The Chinese become the silent minority<\/p>\n
By Sri Lestari<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): Not long after the first riots broke out in
\nJakarta less than a month ago, hundreds, or even thousands, of
\npeople hastily grabbed their belongings and fled the city in fear
\nof their lives. Some even left the country.<\/p>\n
Most of them were Indonesians of Chinese descent -- the main
\ntargets of the rioters.<\/p>\n
Lily, who went to Denpasar with her family, decided to escape
\nafter her shop, located near her house in Pamulang, South
\nJakarta, was looted and burned down.<\/p>\n
\"The people were still on the street until very late that
\nnight and we stayed awake the whole night because our neighbors
\nwarned us that we must be prepared to get out of the house in
\ncase people set it on fire,\" she told The Jakarta Post.<\/p>\n
\"To add to the chaotic situation, my mother slipped and fell.
\nThe morning after, even though I knew it wasn't safe to be on the
\nstreet, I decided to take my mother to the hospital. The next
\nday, we all flew to Bali.\"<\/p>\n
Lily's sister added: \"According to my shop attendant, when the
\npeople were burning and looting our belongings, the police
\narrived. But they only watched, it was said they were waiting for
\nfurther instructions.\"<\/p>\n
Caught up by fear and panic, they decided to go to Bali,
\nleaving their important documents with a Moslem neighborhood
\nleader, with whom they had a good relationship.<\/p>\n
Frantic. That was the situation in Jakarta then.<\/p>\n
\"We kept calling our family, relatives and friends to let them
\nknow how we were faring. We were on the phone almost all the
\ntime,\" Shirley, who lives in Karet Sawah, near Jl. Sudirman,
\nCentral Jakarta, said.<\/p>\n
\"My heart beat faster whenever the phone rang. It was always
\nabout Mr. X's house being burned, or that Mr. Y's shops were
\nlooted. All our relatives experienced financial losses,\" she
\nrecalled.<\/p>\n
The chaotic situation forced many people to flee the city or
\neven the country to save their lives. Some who were badly need of
\ncash sold their cars at the airport.<\/p>\n
\"They brought their car papers with them and tried to sell the
\nvehicle at the airport for a very low price,\" said a driver, who
\nhad just dropped his boss, a Briton, at the airport.<\/p>\n
\"One of them asked if I would buy his car, but I didn't have
\nthe money,\" he added.<\/p>\n
There are always people ready to make a profit out of others'
\nhardships, and last month was no exception. Not only did
\ndesperate people rush to the airport, but so did people with a
\nsharp business sense, and they knew people would go to the
\nairport by car. Cars that they could buy cheap. Ten million
\nrupiah was the going rate for a 1993 Toyota Kijang van, a Toyota
\nStarlet sedan of the about same year had a going rate of Rp 10
\nmillion. Normally a Starlet would sell for Rp 50 million. A BMW
\nwould normally fetch between Rp 100 million to Rp 200 million, at
\nthe airport an owner had to accept between Rp 35 million and Rp
\n40 million.<\/p>\n
The fact that many desperate Chinese-Indonesians fled Jakarta
\nand even sold their cars for such low prices might draw
\nunfavorable comments. Some said it was \"too much\" while others
\nsaid those leaving the country were unnationalistic.<\/p>\n
\"This has nothing to do with nationalism,\" said Lily, who
\nreturned from Bali last week. \"It is not foreigners, but our own
\nfellow countrymen who attacked us. People who say that have no
\nidea how horrible our experiences were.\"<\/p>\n
Tono, an office boy at a PR company, was on his way home on
\nMay 14 when he saw a girl of Chinese descent being sexually
\nassaulted in Kebon Jeruk, West Jakarta.<\/p>\n
\"The girl was terrified. She was trapped and surrounded by a
\nviolent mass that was stripping her clothes off. Once her clothes
\nwere off, the people harassed her and threw her clothes here and
\nthere.<\/p>\n
\"The people were not satisfied, and they forced her to take
\noff her bra and panties. She was begging and crying. My God, I
\nwish I could have helped her, but I didn't dare as there were too
\nmany people there. Finally, an old man came and gave her
\nnewspaper to cover her naked body. He stopped a taxi, which
\nhappened to pass by, and told the driver to take her home.\"<\/p>\n
As Tono got closer to his house, he saw another shocking
\nincident.<\/p>\n
\"One of my Chinese (Indonesian) neighbors died in her shop.
\nShe was burned. I saw her shriveled body.\"<\/p>\n
Melly, who lives in a residential area in Pluit, North
\nJakarta, said all her neighbors, except two families, fled the
\narea.<\/p>\n
\"My husband didn't want to move out of the house because we
\ndidn't have any place to go. The day before, they had burned down
\nour shop. My three children, including my baby, were all sick
\nthat day.<\/p>\n
\"In my neighborhood, there were only two families left. That
\nday (May 15), I heard people approaching from both directions, we
\nwere trapped. I was scared to death, but we stayed because my
\ndriver told me that he had seen a girl who fled from her nearby
\napartment get caught by the masses. They ripped her clothes off,\"
\nshe said.<\/p>\n
She continued, \"When people were throwing stones at our house,
\na truck full of soldiers arrived and blocked their way. The Army
\nprotected us and took us to the nearest police station.\"<\/p>\n
Still, she considers herself lucky. \"Most of my friends'
\nchildren have been traumatized, they frequently sob and scream
\nduring their sleep, 'Mommy, Mommy, I'm scared.' My children were
\nfrightened but coped well. They just said, 'Mommy, they were
\nbad'.\"<\/p>\n
Report<\/p>\n
Tini, a secretary who works on Jl. Sudirman, said one of her
\nChinese-Indonesian friends was raped in Glodok.<\/p>\n
\"She tried to hide in her shop. But the people battered the
\ndoor down and gang raped her.\"<\/p>\n
Asked if she or her friend would report the case, she said
\n\"Why? What's the benefit? Who would care?\"<\/p>\n
These incidents depict only a very small part of the
\nexperiences of Chinese-Indonesians during the recent riots. There
\nare probably many other equally terrifying cases, or even worse
\nstories, that would only be told to close relatives. Many victims
\nof rape and other forms of sexual harassment have chosen to
\nremain silent and bury the incidents.<\/p>\n
\"You'll never find such stories in the newspapers. The victims
\nand their families will never let them out,\" said Wiwied, an
\neducation counselor.<\/p>\n
The Commission on Human Rights said last week it had received
\nreports of the deaths of 1,188 people and 101 injuries along with
\nsome cases of rape.<\/p>\n
It also said that 40 shopping centers, 2,479 shop-houses and
\n1,604 shops were attacked, burned or looted, along with 1,119
\nvehicles, 1,026 private homes and 383 offices.<\/p>\n
Women's rights group Mitra Perempuan also said it had received
\nmany reports on sexual abuse cases during the riots.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/the-chinese-become-the-silent-minority-1447893297",
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