In 1994, when hundreds of young reporters began to protest against media censorship in President Suharto's Indonesia, a Dutch man, who always had his pipe, met me in a Jakarta cafe. He spoke Indonesian fluently, saying that he wanted to get bulletins and other underground material that these journalists had published.
I was one of those journalists, helping set up the rebellious Alliance of Independent Journalists and advocating free press. He said that he will send those material to his KITLV office, storing them for research purposes. I am more than happy to provide him with those material. It was the beginning of our many meetings, chatting etc. More and more journalists, artists, and activists, also met him, storing books, magazines and even protest banners. "Pak Jaap" is also an editor, working closely with some publishing houses in Jakarta and helping many translation projects. I appreciate what Pak Jaap did in Jakarta, organizing valuable documentation and book publications. Goodbye my friend!
