About the Author

Colonel Joseph H. Daves was U.S. Defense and Army Attaché to Indonesia from November 1998 to June 2003. He arrived in Jakarta six months after President Soeharto's resignation and served as the senior U.S. military representative in Indonesia during the turbulent Reformasi Era, including the August 1999 East Timor consultation, the ensuing "scorched earth" campaign by Indonesian security forces, the nearly four-year sectarian civil war in Maluku, August 2002 ambush deaths of American citizens in Papua, the October 12, 2002 terrorist bombings in Bali, and the bloody separatist insurgency in Aceh. As principal advisor to the American Ambassador and Country Team, Colonel Daves was actively engaged with Indonesia's top military and civilian leaders and travelled extensively throughout the archipelago.