In the time of madness - Richard Lloyd Parry

In 1965 and '66 madness seized Indonesia. Half a million people were killed as the old president, Sukarno, lost power to a new one, Suharto. Thirty years later Suharto began to lose his grip. In this remarkable book, Richard Lloyd Parry, a young British journalist, takes us right into the centre of the maelstrom that tore Indonesia apart.

The violence began in Borneo, Dayaks against Madurese, and spread to Sumatra and East Timor. The Dayaks believe in magic, in cutting off and collecting the heads of their enemies, and in eating their hearts. (They also love English football: Man U and Spurs.) In Sumatra Lloyd Parry watches students demonstrating against Suharto and being shot down by the police. Jakarta is set alight and looters are everywhere. 1200 people are killed in Jakarta alone. Suharto eventually resigned in May 1998, but the violence continued.

When Lloyd Parry returned in the spring of 1999 there was fighting all over Indonesia, Muslims against Christians, East Timorese against Indonesian militias. In the jungle Lloyd Parry finds the Falantil guerillas who are fighting for independence, and he is there when the militias' violence escalates to massacre. His account has an extraordinary immediacy. You can smell the smoke, the blood, the fear.