No subject

December, he achieved a remarkable amount. He flew first to Kuala Lumpur, where 
he offloaded his cash. Then he went to Manila, where he met Al-Ghozi, an 
Indonesian who travelled on false Philippines passports.

Known to JI members simply as "Sammy" and "Mike", Jabarah and Al-Ghozi cased 
the US and Israeli embassies in Manila. But, after deciding there were not 
enough Israelis working at the Manila mission, and the US embassy was too well 
guarded, they turned their sights to Singapore.

The Sammy and Mike team split up and travelled separately to Singapore in 
October last year to avoid suspicion.

There they linked with the Singaporean members of JI, and began to videotape 
potential targets, including the strip of Napier Street where the Australian, 
US and British missions sit side by side. A copy of the taped targets would be 
found in an abandoned al-Qa'ida house in Afghanistan the following month.

Hambali and Jabarah gradually developed a clear plan. The suicide team would 
explode seven trucks containing 21 tonnes of ammonium nitrate outside the 
Australian, US, Israeli and British embassies in Singapore. 

Jabarah kept an apartment in Kuala Lumpur, and in December last year he met 
again with Hambali and the unknown Azzam there to fine-tune the plan. But 
suddenly, news came of sweeping arrests in Singapore.

The arrests followed disclosure from a local cell member, who had revealed all 
to the Special Branch. Since then, more than 100 JI members have been detained 
in Singapore and Malaysia under those countries' internal security acts. 
Hearing of the arrests via email, Jabarah fled to the Middle East. Hambali 
found his way first to Thailand, conducting a key meeting with Jabarah near the 
Thai-Malaysia border.

He then caught a boat from Penang to Medan, in Indonesia.

Thai officials were tracking him at the time and missed him by a "whisker".

One month later, as The Australian revealed yesterday, Hambali returned to 
Bangkok, meeting with JI's spiritual leader, Abu Bakar Bashir, and other cell 
members. There, they identified Bali as a potential new target.

It was not until Jabarah's arrest in April in Oman, where he was helping al-
Qa'ida members escape Afghanistan, that the extent of al-Qa'ida's involvement 
in the Singapore plot became clear.

US authorities – who have spent the past six months interrogating Jabarah in a 
secret apartment – have uncovered previously unknown direct links between al-
Qa'ida's worldwide and Asian operations.

After extensive interviews with intelligence officers based in the region, 
including access to secret documents, The Weekend Australian has learned that 
the US now believes the great clue to those links is Khalid Shiek Mohammed.

Khalid's name is not new to anti-terror agents. The uncle of the 1993 World 
Trade Centre bomber, Ramzi Yousef, Khalid had first popped up in the mid-1990s 
in The Philippines, where he is believed to be the mastermind of a plot that 
would have seen suicide agents hijack 12 American airliners. That plan – 
codenamed Bojinka, a Bosnian word for explosion – was foiled in 1995 when the 
Manila apartment where Yousef and his WTC associate, Abdul Hakim Murad, were 
working, caught fire.

Inside, investigators found computers detailing the planned attacks. Murad was 
arrested when he returned to retrieve his laptop. Yousef was caught in Pakistan 
the following year. Both are now serving life sentences in the US.

It was Murad's interrogation by Philippines officers, however, that alerted 
agents to Khalid. Murad, who trained as a pilot in the US and boasted to 
interrogators he first had the plan to "dive (a plane) into the CIA building", 
met Khalid in July 1993 in Karachi.

Pakistan-born Khalid spent 1994 in The Philippines where he acted like anything 
but a committed jihadist. He was a regular at Manila's infamous Firehouse 
girlie bar.

Colonel Rodolfo Mendoza, who led the Bojinka investigation, said: "He is very 
clever, a highly covert individual. This could have been him creating himself a 
covert identity."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The Straits Times
Dec 13, 2002 Fri
I paid $53,000 to Bali bombers, says suspected militant 
By Brendan Pereira 

Kuala Lumpur - Another piece of the Oct 12 Bali bombing puzzle has fallen into 
place with an admission by a suspected Malaysian militant that he paid 
US$30,000 (S$53,000) to the alleged bombers.

Wan Min Wan Mat told investigators here that earlier this year he was 
instructed by Hambali - also known as Riduan Ismaudin, a key figure in the 
outlawed Jemaah Islamiah (JI) group and point man for the Al-Qaeda network - to 
hand over the money to Mukhlas, another key JI operative.

Wan Min was told that the money was to fund 'an important project' in Indonesia.

At that time, he was unaware that the money was to fund the attack on the 
nightclub in Bali. Only after a meeting in Solo, Indonesia, in the middle of 
the year did the purpose of the funds become clear, he told security officials.

The Straits Times understands the money changed hands in southern Thailand.

During his interrogation, Wan Min also made clear that Hambali was still the 
most important member of the JI network in the region.

Following the arrests of several suspected militants in connection with the 
Bali blast, Indonesian police suggested that the mantle of leadership of terror 
cells in the region might have been handed over to Mukhlas or other ranking JI 
members.

Wan Min's account places Hambali at the apex of the region's terror network.

Security officials say it is quite possible that those arrested in Indonesia 
sought to minimise Hambali's role by saying others had replaced him as the 
puppet master.

They noted that when he conducted lessons for JI members in Malaysia, he had 
said that if any of them were arrested, they should remain silent for as long 
as possible or give information sparingly.

Wan Min was arrested in Kota Baru, Kelantan, on Sept 27 when he slipped in from 
Thailand where he had been hiding. After nearly a year on the run, he returned 
home because he missed his wife and four children. He had hoped to blend back 
into kampung life and keep a low profile.

But Malaysian police had been on the lookout for him since he established his 
senior status in the JI chapter here.

He is believed to have been the head of a terror cell in Johor.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The Age (Melbourne)
Deals possible for Bali bombers
December 14 2002
By Darren Goodsir, Darren Gray

Some of the Bali bombers may win special deals from Indonesian prosecutors in 
return for giving testimony that links the detained cleric Abu Bakar Bashir to 
the organisation of the attacks. 

Commissioner Mick Keelty, of the Australian Federal Police, said yesterday that 
approaching some of the alleged terrorists to give evidence for the prosecution 
against Bashir was a real option. 

He said it might be impossible to corroborate reports of Bashir's attendance at 
a special planning meeting for JI chiefs in February, where an attack on Bali 
was first raised. 

It has been claimed that Mukhlas, the detained Bali terrorist and alleged 
operations commander for Jemaah Islamiah in South-East Asia, has told his 
interrogators of Bashir's intricate involvement in the attacks. "So far, we 
have only circumstantial material - and strong inferences are being drawn from 
that," Mr Keelty said. 

Mr Keelty will go to Indonesia next week to discuss how the prosecution case 
will be conducted against those accused of the Bali bombings.

He will meet Indonesia's national police chief, Di Baktiar, to discuss the 
latest on the investigation. 

Mr Keelty and Prime Minister John Howard reacted cautiously to comments by 
Bashir reported in yesterday's Age. In response to questions from The Age, 
Bashir said Australia would be "destroyed instantly" if it launched pre-emptive 
strikes against overseas terrorist targets.

Mr Howard said yesterday: "This country self-evidently bears no ill-will or 
malice toward any Muslim country, or to Islam. . . . We have not, and will not, 
behave with any belligerence towards any countries in our neighbourhood or, 
indeed, towards any Islamic countries."

An Indonesian spokesman for the investigation, Brigadier-General Edward 
Aritonang, said he did not know if the claim was true. 

"The interrogation of the suspects only started this morning, so if there was a 
suggestion like that, it didn't come from the investigation team."

- A Balinese man described as a "contact person" was arrested last week in 
relation to the bombings, Indonesian police revealed yesterday.

General Aritonang said the man, named Maskur, was of Pakistani descent but born 
in Bali. Maskur was arrested in the Denpasar boarding house where Imam Samudra 
was known to have lived before the October 12 bombings. 
-- with Wayne Miller
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Newsweek International 
Let’s Not Forget Bali 
-- The West should rally around Third World cities, too 
By Karim Raslan
Dec. 16 issue 

This time last year the world was recovering from the shock of the World Trade 
Center attacks, and New York was getting back on its feet. But New York—the 
world’s premier financial, business and media center—wasn’t expected to recover 
from the tragedy of 9-11 on its own: an outpouring of support, both moral and 
economic, came when it was needed most. And, slowly but steadily, the city 
began to right itself. 

Visitors came in droves to show their support—and shop, filling the sidewalks 
in SoHo and the storefronts along Fifth Avenue and Broadway. Actors, singers, 
musicians and virtually anyone who’d ever appeared in People magazine declared 
their undying love for Manhattan. Even hardheaded businessmen and think-tankers 
gave in to the moment: Klaus Schwab moved the World Economic Forum from its 
familiar home in Davos, Switzerland, to the Waldorf-Astoria in an act of 
solidarity.

But, two months after the bombings in Bali, the silence here is almost 
deafening. Where are the Bali boosters? No one in London or New York has talked 
about rallying around a scarred Bali, a deeply traumatized Indonesia or even a 
shaken Southeast Asia. When New York is attacked, the world must wear its grief 
on its sleeve. But when bombs go off in Bali, Mombasa or the streets of another 
Third World city, we are expected to move on without a backward glance. For 
Indonesians, especially the more Westernized elite, the absence of sympathy has 
been galling. “Last year we were all New Yorkers,” says Rizal Mallarangeng, the 
director of the Freedom Institute in Jakarta. “Now that we’ve been targeted, 
the West is determined to isolate us to prevent ‘contagion.’ The hypocrisy is 
shameful.”

Many of Indonesia’s critics have been dismayed by President Megawati 
Sukarnoputri’s poor leadership before and since the bombing, blaming her 
inaction for Bali’s misfortune. But surely New York wasn’t brought back from 
the brink simply because Rudolph Giuliani was an effective mayor. And the 
people who live on the Island of the Gods are now bracing for a second bomb—
namely, the social and economic consequences of a complete collapse of the 
tourist industry. Arrivals at Ngurah Rai Airport have plummeted more than 80 
percent. Early estimates suggest that up to 100,000 people may be laid off and 
a further 300,000 people—simple farmers and handicraft workers—affected in 
turn. Some politicians worry that with a population of only 3 million, such a 
dramatic economic downturn could have severe implications for relations between 
the island’s Muslims and Hindus. The frustration for Goenawan Mohamad, 
Indonesia’s leading essayist, is palpable: “Even though we’re victims, we are 
being punished a second time. There are security warnings and travel bans. No 
one is saying, ‘Let’s go to Bali and show the terrorists that we’re made of 
sterner stuff!’ ”  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The Age (Melbourne)
Inside the tinderbox
December 14 2002
-- Achieving independence was a long, hard struggle, but that was only the 
beginning. Mark Baker reports from Dili.

It is a simple but splendid house, with whitewashed walls and a high-pitched 
roof of timber and thatch. It sits beside a village on the eastern outskirts of 
Dili with a view that sweeps across the harbour. An open-air dining room 
separates two wings of living quarters. 

The orchard is planted and a team of workmen is putting the finishing touches 
to the courtyard garden with its ornamental pond.

This is the place Jose Ramos Horta dreamt of in the long and lonely years in 
exile, the years spent traipsing between hotel rooms and temporary apartments 
around the world as he struggled for a cause that many others thought lost. 

Its construction was a cherished ambition that would become the measure of a 
job done; a homecoming that would mean East Timor was at last independent and 
free.

On Wednesday of last week, the house of East Timor's new Foreign Minister 
almost became another casualty of the worst violence to shake the country since 
1999, the year that militias, armed and directed by the Indonesian military, 
laid waste to the territory in a desperate effort to avert the inevitable end 
of Jakarta's brutal colonial adventure.

This time it was Timorese turning on their own and, as hundreds of rioters 
smashed, burnt and looted their way through the heart of the capital, word 
spread that a section of the mob was heading for the foreign minister's house.

Local villagers armed themselves with knives, machetes and sticks and took 
positions along the main road, prepared to confront any attackers. 

In the end, the rioters were halted a couple of kilometres away as Bishop 
Carlos Belo - the man who shared the 1996 Nobel Peace Prize with Ramos Horta - 
bravely stepped out alone and turned back the angry tide. 

Others were not so lucky. The homes of Prime Minister Mari Alkatiri, his mother 
and another owned by the family were razed. A hotel billeting United Nations 
workers was stripped bare and torched - after the guests' bags were emptied 
along the street for swarms of looters to take their pick. Scores of terrified 
worshippers cowered in a mosque as the attackers tried to set it alight, after 
burning eight houses within the grounds.

Earlier, at the parliament, MPs were forced to flee over a back fence as the 
mob smashed windows and vandalised cars. Along nearby streets, dozens of shops, 
offices and restaurants were set upon. The Australian-owned Hello Mister 
supermarket was gutted by fire. Other random targets included the fortified ANZ 
Bank building and the Telstra office, where staff huddled inside as the 
attackers hurled rocks through the windows and attempted, unsuccessfully, to 
smash their way in.

By next morning, two young rioters were dead and another 16 were in hospital 
with bullet wounds, two of them critically injured. Most, according to 
witnesses, were hit when panicked Timorese police opened fire after the mob 
broke through their lines into the grounds of the police headquarters. But at 
least five claim they were wounded when police drove through the streets late 
in the afternoon firing at suspects. 

Ramos Horta was in Madrid when news of the violence came. "I was very shocked 
when they told me what had happened," he says. "I didn't fight for 24 years for 
the independence of this country to see this happen. I am so disillusioned, so 
disappointed. It has certainly set back our efforts to promote a new era of 
peace and stability."

Eight months after East Timor toasted the end of a quarter of a century of 
Indonesian occupation to the rousing applause of the international community, 
the mood of celebration has largely disappeared, replaced by rising 
disillusionment, frustration and anger.

The Timorese are now wrestling with the bitter realisation that independence 
was not the answer to their problems, merely the beginning of a fresh and more 
complex struggle to secure the future. 

Triggered by the arrest a day earlier of a student suspected of involvement in 
a murder, the violence quickly became the focus for a range of simmering 
economic and political tensions. Some senior members of the government and 
international observers believe there could be further and more serious 
upheavals unless urgent measures are taken to answer those grievances. 

'The people have suffered for so long and now they want the good life that 
independence promised. They are impatient and they won't settle for promises 
any more. There are growing social divisions and if they are not addressed the 
situation will become serious," says Avelino Coelho de Silva, a former student 
activist and leader of the Timorese Socialist Party.

Underpinning last week's upheaval is the grinding poverty and lack of 
opportunity now confronting most rural and urban Timorese. Unemployment is 
estimated to be running as high as 65 per cent. More than 40 per cent of East 
Timor's 800,000 people live below the poverty line, earning less than $A1 a 
day, with average life expectancy at 56 years and half the adult population 
illiterate.

Already ranked among the poorest nations in the world, East Timor's GDP is 
forecast to contract by 1.1 per cent this year. A severe drought has compounded 
problems in the provinces, where the near-collapse of export markets for lower-
grade Timorese coffee has left tens of thousands of farmers vulnerable. Vital 
revenues from the rich oil and gas reserves of the Timor Sea are still perhaps 
years away - further delayed by Australia's failure to meet its promise to 
ratify the enabling Timor Gap treaty by the end of this year.

A temporary economic boom in Dili built on the influx of UN personnel that 
created thousands of service sector jobs for Timorese is now collapsing. The UN 
interim administration is gone and most of the remaining UN advisors, 
specialists and peacekeepers are due to pull out over the next 18 months.

"We lack water, lack markets, lack transport, lack schools, lack health 
assistance. Our situation is very precarious in spite of the advances that have 
been achieved," Prime Minister Alkatiri told a gathering of officials from 
donor nations in Dili this week.

But poverty is nothing new in East Timor, and it is widespread and growing 
disenchantment with the performance of Alkatiri's administration that critics 
both within and outside the Fretilin Government say is providing a powder keg 
for further civil unrest. 

"Fretilin is failing to answer the people's aspirations and they have lost the 
confidence of the people," says Fernando de Araujo, leader of the Democrat 
Party, the largest opposition group, a former deputy foreign minister and one 
of many to accuse the government of arrogance, nepotism and incompetence. 

Opposition MPs contest the legitimacy of a government that was shoe-horned into 
power by a UN administration determined to force a rapid political transition 
after the historic 1999 referendum voted overwhelmingly for the country to 
break away from Indonesia. They point out that the 88-member assembly elected 
in August, 2001, was chosen only to draft a new constitution and that Fretilin 
used its numbers to extend its rule for five years - while reneging, with the 
UN's acquiescence, on a pledge to form a national unity government.

Critics say Alkatiri has lost legitimacy and support by failing to address the 
humanitarian crisis in rural areas, tolerating corruption within his cabinet 
and politicising the courts by over-ruling decisions.

More seriously, he has challenged the authority of President Xanana Gusmao, the 
former guerrilla commander whose post is largely ceremonial but who is still 
revered by the vast majority of Timorese.

In an extraordinary speech on November 28, Xanana - long estranged from the 
political party whose small but determined military wing he led for more than a 
decade before being captured and jailed by the Indonesians - denounced the 
government's failings. 

"This is the disease that dragged many political parties and many recently 
independent countries into disarray, inefficiency, corruption and political 
instability, where the members of the government are well off, but their people 
live in misery," he said, while demanding the sacking of deeply unpopular 
Internal Administration Minister Rogerio Lobato, "on the grounds of 
incompetence and neglect".

Alkatiri brushed aside the criticism and flatly refused to dismiss the 
minister, igniting a public confrontation with Xanana that many believe added 
fuel to the anti-government anger of last week's violence. But the conflict 
between the president and the prime minister is only one symptom of deep and 
more dangerous divisions within the ruling party.

The government is dominated by exiles who fled the country after the Indonesian 
invasion in 1975 and only returned when the peace was won. Many of them, like 
Alkatiri, led relatively comfortable lives in Mozambique, another former 
Portuguese colony. They are bitterly resented by the Fretilin veterans and 
members of the urban resistance who stayed behind to fight and now feel 
marginalised and estranged.

"Last week's violence shows there is deep resentment towards the Prime Minister 
and we cannot just dismiss it," says a senior government official. "If the 
Prime Minister insists on staying, I don't think this is going to stop. The 
problem for Fretilin is that it needs to find a more consensual and competent 
person, but there is no obvious alternative and Alkatiri is determined to fight 
to hold on to the job."

There are fears that disgruntled veterans, along with restive students and the 
growing ranks of the urban and rural unemployed are ripe for exploitation in 
further unrest, either by elements within the government seeking to foment 
violence to advance their own political ambitions or by leaders of the old 
Indonesian-backed militias now living in refugee camps across the border in 
Indonesian West Timor.

There is substantial evidence that powerful Fretilin officials from within the 
Interior Ministry were involved in trucking in protesters from rural areas to 
join last week's unrest and then inciting the rioters once the violence began. 
Indonesian military officials also confirmed this week that they had identified 
a number of militia supporters who were in Dili last week and fled back across 
the border after the violence. 

"There are thousands of these militia people still living in West Timor. These 
people are not sleeping. Their business is not finished and they are waiting 
for an opportunity to come back," says Mario Carrascalao, governor of East 
Timor for 10 years under the Indonesians and now an opposition leader. "We were 
united against the Indonesians, now we are divided. That is the responsibility 
of those who are in power and the dangers are great if we don't recognise where 
this could be leading."
-- Mark Baker is The Age Asia Editor.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
ABC Radio Australia News 
13/12/2002 22:42:46
UN police make arrests over East Timor riot 

United Nations police in East Timor have arrested seven suspects for the 
torching of the prime minister's house during recent riots in the capital, Dili.

The violence on December 4, in which two people died and 25 were injured, was 
the worst since East Timor declared independence from Indonesia in May. 

About 10 buildings were gutted by fire or severely damaged, including a 
supermarket, a hotel, four shops and Prime Minister Mari Alkatiri's home.

UN police have also arrested 10 people for looting.

The riots ostensibly began as a student protest against police but government 
officials say the arson attacks appear to be have been planned.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The Age (Melbourne)
Victims tell of Dili police shootings
December 14 2002
By Jill Jolliffe, Dili

Five gunshot victims interviewed by The Age in the Dili hospital yesterday say 
they were shot by roaming groups of special police in the capital's outer 
suburbs after the main rioting last week had subsided.

Their claims contradict the widely held view at the time that all shootings 
occurred when police allegedly fired on demonstrators from their Dili compound 
around 9.30am as it was stormed by stone-throwing students.

Eighteen people were shot during the disturbances, two of them fatally.

"They drove by the (Dili) suburb of Colmera, got out and started shooting," 
said student Jose Luis Soares, 21. "There were seven or eight of them, facing 
me from about 50 metres . . . I was shot with a pistol, directly, without 
warning shots."

He said his foot wound had been inflicted by agents of the elite special police 
unit (SPU). 

Mr Soares said he had been shot five hours after the compound shootings, which 
allegedly involved Timor-Leste Police Service regulars. TLPS officers were not 
seen again on Dili streets that day, leaving rioters to burn and loot at will.

The new testimony of the gunshot victims spoken to by The Age provides prima 
facie evidence that SPU agents followed rioters to outer suburbs, opening fire 
without warning.

Brick maker Alarico da Costa, 21, was shot in the buttocks around 2pm, also in 
Colmera. "The police got out of the car and shot at me and other people," he 
said. "They all shot simultaneously, with no warning."

Secondary student Jose dos Santos maintained he had not gone to school that day 
but stayed home until midday, then went to the suburb of Bairro Pite to buy a 
card he needed to sit his exams. He said he had been shot in the thigh around 
2pm when several police opened fire on a crowd running towards him.

Some victims may have tailored evidence to conceal involvement in the 
disturbances, but two gave credible testimony that they were mere bystanders.

Marcel Ximenes, 23, and Hermenegildo Correia, 30, are stallholders at Comoro 
market, near Dili airport, and were shot after 5pm.

"There were demonstrators on the road and they ran into the marketplace with 
SPU police chasing them," Mr Ximenes said. "They got out of the car and began 
shooting. I wasn't in the demonstration. My life is just working to get enough 
to eat."

Mr Correia said he had been tidying his cigarette stall at the end of the day 
when "four or five" police arrived and started shooting.

The claims by the gunshot victims emerged as East Timor's UN administrator, 
Kamalesh Sharma, yesterday announced that six East Timorese police officers had 
been suspended for alleged discipline problems.

Mr Sharma said: "Some discipline problems were evident within the Timor-Leste 
Police Service during fourth of December." 

This had resulted in the "suspension, pending investigation of conduct" of six 
officers.

SPU officers are not among the six people suspended.

Mr Sharma also said UN police had arrested seven suspects in the burning of 
Prime Minister Mari Alkatiri's residence during last week's riots in Dili.

Another seven people have already been remanded for 30 days for looting during 
last week's riots.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The Jakarta Post.com
Headline News
December 14, 2002
'The Year of Living Dangerously' author returns after 34 years 
Hera Diani, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

For the first time in 34 years, Australian author Christopher John Koch, better 
known as CJ Koch, returned to Indonesia, the setting of his 1978 best-selling 
novel The Year of Living Dangerously.

Arriving on Thursday, the 70-year-old author will be here until next Tuesday, 
to take part in a fundraising event arranged by the Jakarta Foreign 
Correspondent's Club in a program called The Harry Burton Memorial Scholarship 
for local journalists. 

The program is aimed at commemorating the death of Burton, a Tasmanian 
(Australia) cameraman who worked in many parts of Indonesia for two years, 
before being killed in Afghanistan last November. 

The scholarship will be awarded to a television journalist or a camera person 
for a one-month journalism course arranged by University of Indonesia and an 
international Non Governmental Organization. 

The first prize was given last month to cameraman Erawan Deny Nugroho from LNG 
TV Bontang in East Kalimantan. 

As for Koch, he was invited by the Club due to his particular novel and another 
work entitled Highways to a War which touched the lives of foreign journalists 
covering Southeast Asian countries. 

The latter novel is based on the career of Tasmanian cameraman Neil Davis who 
apparently was Burton's role model. 

"I knew Neil in high school, back in Tasmania. I didn't know Harry, but as a 
Tasmanian, the tragic death of Harry makes me sad. He is a very special man. 
I've read about his career and his respect for Neil. So there's a connection 
between us," Koch told reporters on Friday morning, prior to a charity gala at 
the Hotel Mandarin in Central Jakarta. 

Besides the fundraising, Koch is in town to for The Year of Living Dangerously 
book signing at QB World Books on Jl. Sunda in Central Jakarta on Monday at 
5:30 p.m. 

The event is important as the novel has long been "unofficially" banned here as 
it plays out against the backdrop of political strife in Indonesia in 1965. 

The story tells about Australian journalist Guy Hamilton, who was thrust into a 
hotbed of political turmoil and the alleged coup attempt by the now extinct 
Indonesian Communist Party (PKI) in President Sukarno's last days as the 
leader. 

Later on, the movie -- produced in 1983 with the same title and which Koch co-
wrote the screenplay -- was also banned here. 

The Year of Living Dangerously was directed by Peter Weir (Dead Poets Society) 
and starred a dashing young Mel Gibson as Hamilton, Sigourney Weaver and Linda 
Hunt. 

"The book, as far as I know has never been officially banned. But I don't think 
it's ever distributed here. As for the movie, I can understand why it was 
banned as there was a part where civilians were being shot by police. While it 
never happened during the coup," Koch said. 

At the book signing, Koch will be accompanied by his brother Philip, a retired 
ABC reporter who helped a great deal in writing the novel as he was here in 
1965, covering the historical events that led to Soeharto becoming president.