I Once Lived in That Country

A book about a retiree who suddenly found himself having plenty of time to reminisce and write a biographical account about his family and childhood days in Indonesia, where he was born and spent the first fourteen years of his life. While growing up, a change took shape in his life, from an initial life of innocence to gradually feeling the brunt of racism in a country he had always thought was his. Ultimately, the family patriarch moved the family out to resettle in Hong Kong, where he saw for the first time what a free life was like, despite Hong Kong being a colony, which Indonesia was not too long ago. Now a Canadian citizen and retired, he decided to write a book about his time in Indonesia. Foremost of the many questions he had for the book was why his dad pulled him out of Indonesia. Was it because of racism, or was it because of some other reasons? Ultimately he returned to Indonesia and was shocked to see a country so much more mature and different from when he was there. But what surprised him the most was when his two cousins told him why his dad decided to leave Indonesia, an account anecdotally passed on to them by their father.