Indonesia

Trip to Pematang Siantar, on Sumatra

During the wet season of 1971 we felt rather cut off from the rest of the world. GARUDA had stopped flying to Kupang altogether, and MERPATI would come only on the very odd occasion. Mail was one of the casualties as a result of this. Sometimes we would receive a large batch of mail, all by sea. The Post Office in Jakarta had instructed the sorters to send our mail on at the first available opportunity to Kupang. If this was a ship, no matter when it would arrive in Kupang, all the mail would be put on that ship, if it was a plane we received the mail very quickly. Sometimes we would be without mail for four or five weeks. I don't know what we would have done without Radio Australia in those days. It was the only communication which kept us in touch with the rest of the world.

It was during this time that GMIT wanted me to join four other members of Synod to attend the Assembly of the Indonesian Council of Churches (DGI) in Pematang Siantar, Sumatera. Because of the unreliable air traffic, I decided to go by the Motor Vessel EGON. This was a coastal vessel, a front end loader, which could just land on the beach anywhere and lower it's front on the sand, from where it could be loaded. The crew of the EGON rented out their berths to passengers. Another minister from GMIT, Iban Laiskodat, was also on board the EGON with his family. He was to become the army chaplain in Bali. He hired one berth, so did I. He shared it with his wife, and I felt I had to offer to share mine with their little son, although it became rather cramped, and the cabin was stuffy and hot. I preferred to sleep on deck, on top of copra bags. However, I kept the berth for rainy days.

Our first stop was Maumere on Flores. I bought some fruit there, as I could see that food was going to be a problem for me. The ship had loaded many bags of copra and coconut oil, and a lot of new passengers. They all slept on deck. The next stop was Reo, at the western end of Flores. The weather was fine and I had plenty of time for reading and relaxing. The light house crew on Pulau Kelapa changed, the family had to serve on that island for six months. What a life, so isolated and far away from other people! The EGON went through scattered volcanic islands. They all had a cap of clouds around their peaks. It looked like fairy land.

We also stopped on the beach off the island of Komodo, where the famous komodo dragons, the largest of the monitor lizards, still live in the wild. Unfortunately, we couldn't see any from the ship. We were advised not to go on the island, as the komodos were liable to attack unsuspecting tourists. They could easily kill a person.

On Sunday Iban Laiskodat held a Protestant service in the front part of the ship. We had sailed past the islands of Sumbawa and Lombok, and could see in the distance a very high volcano emerge above the mist. This was Gunung Agung of Bali.

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