THE old man, thin but so full of energy, at the restaurant at 12 rue Vaugirard in Paris is with us no more.

Umar Said, the founder of the 'Restaurant Indonesia' died recently. He had a long, varied life: he was born on 26 October 1928 near Kota Tumpang, a few dozen kilometers from Malang; he witnessed the people's anger against the Japanese occupation; he took part in the battle in Surabaya and was almost killed in November 1945; he became a journali