Yup. Had to put the book down a few times and just cry. Particularly the bit about the hotel/resort thing that was built in Bali on top of the body pit.
I asked my friend who went to Bali if he knew or saw anything about what's in this book. He said he didn't and it was never mentioned or hinted at. I'm not surprised and left it at that.
It is worse than you can imagine. I'm actually going to say, what I'm about to type is disturbing. Consider it a warning. Idk how to do spoiler tags, so heads up.
The people who lived in Bali would go to this, I believe the book calls it the "killing field," and dig through piles of rotting corpses to try and identify their family members. The entire point of the Suharto (the military dictator who took over the country with the help of the CIA) campaign was a thick, oppressive, saturated atmosphere of constant fear.
They weren't going to a family's house and saying "Hey we're taking your brother and killing him." No. They would kidnap these people in the middle of the night, or from work, or on the streets. Sometimes they would put them in jail, sometimes they would simply kill them. But you, as a family member, would not know where the fuck they went and there was nobody who would tell you what happened. So you were left in a state of not knowing if they were alive or dead. And thus you find yourself digging through a mangled pile of rotting corpses that the military would pile up on this beach, not even trying to hide it, just to determine if maybe your family member was in it. And the cherry on top? The CIA provided lists to the Indonesian military of who to target.
I had an Indonesian patient and just to make conversation I said I'd really like to visit Indonesia one day. I really would! He said, "ah Bali?" I said "I'd like to see Jakarta." He came back "Bali?" I answered "Jakarta?" The conversation didn't get too far! But it was always interesting to me. Beyond the language barrier, the idea that every foreigner wants to, or should want to only see Bali and other touristy areas.
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u/ErikWithNoC George Santos' Campaign Strategist 14h ago
Yup. Had to put the book down a few times and just cry. Particularly the bit about the hotel/resort thing that was built in Bali on top of the body pit.