The Indonesian uprising of 1965 and the crisis leading up to it form the background of C. J. Koch's The Year of Living Dangerously (1978). The title refers to the official name for the year 1965 as proclaimed by Sukarno, who was a dictator with a touch of the poet about him.

Guy Hamilton, a journalist for an Australian television network and his dwarfish, highly sensitive cameraman Billy Kwan form a successful team in covering the chaotic events leading up to the preemptive coup. Through Billy, Guy meets Jill Bryant, an official at the British Embassy, and they fall in love, despite Guy's awareness of Billy's unrequited love for Jill. Billy is also an ardent admirer of Sukarno, for whom he develops a deep affinity: "Sometimes I feel we share the same identity . . . I could have been him." Billy keeps dossiers on public figures as well as on his friends. As the love affair grows in intensity and Sukarno's efforts to control events betray his dictatorial impulses, the strain on Billy grows greater. He begins to lose his grip. At the same time, Guy alienates Jill when he betrays her confidence about the Communists smuggling arms. Feeling abandoned by the people who mean the most to him, Billy attends a Sukarno rally, unfolds a large banner reading "SUKARNO, FEED YOUR PEOPLE," and is killed by Sukarno's men. Guy is wounded the night of the coup, but he is rescued and ultimately reunited with Jill.

A high point of the novel is a performance of an Indonesian puppet show that Guy attends. The description suggests the appeal of the traditional culture in contrast to the menace that dominates the political scene. Pervading the novel is the author's love of Indonesia, raising the story beyond the level of a simple action-adventure novel to show the complex and beautiful culture that underlies the political chaos and bloodshed, rendering the violence all the more tragic.

Peter Weir's 1982 exciting film adaptation of the novel is especially noteworthy for the director's brilliant decision to assign the role of Billy to a woman, Linda Hunt, whose performance won an Academy Award for best supporting actress.

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