One man's trauma testifies to sad experiences of many<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): \"Our sweat had not fully dried after almost 10
\nyears of hard work when our small drug store was looted and
\nburned by rioters,\" Chinese-Indonesian Anton, not his real name,
\nrecalled grimly.<\/p>\n
His shop, selling a variety of local and Chinese medicines and
\nherbs on Jl. Raya Ciledug in South Jakarta, was transformed into
\na charred building in a matter of hours after mobs forcibly
\nopened its rolling doors, cleared the contents and set it on fire
\nin the afternoon of May 13.<\/p>\n
\"The mobs even took away the bucket and spoons of my little
\nchildren,\" Anton told The Jakarta Post last weekend.<\/p>\n
He said he and his wife built the business -- valued at some
\nRp 200 million (US$15,500) -- after many years on the bread line.<\/p>\n
\"It's our only property. And now, it's gone just like that, in
\nfront of my eyes,\" said Anton, a former salesman at Indofood
\nSukses Makmur.<\/p>\n
The only untouched property of the two-children family, who
\nlive with relatives on a housing complex near their damaged shop,
\nis a Kijang minivan.<\/p>\n
\"Just in case we're forced to leave this country, we'll sell
\nthat car to obtain passports and visas for me and my family,\"
\nAnton said.<\/p>\n
His father and grandfather also experienced similarly tough
\nexperiences.<\/p>\n
\"The shop of my grandfather, who was selling daily goods in a
\nsmall village called Desa Bangun in North Sumatra was looted and
\nburned in an anti-Chinese riot in 1947,\" he said.<\/p>\n
During another outbreak of racist unrest, in 1990, his
\nfather's shop in the North Sumatra town of Pematang Siantar,
\nwhich also sold basic items, was set on fire.<\/p>\n
Anton's wife, who accompanied him during the interview,
\ncontinuously massaged her sweating hands nervously.<\/p>\n
Anton and his wife, who grew up in Pemanatang Siantar, have no
\nidea what to do now.<\/p>\n
\"I spend most of the time at home now. To be honest, I'm still
\nin a deeply traumatic state.<\/p>\n
\"Worst of all, most of the people on the streets outside there
\nstill see us, people with the slanting eyes, as if we have
\ncommitted big sins against them, and for that they are ready to
\nkill us,\" he said.<\/p>\n
\"Ugh... I find that our lives are absolutely worthless
\nnowadays,\" Anton said.<\/p>\n
Hard days<\/p>\n
Like most businessmen whose property was attacked during the
\nMay 13 -- May 15 riots, Anton's family is still suffering from
\nthe great shock.<\/p>\n
Their sleep is mostly colored by repeated nightmares: the fire
\nthat gutted their shop, the cheerful mobs looting their
\nmerchandise and the sea of people, screaming \"burn, burn, burn\".<\/p>\n
\"Even the ticking of the clock on the wall has woken me
\nabruptly in the middle of the night and left me in fear,\" said
\nAnton's wife.<\/p>\n
The housewife also finds it impossible to block out the
\nscreams of the people trapped in the nearby four-story Ciledug
\nPlaza department store, which was also set on fire by the mobs
\nthat day.<\/p>\n
\"Every few minutes, the helpless screams ring in my ears and I
\ncan't stop them,\" she said.<\/p>\n
A few minutes before the interview, a group of junior high
\nschool students, resplendent in painted uniforms, faces and hair,
\npassed through the housing complex carrying stones, belts and
\nsticks in their hands.<\/p>\n
The students, who had just celebrated their graduation day,
\nwere apparently ready for a brawl.<\/p>\n
While passing through the complex, they shouted anti-Chinese
\nremarks.<\/p>\n
\"You Chinese people have done nothing for this country. Now
\ncome out from your hiding places,\" screamed one of the students
\nunder the watchful eyes of the local residents.<\/p>\n
Earlier in the day, Anton's 10-year-old daughter, Sinta (not
\nher real name) hurriedly came back from school and asked her
\nmother: \"Mother, are the people going to kill all Chinese-
\nIndonesian families like us?\"<\/p>\n
Anton's wife could only hug her eldest daughter without giving
\nany explanation.<\/p>\n
The girl said she read a lot of graffiti painted on buildings
\non the way to her school, almost all of which was anti-Chinese,
\nsuch as \"Kill the Chinese\" or \"Kick the Chinese out\".<\/p>\n
\"How could you explain such things to a little girl like her?\"
\nasked the mother.<\/p>\n
\"God, I have no tears left,\" she whispered.<\/p>\n
A day earlier, Anton cleaned up a painted \"BMC\" sign left by
\nan unidentified person on their house's front fence.<\/p>\n
\"I don't know anything about the sign but my neighbors told me
\nto quickly remove it because the letters stand for Basmi Milik
\nCina (Destroy Chinese Property),\" he said.<\/p>\n
Similar signs can still be found on several houses and
\nbuildings believed to be owned by Chinese-Indonesians in certain
\nareas of the city.<\/p>\n
Since the riots erupted, Anton has displayed in front of his
\nhouse a Moslem prayer mat and banners written in Arabic. He
\nborrowed them from his neighbors.<\/p>\n
\"We have no other option,\" he said.<\/p>\n
He, however, hopes that the country will still be able to
\nprotect the lives of the Chinese-Indonesians.<\/p>\n
\"This is also our country. We were all born and grew up here,\"
\nAnton said.<\/p>\n
Data from the Coordinating Body for National Unity (Bakom PKB)
\nreveals that 1,286 Chinese-Indonesians have reported to the
\nagency as being victims of the recent riots.<\/p>\n
Some of the helpless victims were raped and molested by the
\nmobs, chairwoman Roesita Noer told reporters yesterday.<\/p>\n
\"Bakom PKB, therefore, urges ABRI (the Armed Forces) to give
\nsecurity guarantees to the Chinese-Indonesians,\" she said. (bsr)<\/p>",
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