It was six o’clock when Ennis met gao in the lobby of the Dynasty Hotel. Gao was serious and business like, his face was closed. They left directly taking a taxi to Queens Hospital, a huge complex somewhere on the edge of the city.
At the hospital’s main desk a white clad receptionist gave them Sutrawan’s room number and instructions on how to get to it. The complex was impressive, but above all huge, inhuman. After what seemed to be an endless series of corridors and lifts, they arrived at another reception area, where they were told to wait for the other visitors.
Robert Tan, Soetero Lee and two other friends of Sutrawan’s arrived shortly after. They were to be met at the reception Danny Lau who was already with Sutrawan.
Three months had passed since Sutrawan had been out of circulation, three months of mystery and suspense. Ennis, to his dismay and astonishment had experienced the very greatest difficulties in obtaining any precise information. He had first been informed that Sutrawan had gone to Singapore, then he was told he was in Boston. Sutrawan was then rumoured to have returned to Jakarta. Danny Lau finally informed him that he was being cared for at the Queens Hospital in Singapore.
The mystery had started in Bali when he had complained of nothing more than a bad throat. At the end of June, three weeks later, the last time Sutrawan had visited Europe, he had almost lost his voice. It was nothing more than a persistent summer cold, he had explained, nothing remarkable and Ennis had not given it another thought, too much smoking.
When Ennis tried to reach Sutrawan in July, Danny simply explained that he was undergoing treatment and would soon be back on his feet. Ennis saw nothing very unusual in that, people do get ill from time to time, and in Indonesia those with money often went abroad for treatment.
As the days passed Ennis inquired about his health, but was given evasive answers. At first he suspected that he was being avoided for some unexplained reason, or perhaps Sutrawan was in some kind of difficulty, or maybe he had had second thoughts about Barito and was distancing himself from the business.
When he inquired to Sutrawan’s friends or business acquaintances as to the nature of his problem, they replied that they were unsure, or that it was nothing to worry about. Rumours then started to circulate that he was being treated for an unidentified illness. Then the word Aids was mentioned. It was too easy, Sutrawan was a notorious womaniser, he pursued any female that passed within arms length, enjoying a very varied sex life.
Ennis dismissed the rumours out of hand, it was impossible, his rich and powerful rich was beyond the reach of anything could affect lesser mortals.
As the weeks wore on it slowly started penetrate into his mind that something serious was wrong. Brodzski asked Ennis provocatively where his friend had disappeared; Ennis suspected that he had been listening to Branet’s poisonous gossip.
It was in Taipei when finally Gao announced that Sutrawan had an incurable throat cancer, that Ennis realised the problem was much graver than he had imagined.
That evening in Singapore, Ennis would finally learn the truth. The visitors made nervous small talk whilst they sat waiting; they spoke in short whispers, glancing around from time to time worriedly, like long absent sinners in a church.
The head nurse appeared and made a sign to them to follow her. They stood up, nervously stretching their legs and straightening their trousers, then followed a couple or so steps behind her, along the corridor in the severe blue-white fluorescent light, through the frosted glass swing doors. They were met unexpectedly by Mrs Sutrawan; she was a contrast of colour against the stark white background. She wore a smile, a surprisingly pleasant smile, it was an Indonesian smile, it was difficult to translate its meaning, but Ennis took it as a sign of resignation and courage. He felt relieved, as they all politely shook hands with her, she seemed to put them at ease, and then Danny appeared.
‘Hi!’ he said to each of them individually and shaking hands, his normally buoyant tone was absent, he was subdued, though his warm sincerity was still there.
‘Come this way.’
He led them to 429, Sutrawan’s room, which at first glance seemed to be like a hotel suit, though more antiseptic, white and functional. There was a small lobby, where Ennis stood behind Thomas Lee and Gao. To one side there was a bathroom and toilet, they moved forward nervously, shuffling like timid guests into what looked like a reception room, there was a TV, a couch, a coffee table and a couple of easy chairs.
They followed Danny towards an alcove, there was another door, it was slightly ajar, leading to the bedroom.
Danny knocked gently and then backed away awkwardly, excusing himself in Chinese; a nurse was backing out pulling a wheel chair into the room.
She adroitly pivoted the wheelchair in a single movement so that it was then facing them. At first Ennis could not believe what he saw, in the chair was a small and wizened old man with very sparse white hair, he painfully lifted his hand and tried to speak, only a hoarse incoherent whisper came out, the old man tried to smile.
Ennis thought there must have been a mistake; they were in the wrong room.
It was Sutrawan.
He looked a hundred years old, only a few strands remained of his thick shiny black hair, his eyes were sunken and his mouth trembled, slightly open, as though he was chewing something, he could not have weighed not more than thirty or forty kilos. He was dressed in old-fashioned stripped pyjamas and a thick red dressing gown that was open.
They stayed about ten or fifteen minutes at the most, putting on an act of trying to behave normally. There was nothing to say. Ennis was shaken. Then the nurse whispered something to Danny. He turned to them and softly said that Sutrawan was tired.
Sutrawan feebly lifted his hand in a sign of adieu.
They quietly murmured their final goodbyes and filed silently out of the room as the nurse turned Sutrawan’s wheelchair towards the bedroom.
They left the hospital subdued and quietly bid each other goodbye. It was not the time to dine, drink or celebrate, as they done together so many times in the past.
Ennis accompanied Gao to the line of waiting taxis and they returned without a word to the Dynasty. Gao shook his hand at the hotel entrance and as he took his leave he turned and said sternly.
‘Tell Mr Brodzski he will need a new partner!’
Ennis returned grimly to the house on Cluny road in silent contemplation, it was just a few days before Christmas and he was due to return to Paris where he intended to take a few days holiday.
Two weeks later as he sat in his office at La Defense, he gazed out at the heavy grey January sky, trying to put his thoughts together, when Brodzski walked in and dropped a fax onto his desk.
‘Your friend Sutrawan’s dead!’ he said with a clearly discernible air of schadenfreud, mixed with what Ennis suspected as smug triumph.
Ennis picked up the telex and slowly read it, it was brief, a death notice that had certainly been prepared in English on behalf of the family by Danny and dispatched to all of Sutrawan’s friends and business acquaintances across the world.
He was numb, in such a short space of time, a friend, a business partner, a man he had admired, had fallen ill and disappeared.
Ten days later back in Singapore Ennis tried to pick up the pieces. He analysed the possible candidates to replace Sutrawan. Theoretically his company could continue, but without a strong leader it would be difficult, Sutrawan had owned one hundred percent of Bintang Agung, his sons were too young to take over. In a very short time the family would probably sell out their interests - but to whom, that was the question.
‘Somebody to see you,’ said Mrs Tang tapping lightly on the door.
It was Suarez. He walked into the room smiling, the smile was apologetic, embarrassed.
‘Come in Antonio, sit down, what will you drink?’
‘A beer will be fine,’ Ennis made a sign to Mrs Tan to bring two beers.
They walked onto the veranda.
‘What’s on your mind then Antonio?’
>
‘Listen John I’ve made some decisions, I think we should sit down and talk about it.’
They took a seat on the veranda.
‘Well to go straight to the point, I’ve decided to return to Brazil.’
‘Oh, that’s a bit unexpected, why?’
‘You know the way things have been going, all of these delays and problems. Now that Sutrawan’s dead... basically I’ve been offered a new project to handle.’
‘In Brazil?’
‘Yes, it’s a new mill, a joint-venture between Canadians and Brazilians.’
‘They’ve got money?’
‘Yes, also they’ve already got forty thousand hectares of pine plantations in Santa Catarina State on the Rio Negro, that’s about five hundred kilometres south of Sao Paulo.’
‘Well I suppose it’s like home for you.’
‘That’s about it,’ he said smiling.
‘Is it a big project?’
‘Its small compared to Barito, they plan to make an investment of about one hundred million dollars, practically no infrastructure to be built, private capital and normal project financing. No soft loans.’
‘No soft loans?’ said Ennis wistfully.
‘No.’
‘When will it go ahead?’
‘Very soon, when they get the approval from the shareholders.’
‘So when do you intend to return?’
‘As soon as possible, once I’ve settled a few things, there’s nothing more for me to do here John.’
‘As you like. How come the investment is so low?’
‘It’s almost a mono-product mill, cheap wood, ready biomass for the power boilers, cheap labour, simple plant, no heavy infrastructure, minimum environmental considerations.’
‘Biomass, waste wood from harvesting...saw mill waste?’
‘Yeah, plus non-commercial wood collected from forest areas.’
‘Natural forest?’
‘I suppose so.’
‘Who’s going to build it?’
‘It’s a consortium, same set-up, you know civil engineering, electrical contractors and process equipment suppliers with an operator and banks.’
‘And of course the politicians, who will approve it.’
‘Of course.’
‘Where’s the mill site then?’
‘About fifty kilometres up the Rio Negro. The offices are in a place called Joinville, on the coast.’
‘Well Antonio, I can’t stop you, there’s sure to be delays here, like you said. If it doesn’t work out there and we get our act together here you’ll be welcome back anytime.
After Suarez left, Ennis could not help thinking of a sinking ship. Who would be the next to quit, Gao! Hutan Industri!
DAYAKS