Suparto will explain.”
“One of the bombs that fell in the square just outside damaged the main water conduit,” said Suparto, evenly. “The lower basement of this building was flooded and the generator equipment which supplies the power for the radio transmitter has been put out of action. It is necessary that it should be repaired immediately.”
“But I don’t know anything about generators.”
“You are an engineer,” snapped Colonel Roda.
“But not an electrical engineer, Colonel.”
“You are a technician? You have a university degree? And are there not generators at Tangga?”
“Yes, but …”
Sanusi raised his hand. “Mr. Fraser is a technician and also a man of resource. That is sufficient. For a suitable inducement he will lend us his skill. Yes, Mr. Fraser?”
“It’s not a question of inducement, General.”
“Ah, but it is.” His smile faded. “This woman, Van der Linden, whose religion you do not know, does she please you?”
“I like her, yes.”
“To us her presence is offensive,” he said. “Perhaps, if you do what is required, you will persuade us to tolerate it.”
“I’ve tried to explain, General. It’s not a question of whether I want to help you, or don’t want to. It’s just that I don’t happen to have the right kind of knowledge. There must be someone in this city better qualified to help you than I am.”
“Coming from Tangga, you should know better than that, Mr. Fraser. Obviously, if there were a technician here better qualified to repair the damage, we should use him. But we have no one available, and work must begin at once. You must be ingenious. You must acquire the knowledge.”
“With all due respect, General, you don’t know what you’re talking about.”
Roda sprang to his feet with an angry exclamation, but I took no notice of him. “I’ll see what I can do to help,” I went on; “but, for goodness’ sake, leave Miss Linden out of it.”
Sanusi stared at me for a moment, then shrugged. “Certainly, if you wish. What is it you want instead?”
I did not immediately understand what he was getting at, but from behind me Suparto spoke quickly. “Mr. Fraser did not mean that, Boeng. If he is successful, he will hope that the woman’s presence may be tolerated, as you suggest.”
“Ah, good.” Sanusi glanced at Roda. “For a moment, Colonel, I was afraid that what happened to his woman was of no interest to our engineer.”
Roda chuckled. He had seen the joke coming.
Sanusi looked up at me. “We understand one another?”
“Yes, General.”
“Then there is no more to be said.” He nodded dismissal. “God go with you.”
I went.
6
Suparto led the way back to the stairway and we began to walk down.
“Was this your idea?” I demanded.
“No. It was the General’s.”
“Do you agree with it?”
“I am not in a position to agree or disagree. But I think he has had worse ideas.”
I glanced at him, but he did not seem to be aware of having said anything odd.
“What’s the extent of the damage?”
“That you will have to discover for yourself. There are two of the station engineers below. Perhaps they will be able to help you.”
“Station engineers? Why can’t they do the job themselves?”
“That is a polite way of describing them. They know how to operate the transmitter, which switches to press, which dials to turn, but they are not technicians. They know nothing about the generator except how to start it.”
“But somebody on the staff must know.”
“Possibly, but we have only certain members of the staff with us. The sympathisers.”
“You’re in control of the city. Can’t you round up the others?”
“The three senior technicians are all Chinese. We have sent patrols into the Chinese quarter with instructions to find the men, and they may eventually succeed. But not today, and perhaps not tomorrow either. The General cannot wait.”
“Why not? What’s so important about the radio? I shouldn’t have thought that there were very many people in the country with short-wave receivers.”
“It is not the people inside the country who matter to the General. It is the impression outside that he is concerned about. Later today, he proposes to broadcast again in English. His speech will be addressed to the cities whose good opinion matters most to him at the moment: Djakarta, Singapore, Canberra and Washington. The speech, part of which you have already heard, will be issued to the world press correspondents here at a special conference afterwards.”