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BOGOR 1943--46 |
| 1943 |
Born in Bogor, West Java, Japanese-occupied Indonesia,
on May the 25th. |
| 1945 |
Indonesia proclaims its independence, father joins the
independence movement, Bogor is occupied by British troops.
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SINGAPORE 1946--48 |
| 1946 |
Father gets task to represent Bank Indonesia in Singapore:
by train to Tegal, Central Java, via Dutch occupied Jakarta,
and Indonesian-held countryside; then by tongkang boat
through the Dutch sea blockade to Singapore.
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BANGKOK 1948--50 |
| 1948 |
Father opens office as Representative of Indonesia in Bangkok;
we follow by plane to Bangkok. |
| 1950 |
1st grade, Anglo-American School, Bangkok.
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BEIJING 1951--54 |
| 1950 |
Father gets task to open Indonesian Embassy in Beijing (Peking):
by plane to Hongkong; |
| 1951 |
with the MS Hupeh to Tianjin (Tientsin),
then by train to Beijing. |
| 1951-54 |
2nd - 6th grade, Sacred Heart School, Beijing
(I jumped a grade)
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BOGOR 1954--56 |
| 1954 |
Father's posting in Beijing is over.
By train to Guangzhou (Canton) via Shanghai,
cross-over to Hongkong, then
with the MS Tjiwangi to Tanjung Priok,
and by car to Bogor. |
| 1954-56 |
1st - 3rd grade, SMP Budi Mulia, Bogor
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QUIDDENHAM 1956--57 |
| 1956 |
Father gets posting in Moscow, we go to Europe:
By car to Jakarta, by plane to Rome,
by car to Milan and Parma where my Uncle John Mahdi
had business to attend to;
by plane to Paris where my uncle Tjoei Darusman was ambassador;
by plane to London, by car to Quiddenham by Norwich. |
| 1956-57 |
Eccles Hall School, Quiddenham.
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MOSCOW 1957--69 |
| 1957 |
By train to Harwich, with the ferry to Hoek van Holland,
and by train to The Hague where my Aunt Maggie Fekkes lived,
and my mother temporarily hired a flat;
by plane to Moscow. |
| 1957-60 |
8th - 10th grade and end-exams at the Middle School No. 1
Sokolniki, Moscow. |
| 1960-65 |
Student at the Moskovskii Himiko-Tehnologiceskii Institut
imeni Mendeleeva [Mendeleyev Institute of Chemical Technology
Moscow] (presently Rossiiskii Himiko-Tehnologiceskii Universitet
imeni Mendeleeva),
Faculty of Organic chemistry, specialisation in
technology of synthetic dyestuffs. |
| 1961 |
Parents return to Indonesia. |
| 1961 |
By train to Hamburg and back via Hannover,
student job at a manometer factory in Hamburg
(first self-earned money). |
| 1962-63 |
By plane to Kemayoran, Jakarta, and back, to be home in Bogor
for Christmas and New Year. This was the last time I was in
Indonesia up to the year 2000. |
| 1965 |
Defend masters thesis:
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Issledovanie kompleksoobrazovania i absorptsionnyh spektrov
izomernyh brom- i iodobenzol-(1-az0-1')- naftolov-2"
|
(Investigation of complexformation and of absorption spectra
of isomeric bromo- and iodobenzene-(1-azo-1')-naphthols) |
| 1965-67 |
Doctoral student (aspirant) at same institute, interrupted
for non-scientific reasons. |
| 1966 |
In the aftermath to the abortive revolt of 1965 in Indonesia, I
sign declaration form of loyalty to the President of Indonesia as provided and
recommended by the military attaché of the Indonesian Embassy
(click here to see the original document). |
| 1966 |
The president is arrested by the military, the embassy and military
attache cross over to the new rulers; I refuse to back out from my
signed loyalty declaration, and join the opposition. |
| 1967 |
Indonesian Embassy declares my passport invalid and orders return
to Indonesia for further process. I remain as exilee. Join income-
sharing cooperative of some fellow exilees. |
| 1968 |
I refuse to join the organization for Indonesian exilees in the
USSR, which was associated with the "Overseas Committee" of the
Indonesian communist party (pro-Moscow); associate with pro-China
wing of Indonesian exilees (this protected against charges of being
anticommunist, while permitting evasion of pro-Moscow activities). |
| 1969 |
I was told I was undesirable in Moscow, and could choose between
eviction and a position in a city where I could not influence my
compatriots. I accept the latter option.
|
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VORONEZH 1969--77 |
| 1969 |
By train to Voronezh; I was the only Indonesian here. |
| 1969-70 |
Post-graduate trainee at Chemical Faculty, Voronezhskii
Gosudarstvennii Universitet [Voronezh State University].
Main tasks:
synthesis of organic compounds. |
| 1969-76 |
Approach local Vietnamese (student) community to escape
isolation; my pro-China reputation earns me being taken up
practically as associate member of Vietnamese community. |
| 1970 |
After some months of unemployment, piece-work (akkord)
labourer unloading cement from railway cars. |
| 1970-76 |
Chemical Engineer at the central research lab of the Voronezhskii
Zavod Sinteticheskogo Kauchuka imeni Kirova (Kirov Synthetic
Rubber Plant, Voronezh).
Main tasks:
infrared spectrophotometric analysis of air-sensitive
metallo-organic compounds. |
| 1972-76 |
Independent linguistic studies specializing in Austronesian
and other languages of Southeast Asia, historical phonology
of Malagasy. |
| 1976 |
Deterioration of Vietnamo-Chinese relations leaves me without
“alibi” for declining to join pro-Moscow exilee organization;
learn that there was no pasport control when entering West Berlin;
apply for exit visa outside of non-valid pasport.
|
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BERLIN (WEST) 1977--... |
| 1977 |
By train to Moscow and, after applying for and getting transit
visas outside pasport for Poland and East Germany, by train
to West Berlin. |
| 1977 |
Apply in West Berlin for political asylum. |
| 1977 |
Work one month as night watchman for private security company
Wachschutz Berlin. |
| 1977-78 |
Work as chemical worker at
J.A. Meyer Chemische Fabrik,
Berlin.
Main tasks:
preparing detergent mixtures in semi-industrial scale. |
| 1978-.. |
Work as technical assistent in the
Department for Physical Chemistry,
Fritz-Haber-Institut
der Max-Planck-Gesellschaft,
Berlin.
Main tasks:
|
1978-88 | preparation of (air-sensitive) metallo-organic samples
for low-temperature
X-ray structure analysis; |
|
1982-88 | programming and software maintenance; |
|
1988-97 | operating experimental ammonia synthesis installation,
computational and graphic processing of data, website maintenance in the
group for
heterogeneous catalysis; |
|
1997-02 | computer-graphics and website maintenance for
scanning tunneling microscopy
(STM) research group. |
|
2002-08 | after the STM group moved to München: directly subordinated to
the Department of Physical Chemistry, doing computer-graphics, text corrections
and translation, and website maintenance. |
|
2008-.. | since my official retirement as of June 1st, part-time employment at
the same Department. |
|
| 1978-.. |
Resume free-time commitment to linguistic studies, particularly
Austronesian historical linguistics, Southeast-Asian comparative
linguistics, history of Indonesian Malay with culture-historical
aspect. |
| 1987 |
An innocent-looking red skin-irritation (circular, with a satellite) that
disappeared by itself in two weeks time, proved 15 years later (by blood test) to
have been a borreliosis (Lyme disease) infection caused by the bite of a tick;
all my health complaints ensuing from the infection in that period were put off by
the doctor as “psychosomatic”. |
| 1994 |
Inspite of my refugee status (the consular receptionist spoke of a “trouble pasport”),
I was given a visa for India (after convincing the Indian Consul General that I was a follower of former
President Sukarno), to
take part in the “World Archaeological Congress — 3”, New Delhi. This was the first time I
was outside Europe since 1963. |
| 1996 |
Accepted for external doctoral exam at the Universität
Hamburg; begin preparing doctor thesis:
“High and Low Malay in the Formation of Indonesian: A Study into
the Relationship between Language and Culture in a Historical Perspective”
(but my deteriorating working capability in consequence of the Lyme disease
unfortunately prevented me from fulfilling this task)
|
| 2000 |
Become citizen of the Federal Republic of Germany.
From this time on, I could again freely travel all over the world.
|
| 2000 |
Thanks to my German pasport, I was able to accompany the body of my father
(who passed away in the Netherlands) to Indonesia where I was for the first time
since 1963, and attend his funeral there.
|
| 2002 |
Take part in the colloquium “German-speaking scholarship and the Malay world”
in Bangi, Selangor, Malaysia.
|
| 2002 |
Visit the United States, taking part in the “54th Annual Meeting of the
Association for Asian Studies” in Washington D.C., also giving talks at Yale Univ.
in New Haven (CT), and at Cornell Univ. in Ithaca (NY). I had never been in America
before.
|
| 2004 |
Take part in the “Lokakarya Terjemahan Naskah Tanjung Tanah”
(workshop on translation of the Tanjung Tanah manuscript) at the Universitas Indonesia
in Depok, Indonesia: the first time I had the opportunity to apply my acquired expertise
on native soil, my country of birth.
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