LARGE trucks belonging to the British military filled the village streets in Cikampek, West Java. In 1946, journalist Rosihan Anwar was on his way back to Jakarta after covering a battle between the forces of the Indonesian Republic and the Netherlands Indies Civil Administration or NICA, in Bekasi. He saw sacks of rice being hauled out of a warehouse and loaded on a truck.

He discovered later that these trucks were headed for the port of Cireb