Mohammed Ali Abdul Chalid ben Soetan Mohammad Salim was born 24 November 1902 into an elite Minangkabau family in Koto Gadang, near Fort de Kock, West Sumatra, Dutch East Indies.

[1] He was also chairman of the Sarekat Boeroeh Tjitak (print workers' union), was active in the Communist Party and cofounder of Soeka Madjoe (Lovers of Progress).

[6] Salim, who had been living in Medan at the time, was arrested in June 1927 along with Joesoef Efendi, a fellow activist in the Soeka Madjoe.

[7] Salim was initially released when no proof of any crime could be determined, but a further search of his possessions revealed documents that the police said proved he that he and Efendi were planning to launch a violent communist uprising.

[9] After his arrival at Digoel, Salim was soon sent to Tanah Tinggi, a more remote camp for "difficult" prisoners who refused to work for the Dutch.

[4] In June 1928, Salim sent a written request to member Stokvis of the Volksraad Committee for Petitions asking that the advisory body look into the treatment of detainees in transit to Digoel.

[8] While in the Tanah Tinggi camp, Salim contracted a severe form of malaria and was sent to a military hospital on Ambon Island to recover.

In 1935, his cousin Sutan Sjahrir was exiled to the camp along with Mohammad Hatta; Salim was part of a welcoming party who greeted them.

[4] By the time of the Transition to the New Order in Indonesia in the late 1960s, communists became targets of the Suharto regime and Salim had no option of returning there.

[21] Officials admitted that the rules did not technically forbid compensation for Digoel internees, but he finally received a formal rejection in May 1977.

[18][4] By the 1960s and 1970s, Schoonheyt regretted his defense of the camp in the 1930s and his embrace of the fascist National Socialist Movement (Netherlands); he signed over the copyright on his own book about Digoel to Salim, who made use of it when writing his memoir.