A Press Card and a Weapon

Don Bosco, an old orphanage with two big crosses gracing its outer walls, stands dignified on Jalan Raya Tidar, Surabaya. Shady trees on its frontyard helped ease the extreme heat of the capital city of East Java in late October when Tempo visited. Situated two kilometers west of the hub of Surabaya, the building houses about one hundred orphans.

The colonial-style edifice, erected by the Dutch in 1937, is the historical witness to the battle between Surabaya's young men and Allied forces on November 10, 1945. It was here that Bung Tomo, along with the Surabaya people, seized Japanese arms. As soon as the Japanese invaded Indonesia, the building, located on a 4.5-hectare complex, was converted into an armory.