A reunion after death

Jecky was born and raised in Bali. His daddy soldier left the island even before the birth of his child to Java and then to the Netherlands. Only 34 years later, after a long search, Jecky traced his father Jack. His father did not want to travel to Indonesia to meet because of his advanced age. And Jecky, who had never been outside Bali, did not dare to travel to the Netherlands. Son and father would never meet. Yet father Jack eventually returned in Jecky's life.

Jecky's father was a Dutch soldier who was stationed in Bali. He got to know a Balinese girl. She got pregnant, but before the child was born, soldier Jack was transferred to Java. Little Jecky stepped into the world at December 31, four days after the official independency of the Republic of Indonesia. Father Jack had leave Java to the Netherlands and mother and child remained behind in Bali. Later the mother of Jecky married a Balinese husband and half-brothers and sisters of Jecky were born. But unlike his siblings, Jecky was frequently called names like "son of a whore”. Just by his stronger physique and lighter skin it was easy to see that he must have been fathered by a Dutch father.

1983 - 1984

When Jecky became thirty, he even had no idea if his father was still alive. A Dutchman, who traveled in Indonesia, encoutered Jecky by accident. He became intrigued by his story and promised to search for Jecky’s father in the Netherlands. There were not many leads. The marriage certificate was lost shortly after the revolution and what remained was a crumpled reminder of the name of the father. That sounded something like Jack Kesler, but it could be a similar but slightly different name. There was an old photo which the mother of Jecky had kept all that time.

Back in the Netherlands, the Dutch researcher acted energetically. The Ministry of Defense and various pension funds were asked for information, but there were no indications to a name like "Kesler" or something similar. Finally, he placed a call in the national newspaper De Telegraaf with the photo and name of Jecky's mother. Even to that call there was no response. It seemed that the quest had failed.

Until the beginning of 1984, when suddenly a letter came from the United States. A veteran who had emigrated to America, but still read the Dutch newspapers, had recognized the story of Jecky’s mother and the link had been established. The name of the Dutch soldier was Jack Geisler, who was born in 1910 in Madiun and now appeared to reside in Soesterberg in Holland. When the man was approached by his friend from America and the Dutchman who had started the search, father Jack was reluctant to get in touch. He had married in the Netherlands and he did not want to bother his wife with his past. "Does he want money?" he asked. "No," replied the Dutchman, "he only wants a letter in which you say you're his father." That helped, so in February 1984 Jack Geisler wrote his first letter to his son. He wrote that he hoped of not being accused about anything. At that time he had wanted to give the mother of Jecky the opportunity to continue her own life, and he would like to get in touch with Jecky. Jecky finally had a father. End of story?

1995 - 1999

Between father Jack and son Jecky had grown a regular contact. When a family member or friend went to Bali for holidays, they usually brought a letter with some money for Jecky, sometimes 200 guilders, sometimes 100 guilders. The friend from America also visited Bali to meet old friends with whom he had fought against the nationalists in the mountains near Baturiti. But Father Jack himself did not want to travel to Indonesia, he felt too old.

Besides a framed picture of his father, Jecky received a video tape in 1995 with recordings made at home with father Jack. Father Jack, then 85 years old, seemed hardly capable of saying a few words directly to his son Jecky. He was too emotional and left the room. Jecky had received the videotape but had never seen it, because in Indonesia, another videosystem is regular and the tape was not playable.

Apart from the brief relationship with the mother of Jecky, Jack was officially married twice, but in both marriages no children were born. Jecky is his only natural child. As father Jack grew older, he longed more and more to meet his son. Jecky was repeatedly invited to come over and visit his father. The trip would be paid for by his family in the Netherlands. Jecky hesitated, waited, and did not dare to take a decision, because he was reluctant to travel so far from home. He didn’t dare, and didn’t go.

In December 1999 Jack's father died at the age of 89. Sadly enough father and son had never met each other. End of story?

2002 - 2003

In 2003 difficult times appeared for Jecky. The tourist industry in Bali had collapsed due to international developments (bomb assaults on tourist, SARS, Iraq war) and most of the time Jecky, who was a tourist taxi driver, was waiting for customers in vain. He had five sons to feed. But nevertheless he had to leave the extended family household, because he was the son of a Dutch father and therefore could assert no rights to the family court.

But something special happened at the same time. Jecky became grandfather. When his eldest son in September 2002 had his first child, the family, as usual, went to see a ‘Peluasan’, who can see who is incarnated in the newborn. In Bali reincarnations are always within the family and it is important to know whether the new born baby is a re-born person with 'old accounts' which have to be settled by means of a ritual. When the Peluasan saw the grandson of Jecky, something peculiar happened. "This is a Turis" he decided, which meant ‘this is a foreigner’. Evidence was provided by a white spot on the back of the child. Then came the clarification: it was great-grandfather Jack, who was born again in Bali. Thus father Jack and his son Jecky finally got united.

(The story of Jecky was recorded by Henk Schulte Nordholt and previously published)

The story of Jecky's mother Ibu Sulatra’s can also be read on this website, in the category ‘Soldiers Sweethearts in Indonesia’ and is called ‘I often think of him. Even yesterday I did’.

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