An Indonesian Hero Behind the New York Strike

KALIBATA, 23 August 1972. There was a gentle tapping from the door that night at around nine. Muhammad Ali raised up from his seat and opened the door revealing a familiar face of his neighbor. Ali welcomed him in.

They had a warm chat at the drawing room. Most of the time, it was just Ali and his wife listening attentively to their guest's story. "He talked about trade, his story in Europe, and his journey from Indonesia to America. I can't remember everything; I didn't take any notes. I just listened and agreed to what he said," said Ali, aged 90, to Historia.

The night had grown darker. The guest began to express his intention of visiting. He handed Ali a power of attorney, asking Ali’s help to claim the government allowance for the independence pioneers and to manage the money for his wife, as he was planning to go somewhere he didn't further specify.

Ali turned down his request. He thought it would be better if the allowance was to be claimed by the man's wife herself. The guest didn't persist. He then asked Ali's permission to leave.

Meanwhile, in a house not far from Ali’s, Siti Aminah was feeling uneasy. It was already past midnight but her husband wasn't home yet. She went outside to check whether her husband was around. Through the dimness of the night, she caught a shadow of someone standing under the rambutan tree beside her house.

Aminah walked forward to the tree, but was stupefied instantly. That shadow turned out to be his husband. His body was already stone-cold. She could see a rope wrapped around his neck, tied to one of the rambutan tree's branches.

"It was the night before Friday, year of '72," recalled Budimansyah, 58 years old, the man's son.

The man, an independence pioneer, was Charles Bidien. He passed away at the age of 68 and was buried in a cemetery located inside a narrow alley close to Warung Jati, several meters from the area's drainage. Bidien's grave was a striking contrast to the Kalibata Heroes Cemetery which was only two meters away.

The Death of a Friend

Charles Bidien was a native Acehnese. He was born in Meureudu on 18 July 1904 as Bidien bin Harun. There were no records regarding the life of his parents. Just like the others, he lived his normal childhood. It was only after he turned six, when a harrowing experience left a scar on his heart.

That day, Bidien was playing with his friends while the Dutch troops were patrolling around his village. Amat, one of Bidien's friends, suddenly ran and shouted: "Kafir! kafir! kafir...!", calling the colonial troops infidel. A moment later, a shot was fired, and Amat fell on the ground, lifeless.

The death of Amat was imprinted on Bidien’s mind, changing the course of his life. He detested the Dutch. When he was 23, he participated in communist rebellions in West Sumatra.

<div class="quotes-center font-g text-align-center">The ship workers from Indonesia were coerced to sign unfair contracts written in Dutch they understood very little of.</div>

Bidien was captured in Pangkalan Brandan and was detained for two years. As one of the colonial dissidents, he was on the brink of being banished to Boven-Digoel, but he managed to escape. From Pangkalan Brandan, he ran away to Belawan and eventually landed in Singapore. There, he worked on the British ship S.S. City of Rangoon which sailed him to the United States.

The ship arrived in Boston, Massachusetts, on 8 February 1930. Bidien stayed on the ship and continued his voyage to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It was at this town where, according to the immigration record of the United States published by the Institute of Pacific Relation, Bidien finally left the ship. Since then, his new life on the Land of Liberty began, although there are very limited accounts of his personal life there right after his arrival.

In a draft written by him titled Gerakan Angkatan '45 di U.S.A (Generation '45 Movement in the U.S.A), Bidien didn't include any details on how he survived the "wilderness" of New York when he first got there.

In New York, Bidien added "Charles" to his name. Later, he married Eleanor Lebsky whom he mentioned worked as a linguistic professor in Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The age disparity between the couple—Bidien was 17 years older—didn't prevent them from marrying each other. They had a daughter named Elizabeth Bidien and settled in Brooklyn where they managed two restaurants and three inns.

Bidien's role in the US began in 1943, a year following the departure of the Dutch from Indonesia after being defeated in war by the Japanese.

<div class="strect-width-img"><figure><div><img src="https://cdn.prod.website-files.com/61af270884f7a0580d35618e/61cc16809527644cd33e0da9_618a20c5991386cb1761c049_pelabuhan-newyork.jpeg" alt="img"></div><figcaption>New York Harbor after World War II. (gjenvick.com)</figcaption></figure></div>

Indonesian Laborers Protest

New York Harbor was unusually quiet. It was in 1943, when 300 Indonesian laborers working for the Dutch ships anchoring in the harbor decided to run away and flee to the Seaman House as a result of their dissatisfaction over wages inequality. They pledged not to return to the ships until their request of having equal wages to the Dutch sailors was met.

Historian Greg Robinson in "The Great Unknown and The Unknown Great: The Incarceration of Indonesians in the United States: An Untold Story" mentions that the ship workers from Indonesia were coerced to sign unfair contracts written in Dutch they understood very little of.

However, at the Seaman House, they were kicked out by an immigration officer and demanded to return to their ships. Instead of obeying the order, they hid under the buildings of New York.

Aware of the adversity the Indonesian ship workers were facing, Bidien started his move. He discovered that seven ship workers had died on the street, three others had been sent to an asylum, and some others were captured for committing a crime.

"At night, they roam the streets looking for leftover food inside the trash cans. In the daylights, they hide like a rat under some strangers’ houses. Most of them don't have warm clothes to protect them from the freezing air. They have no money and no ability to speak English. It is almost impossible for them to get a job anywhere," wrote Bidien in Gerakan Angkatan '45 di U.S.A.

With the help from Muhamad Sjarif Keling, a migrant from Singapore, Bidien was finally able to meet the Indonesian workers. At that time, around 200 people gathered under a building situated between 107th Street and Lenox Avenue, Harlem.

Bidien saw them barely surviving the cold weather by wrapping their feet with used newspapers. Most of them came there with a thin shirt and ragged cotton trousers. Five were severely ill. Bidien then called an ambulance to take them to the nearest hospital and gave them 250 dollars to buy food.

The next day, Bidien asked 60 guests in his inns to pack their belongings and move out in three days because the rooms were going to accommodate the two hundred Indonesian workers.

Subsequently, Bidien and his Indonesian compatriots founded a labor union, although they completely disregarded the requirement to join Atlies Seaman Union which was chaired by a Dutch.

The joint action of the Indonesian workers apparently made a significant impact on the war necessities, hampering the shipment of weapons to Europe and Africa. As an ally of the Dutch, those bold actions made the US government decide to step in.

In no time, the inns owned by Bidien were raided by the police. Every ship worker staying there was captured and accused as pro-Germany and Japan. Approximately a hundred other people around New York were also seized and sent to Ellis Island to be incarcerated. Greg Robinson said that the other 40 workers who left the ships in San Francisco were detained in the Sharp Park detention camp.

Two months later, Bidien was demanded by the War Shipping Administration to persuade the workers to return to their ships. Bidien then came to the detention center and assured them that they could propose several conditions before returning to the ships.

All of their claims were accepted. To them, Bidien was hailed as a hero, but to the Dutch people and the Americans, Bidien was regarded as a potential threat.

Establishing a Network

Charles Bidien quickly became a name to be reckoned with. Bidien was getting busier. He was appointed as the chairman of the United Victory Committee of the Nederland Oversen Territory, an organization comprising ship laborers from Indonesia, Suriname, and Curacao.

His political network also expanded, with some notable names he affiliated with including several professors who supported the independence of Indonesia such as Dirk J. Struik, Raymond Kennedy, and W.E.B. Du Bois. He maintained a close relationship with the leaders of the labor unions in New York and the members of New York City Council.

In New York, many Indonesians had been actively taking action to gain support for their country’s independence. In the 1930s, an organization was formed under the name Indonesia Committee for Democracy (Incodam). This organization was later changed to Indonesia Club of America Inc., and eventually renamed to Indonesia League of America Inc.

During its existence as Indonesia Club of America Inc., the organization was chaired by John R. Andu, an Indonesian living in New York. Under Andu’s leadership, the organization succeeded in drawing support from prominent Americans. One of them was Julian Ross, a high-ranking official and an international relations expert in the Congress of Industrial Organization (CIO), a federation of industrial unions in America.

Frances Gouda in Indonesia Merdeka karena Amerika? mentions that Ross being a part of the movement pinpoints that CIO, an organization representing the progressive wing of the US labor movement, despite officially rejecting the principles of communism, supports the independence of colonized nations.

Charles Bidien was also a member of Indonesia Club of America Inc. In March 1945, in one of the organization meetings, Bidien expressed his opposition to the Dutch's plan to colonize Indonesia once again. In that meeting, Bidien was chosen as the chair of Komite Politik Indonesia (Indonesian Political Committee) in New York and the editor of Indonesia Review, the organization magazine.

<div class="flex-content-podcast"><figure class="img-left"><div><img src="https://cdn.prod.website-files.com/61af270884f7a0580d35618e/61cc1680b768d27bc7096533_618a214f756c9c567757e4ec_demo-1.jpeg" alt="img"></div><figcaption>Demonstration supporting Indonesian’s independence in San Francisco and Los Angeles. (Repro. American Visions of the Netherlands East Indies/Indonesia)</figcaption></figure><div class="img-right"><div class="podcast-container"><img alt="person" class="entered loaded" data-ll-status="loaded" src="https://cdn.prod.website-files.com/61af270884f7a0580d35618e/61cc1681cd0e3cf610f5f294_618a216c756c9cffc757e4fb_muhammad-ali.jpeg"><div class="audio-podcast"><audio controls controlsList="nodownload"><source src="https://d220hvstrn183r.cloudfront.net/premium/podcast-elegi.mp3" type="audio/mpeg">Your browser does not support the audio element.</audio></div></div><div class="caption"><span><b>Muhammad Ali, </b><br>Charles Bidien’s Friend</span></div></div></div>

Ships Loaded with Weapons

In Jakarta, the defeat of Japan by the Allies prompted the national leaders to proclaim the independence of Indonesia. In New York Harbor, 11 Dutch ships loaded with weapons were ready to weigh the anchor to Indonesia.

Aware of the situation, Bidien immediately contacted a chief in the Ally Shipping Pool. He received information that the ships would sail only after the entire ship crew on board. It occurred to him that the only way to stop the ships was to go on a strike.

In fact, there were strikes already taking place in Australia. Since September 1945, the Dutch ships had been boycotted in several harbors such as Sydney, Melbourne, and Brisbane. In Spanning a Revolution, Molly Bondan wrote that over the course of a week, the strikes have spread to New Zealand, Singapore, India, Sri Lanka, Middle East, England, and the United States.

While those strikes were happening in Australia, Bidien and the chief visited the office of National Maritime Union of the USA to borrow a room as a venue for a general meeting.

Friday, 19 October 1945 was chosen as the date of the event. On the same day, 600 Dutch soldiers who had been trained in North Carolina were planned to be deployed in Indonesia.

The general meeting became an opportunity for them to protest. They all voiced their support for the independence of Indonesia. In addition to the 200 Indonesian ship workers, there were also 3,000 Indonesians from around New York present there. The meeting was held until nine at night.

After the attendees dispersed, the 200 ship workers remained in the room. They moved to another meeting room and locked the door, devoting their attention to Bidien who led the discussion. He explained his strike plan and demanded the laborers' loyalty to the Republic of Indonesia, subsequently forming a strike committee led by Edy Marlan and Masri.

The next morning at nine, Bidien reported to the Ally Shipping Pool that 200 Indonesian ship workers had started a strike, calling off the departure of 11 Dutch ships mooring in the New York Harbor.

The strike of the Indonesian ship workers won the public sympathy. In New York, members of the Emergency Committee for Indonesian Seamen chaired by Dirk Jan Struik, math historian from Massachusetts Institute of Technology, gathered for a meeting in which Struik firmly urged the Americans to support the struggle of the Indonesians.

"It is our responsibility as free Americans to help provide meals and accommodation for these people," said Struik as quoted by Muhamad Bondan in Genderang Proklamasi di Luar Negeri.

In San Francisco, the protest movement was led by Larry Bogk, while in Los Angeles, the demonstration was commanded by Leo Gallagher, an Irish scholar. The strikes lasted for several months.

In Sekitar Proklamasi 17 Agustus 1945, Sidik Kertapati, a Menteng 31 activist who played a role in pressuring Sukarno-Hatta to proclaim the independence, mentions that it was the struggle of the Indonesian ship workers and the loyalty of the National Maritime Union of USA that made it possible for the war weapons to finally be unloaded from the Dutch ships.

Bidien admitted the importance of the support given by the federation of the US unions in succeeding the strikes. As cited by Frances Gouda, in his letter to Philip Murrat, the chairman of CIO, Bidien wrote: "The labor unions that affiliate with CIO, especially the federation of maritime labor that was directly involved, show their support to the rights of Indonesia in establishing their own Republic and refuse any effort from the Dutch to restore their colonial power."

Anti-Dutch Campaign

Despite the success of the strikes, the Dutch still came to Indonesia alongside the Allies. Bidien and his friends' struggle was apparently far from the finish line.

To continue the anti-Dutch campaign, the Emergency Committee for Indonesia Seamen was disbanded and replaced by American Committee for Indonesia Independence (ACII), with Dirk Jan Struik remaining the chairman. Charles Bidien was appointed as the vice chairman, while his wife, Eleanor, took the secretary position.

ACII was headquartered in New York with two branches: San Francisco Committee for a Free Indonesia and American Committee for a Free Indonesia (Los Angeles). ACII managed to secure the support from senator Joseph F. Guffey; three parliament members Hugh de Lacy, Ellis E. Patterson, and Charles R. Savages; and several intellectuals, activists, and organizations.

One of their methods in running the campaign was to form public opinion. Through an article entitled "Independence The Issue" published in the Far Eastern Survey journal on 5 December 1945, Bidien explains Indonesia's post-war position. He despised the Dutch's attempt to reclaim their power over Indonesia, particularly their plan to establish a commonwealth country out of it. With provocative statements, he mentions that, at the end, the Indonesians only wanted one thing: their own independence.

The Dutch responded. In February 1946, 14 reporters from the Netherlands were sent to the US to campaign for the Dutch's authority over Indonesia, delivering lectures all over the country to gain support from the public.

ACII acted quickly. They contacted several intellectuals such as Raymond Kennedy, W.E.B. Du Bois, and Alphus Hunter to help them prevent the Dutch journalists from giving their speeches in universities.

At the United States Congress, the supporters of Indonesia discussed the country's problem in April 1946 and brought out Resolution H. Res. 603. This resolution demanded the US Department of State to make an effort to pressure the English and the Dutch to withdraw their troops from Indonesia and to bring this case to the United Nations.

Following the first Dutch military aggression in July 1947, ACII held a meeting in New York. Dewi Dja, a renowned Indonesian dancer living in the US, was also present in the meeting. She was introduced to Charles Bidien and Larry Bokg, whose original name according to Dewi was Mansur Bogok.

"This person is rather special. He was nimble. He is one of the ACII leaders. I also shook hands with Charles Bidien, a person with a fiery spirit," said Dewi Dja in Gelombang Hidupku written by Ramadhan KH.

This person is rather special. He was nimble. He is one of the ACII leaders. I also shook hands with Charles Bidien, a person with a fiery spirit.

Dewi Dja also had a performance in San Francisco after being invited by Larry Bokg. The show ultimately turned into a political campaign.

After meticulous planning, a protest was held in San Francisco, followed by a public lecture "Behind the Scenes of the Dutch Colonial War" by Ellis E. Patterson. Some Indonesian dances were also showcased in that event as entertainment.

"During the occasion, I got to know more about their movement, such as the movement in the east coast under the leadership of Charles Bidien, whose real name is Abidin," said Dewi Dja. Although her role was less significant, Dewi Dja was one of the people being questioned by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) officer.

Similar movements also occurred in the other states. In Los Angeles, ACII organized another public protest in front of the residence of the Dutch Consul. To maximize the movement, besides having demonstrations at the Dutch and English consulates in the US, thousands of letters were also sent. They even massively phoned the consulates to say "hands off Indonesia".

Striving to widen the scope of the public campaign, Bidien used his spare time to write, producing a piece titled "Indonesia: Asian New Democracy" published in Political Affairs, a monthly issue of Communist Party USA, in September 1947. Bidien was also a consultant for the Committee for a Democratic Far Eastern Policy. In the organization's issue, Far East Spotlight published in 1948, Bidien wrote an article titled "U.S. Dollars Aid Dutch in Indonesia”.

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The actions of Bidien and the other Indonesians started to heighten the pressure on the US government side. With the pretext of immigration law, the government began to act. The fate of the Indonesians caught the attention of John R. Andu, the leader of Indonesia League of America Inc.

In his letter to the US Congress on 29 April 1947, John R. Andu mentions that there were around 300 Indonesians in the US. The majority had lived there for more than 10 years with a good record and permanent job. Most of them married an American and had many children. According to him, those people admire the country and wish to stay there as long as possible. However, the law didn't grant them citizenship privileges, or in other words, they would soon be deported by the immigration. There were already 300 of them who had been sent back to Java and Singapore.

"If there was no action taken to change the law, all Indonesians would be deported. It will harm the fostered friendship between Indonesia and America," wrote John R. Andu.

The deportation threat also haunted Charles Bidien. At the same time, an anti-communism movement started to spread in the US.

Deportation

At 11 a.m on 16 September 1948, Bidien was captured and detained. In the detention center, he was persuaded to cooperate and was even offered a work contract worth 10,000 dollars of annual salary, a house worth 12,000 dollars, a sedan, and a US citizenship, in exchange for him admitting that he recognized the people who were going to be captured with the accusation of subversion.

If Bidien rejected the offer, he would be handed over to the Dutch and sent to Suriname to be executed, or be given chain gang punishment and forced to work as a stone breaker in Georgia for 15 years. Bidien expressly answered that he preferred the 15-year chain gang punishment in Georgia over their treacherous offer.

A day after that, Eleanor came with advocate Isador Englander and Abner Green from the America Committee for Protection of Foreign Born. They brought 35,000 dollars as a ransom in order for Bidien to be discharged. Bidien was finally released on parole. However, he wasn't allowed to leave New York.

Two weeks later, Bidien was tried for five charges. First, he was suspected as a part of the Communist Party USA (CPUSA) and was involved in the overthrow of the US government using coercion and violence.

The witness who came forward to the court was Kasim Ibrahim, an Indonesian who testified he was invited by Bidien to attend the meeting and training of CPUSA. However, Bidien refuted this statement by pointing out the lack of evidence, backed by the other witness denying Kasim's testimony.

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The second charge was Bidien had committed a violation by taking the vice chairman position of ACII which was deemed illegal. Third, Bidien was suspected of taking part in the Hunger March in Albany, New York, in 1934. Hunger March was a parade held as a protest to the government regarding the high unemployment rate after the economic depression. Fourth, Bidien was suspected of forging his identity as a Filipino in 1938 in order to obtain the Declaration of Intention to acquire US citizenship. Considering the lack of evidence and Bidien's strong rebuttal, all of these charges were eventually dropped.

The last charge was Bidien’s illegal entry to the US in 1930 without a passport and visa. During months of the trial, it was the only charge admitted by Bidien.

For his violation against the immigration law, Bidien was sentenced to three years in prison in October 1949. However, on 21 December 1949, the deportation warrant was issued, and Bidien had to leave the country he had called home for 30 years.

On 20 January 1950, with S.S. Batory ship, he and his family departed the US and headed for Poland. Eleven days later, the ship arrived at the Port of Gdynia. The family decided to live in Warsaw, but there was no record detailing their business there. Over a year later, Bidien had to part ways with his wife, Eleanor.

Captivated by the Chinese Revolution, Eleanor moved to Beijing in March 1951. Since then, she worked as an English service provider at a Chinese news agency, Xinhua News Agency, until the end of her life.

"(Eleanor) Bidien, a native of New York, joined the Communist Party USA during her youth and arrived in China via Poland in 1951," wrote The New York Times on 18 August 1986 in an obituary titled “Eleanor Bidien, 65, in Peking; Long a Press Agency Worker”.

Eleanor died of a heart attack on 5 August 1986 and was buried in the Babaoshan Revolutionary Cemetery. Her funeral was attended by 300 colleagues including Deng Liqun, a member of the politburo and the secretariat of the Chinese Communist Party.

Meanwhile, Bidien stayed in Poland. In January 1957, he decided to return to Indonesia.

In the same year, his name was mentioned by Major General Charles A. Willoughby, former chief of intelligence and staff of General MacArthur during World War II, in a hearing with the House Committee on Un-American Activities, an investigative committee of the US House of Representatives in 1957.

In the 1950s, the US government was actively chasing the communists and their sympathizers. Bidien's name was mentioned several times, particularly to identify his connection with the Americans and their activities.

"Bidien was a Communist agitator trained in the Kremlin; he was finally captured to be deported (1949)," said Willoughby.

Preserving Archives

A stack of personal documents was kept in a neat condition inside a house in a narrow alley at Kalibata, South Jakarta. Included in the documents was a book draft by Charles Bidien titled Gerakan Angkatan '45 di U.S.A. The draft was handwritten on a notebook with a copy in typewritten text. The book was a recollection of the struggle put up by Bidien as well as the other Indonesians and foreigners in the US in supporting the independence of Indonesia.

There is also an article titled "Sambutan Kota Djaja Sukarno" containing a suggestion to change the name of Jakarta into Kota Djaja Sukarno. Bidien apparently was inspired by the capital city of the US, Washington DC.

Still related to Sukarno, Bidien produced two manuscripts that showcase his political affiliation: “Kemenangan Revolusi Sosialis Ala Indonesia” and “Atjeh Teladan Sosialisme Indonesia”. The former was the only work of his that was signed with a date, "Djakarta, 31-12-59."

Other than that, there were also texts about science and religion. Unfortunately, the articles titled “Bumi Tergantung Tidak Bertali dan Berdiri Tidak Bertiang” and “Agama Islam” didn't reveal the author's identity.

The documents were preserved by Junaedi Syeh Abidin (55), Charles Bidien's second son with his Indonesian wife, Siti Aminah. Junaedi was entrusted by his older brother, Budimansyah (58), and his younger brother, Johansyah (53) to keep the archives.

It was only through these archives Junaedi and his brothers could learn the great story of their father, since the story recollected by their mother was passed down when they were far younger.

"The story directly told by our father was quite difficult to remember, since all of us were still very young. Instead, we heard the story from our mother, Aminah," said Junaedi to Historia.

According to Budimansyah, upon his father's arrival to Indonesia, he resided in Ciamis and married an Indo-German woman, but the couple didn't have any children. Bidien later remarried to Siti Aminah and stayed in Jakarta.

He was warmly welcomed in the capital city. Junaedi said that Bidien's house was frequently visited by both commoners and political figures, such as Jusuf Muda Dalam, Idham Chalid, and Teuku Nyak Markam. "Some of them came to learn English from my father, the others came to learn politics," said Junaedi.

Jusuf Muda Dalam in his letter to Hasan Gayo on 8 June 1960 points out the importance of Bidien's role in the US, and the significance of preserving the document archives and photographs brought by Bidien to Indonesia.

"All those documents have been prepared to be officially handed over to the President of the Republic of Indonesia. That's why I think it'd be better for Angkatan '45 to hold an official homecoming for Bidien," wrote Jusuf.

Jusuf Muda Dalam was the president director of Bank Negara Indonesia at that time. Meanwhile, Hasan Gayo was a member of People's Representative Council of Mutual Assistance (Dewan Perwakilan Rakyat Gotong Royong, abbreviated as DPRGR). Both of them are from Aceh, and are equally proud with Bidien's struggle.

However, being close to prominent figures didn't guarantee Bidien a prosperous life. According to Budimansyah and Junaedi, after his return to Indonesia, their father chose to work as a seller of Acehnese traditional medicine. Once, Bidien requested the government’s aid to start a boat wash business in Tanjung Priok, but his request was dismissed.

Coming from Aceh, Bidien was always eager to help his fellow Acehnese. One of Bidien's close friends was Zakaria, who was also one of Iskandar's informant during the writing of his dissertation titled “Tindakan Kerja Masyarakat Pidie: Antara Agama, Adat Tradisi and Historisitas Lokal''. In Jakarta, Zakaria recounted that he was often asked by Bidien to accompany him selling the medicine. They even visited several cities in Java together.

"He was an exceptional Acehnese," praised Zakaria.

One day, Bidien encountered Teuku Nyak Markam, a wealthy businessman from Aceh, who was surprised to find Bidien as a medicine seller. Markam knew Bidien very well. He offered Bidien to close his small business venture and promised to back him in starting a larger pharmacy business.

"Bidien refused. If only the request wasn't declined, I would have become an employee of a big company, and not a farmer," laughed Zakaria. He quit the medicine business and went back to Meureudu, a district in Pidie Jaya Regency, Aceh, in 1970 and has been working as a farmer since then.

Bidien's medicine business was slowing down as his physique grew older. His body and soul were demanding to retire.

A Lost Memory

Mid 1966. Jalan Kramat Raya was busy as usual. The street was completely packed with people of various jobs, from medicine sellers to harlots. Martin Aleida, a former journalist of Harian Rakjat who once worked in State Palace, was also there peddling t-shirts. He was on a mission to survive life, as well as to flee from Operation Kalong.  He was on the search list because the media he previously worked at was the hub of Indonesia Communist Party (PKI) that was being exterminated by the government.

<div class="flex-content-podcast"><figure class="img-left"><div><img src="https://cdn.prod.website-files.com/61af270884f7a0580d35618e/61cc168139c94d63bc96be8d_618a2356397f8bc924b8c24b_kramat-jakarta.jpeg" alt="img"></div><figcaption>Kramat, Jakarta 1963. (Pinterest)</figcaption></figure><div class="img-right"><div class="podcast-container"><img alt="person" class="entered loaded" data-ll-status="loaded" src="https://cdn.prod.website-files.com/61af270884f7a0580d35618e/61cc168195276417f93e0daa_618a23872904ba070693df35_junaedi-abidin-podcast.jpeg"><div class="audio-podcast"><audio controls controlsList="nodownload"><source src="https://d220hvstrn183r.cloudfront.net/premium/podcast-junaedi.mp3" type="audio/mpeg">Your browser does not support the audio element.</audio></div></div><div class="caption"><span><b>Junaedi Abidin</b><br>Charles Bidien’s second child.(Fernando Randi / Historia.ID)</span></div></div></div>

One day, Martin met Bidien. He didn't greet him as he was afraid of the spies that could be anywhere. According to Martin, Bidien was selling the medicine with a display of clippings from English newspapers showcasing his struggle in New York, but since very few people speak English, Bidien didn't have any luck finding customers.

"He ran his business fairly, selling Acehnese herb oil and many others. He introduced himself truthfully as the person he is, but since this world is very deceitful, people deemed him as one of those who commit fraud, a scam," said Martin to Historia.

However, the government acknowledged Bidien as one of the independence pioneers. A letter granting allowances from the government for Bidien as the independence pioneer was issued on 27 December 1970 by Idham Chalid, a minister responsible for managing people's welfare.

Still, no one could ever guess what's on Bidien's mind. On a quiet night under a rambutan tree, he chose to end his life. It was on 24 August 1972.

Budimansyah assumes that his father was disappointed with the New Order. As an independence pioneer, he was treated with disrespect. He was often interrogated by Military Police Corps (CPM) Guntur for the allegation of his involvement in the 1965 Incident, although there was never any evidence that led to his connection with the horrific scheme.

Bidien's news of death finally reached Kramat Jaya, where he usually ran his business. The newspaper publishing Bidien's death answered all Martin Aleida's questions regarding the whereabouts of his fellow seller at that deceitful sidewalk.

After his death, Charles Bidien's name disappeared from both people and the country's memory. It was never a surprise for Martin Aleida that Bidien's name was rarely mentioned in the history of Indonesia, especially in the books published by the government. His name was no different from some left-wing figures who had been long abandoned by the nation's history.

"I don't know whether his state of mind was totally left-wing or communist, I don't know. But there are many people, like the prime minister, minister of defense, and minister of information Amir Sjarifuddin (for instance), whose name can't be found in history," said Martin.

The disappearance of Bidien's name was just another addition to the long list of influential figures whose names were erased from history. It was quite possible that the man from Tanah Rencong didn't qualify the regime’s requirement to be included in the Indonesian history collage, which was supposed to encompass diverse forms and colors.