The rainbow never sets

guarantee not only tolerance between different religions, but also harmony between the so-called 'evangelical' and 'ecumenical' churches. The philosophy behind the Five Principles was to create a state which was different from either the capitalist or the communist world.

The success or failure of the nation was to be evaluated according to the Pancasila principles. The second principle being Nationalism, with the emphasis on national unity, building up the nation with religious and racial harmony. The third principle is Democracy, which was to create political harmony, not along the way of the Western democracies, where according to Sukarno, the first President, 51% of the people could rule over 49%, but where decisions were to be taken by the traditional way of consensus. The fourth principle is Humanitarianism. This is to safeguard individual human rights and their culture and race. The fifth is Social Justice, where economic opportunities were to be opened for all on an equal basis. These were high ideals.

When we arrived in Timor in September 1969, the church was still struggling with its European heritage. It was then numerically the third strongest church in Indonesia, with a membership of about 550,000 people. The Catholic church had approximately 300,000 members in Timor and its surrounding islands. There were very few other religions present, except, perhaps, in the bigger towns, especially in the capital Kupang. Kupang, on the Western periphery of Timor, is the provincial capital of Nusa Tenggara Timor (NTT) which includes all the surrounding Smaller Sunda Islands, except Sumba. Before we had even been appointed by the Presbyterian Board of Mission to go to Timor, I had tried to read as much as I could about the region, but there was not much available. Ormeling's Timor Problem was the only book I found in the library, and it gave me a reasonable description of its geography and climate, but there was very little about the people and the current situation there.

After our appointment, the church put us in contact with the currently serving missionary of the Methodist church, the Rev. Peter Stephens. He and his wife Jan had helped us enormously when it came to decide what to take with us and what to leave behind, and they never tired of answering questions such as what the temperature would be, whether Kupang had electricity, about doctors, medicines and schools. They even suggested we bring enough toilet paper to last us three years, as that was unavailable in Kupang. We also brought plenty of chloroquin against malaria, mosquito repellents, prickly heat powder, bandages and ointments. It was an endless list, and we were ever so grateful for their wonderful help.

Our last day in Sydney had been very hectic. Our Holden station wagon was sold to John Arlom, who was going to pick it up from our garage the day after our departure. Our neighbours across the road had invited us for breakfast of Monday, 22 September 1969. A large taxi took us all with our luggage to the airport. There was no one to see us off. We would have

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