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At one point, it began to rain. A heavy, tropical downpour. I could not record well, but he was unwilling to stop.
"You can stay overnight," he suggested.
'Like in Afghanistan', I thought, 'whenever I work there and begin to speak Russian', people want to host me, feed me. They want to speak and remember. Because the dreams of the past is all they have left now.
*
Back in Palangkaraya, Ms. Ida, Tjilik Riwut's daughter, sits in cafe' that she owns, surrounded by black and white photos of her father, the former governor of the province, who is in them working, speaking and travelling together with President Soekarno and various other top officials, as well as with many common local people.
She and her daughter Putri, do not know much about the 1965 massacres. Or they say they don't know. Many topics, including this one, are fully taboo, until now. Or especially now, that the island of Borneo is thoroughly ruined, mined out, deforested and poisoned by foreign corporations and local thugs described as 'businessmen'; those who got into the driving seat after the 1965 genocide. Perhaps, they simply do not want to address the topic. I will never find out. Whatever it really is, 'they don't know'.
But Ms. Ida speaks, openly, about the days when the city was born:
"I still remember when the Russian engineers were building the infrastructure here. Palangkaraya was built from zero. Russians, together with the local Dayak people, were cutting through the forest, putting tremendous effort converting wilderness into the city."
Behind her back is an old photo of her father, with his famous quote engraved on top of it:
"It is my obligation, to fight for this region, and it is also my obligation to listen to the voices of the people. It is because we are servants of the people and our nation."
We hear basically the same things from a famous local journalist, Mr. T. T. Suan. Unfortunately, we find him bed-ridden, in grave medical condition. We do not want to disturb him, but his family insisted that we come in and sit at the edge of his bed. During the exchange, his daughter held his hand and shouted into his one good ear (he is deaf in the other ear, after being beaten, brutally, after the 1965 coup, as he was accused of 'collaborating with Tjilik Riwut').
With weak but determined voice, he explained:
"I still remember that era, when we, together with the Soviets, were building progressive Palangkaraya City. This was era full of enthusiasm and discipline. Yes, Russians really taught us about discipline: when we came to the office in the morning, and planned our activities, you could bet that by night, everything would be implemented."
We asked him about the disappeared master plan of the city.
Lost in dreams, he began recalling details that he still remembered by heart:
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