Ethnic-colored riot hits Ujungpandang

Ethnic-colored riot hits Ujungpandang

UJUNGPANDANG (JP): Mobs of people went on a rampage throughout
the city's center in a riot with ethnic overtones on Monday night
and yesterday.

Witnesses said the city remained tense last night with
soldiers and police officers deployed in the Chinatown district
which suffered the worst damage.

The riot was provoked by rumors that a nine-year-old girl was
hacked to death by a man, said to be of a Chinese descent, on
Monday evening.

The alleged killer, believed to be insane, was later mobbed to
death by an angry crowd of people who later vented their anger by
attacking houses and shops belonging to ethnic Chinese residents.

South Sulawesi Police Chief Brig. Gen. Ali Hanafiah said
yesterday that four people were killed.

Besides the girl and the alleged killer, a fireman died while
fighting a fire at one of the burning houses, and a woman
suffocated when she was trapped in her smoldering home.

Around 10 people were injured.

Police said a temple, eight houses and eight entertainment
centers were razed and more than 400 other buildings were
damaged. In addition, 51 cars and 58 motorcycles were either set
on fire or damaged.

Maj. Gen. Agum Gumelar, chief of the Wirabuana Regional
Military Command overseeing Sulawesi, appealed for calm
yesterday, saying that people should not be easily provoked by
rumors of racially motivated murder.

"It's not the murder of a Moslem by a non-Moslem. It's not the
murder of a Makasarese by a person of Chinese descent," he said.
Makasar is one of the main subethnic groups in South Sulawesi.

"It's the murder of a common person by an insane person," he
said at a media conference held to explain the chronology of the
riot.

Officials identified the nine-year-old girl as Anni Mujahidah
Rasulullah, and her attacker as 23-year-old Benny.

The head of Ujungpandang Mental Care Hospital, Deny Tong,
confirmed that Benny had been a patient there. "Benny was under
intensive treatment here for schizophrenia and paranoia," Deny
told The Jakarta Post.

According to the official version of events, Anni had just
finished attending a Koran reading lesson at 7 p.m. on Monday and
was on her way home when she was suddenly attacked by Benny.

A 19-year-old woman who accompanied Anni, Noro, was also
attacked and suffered an arm injury.

The girls' screams alerted the neighborhood and they soon
unarmed Benny and started beating him.

Police arrived too late, and Benny was killed before they
could rush him to a hospital.

Then the rampage began.

The angry mob immediately spilled onto the main streets, where
most ethnic Chinese people live and run their shops.

The chief targets were shops and houses along Jl. Nusantara,
Jl. Sulawesi and Jl. Sombaopu. They also attacked shops on Jl.
Irian, Jl. Bulusaraung, Jl. Veteran, Jl. G. Latimojong and Jl.
Cenderawasih. The rioters also threw stones and burned houses and
buildings on Jl. Sultan Hasanuddin, Jl. Sultan Alauddin and Jl.
Kumala.

The riot went on into the early hours of Tuesday. It resumed
later in the morning with university students joining the mob,
witnesses said.

At the press conference, Agum was accompanied by Hanafiah,
South Sulawesi Governor Zainal Basri Palaguna, the province's
legislative Council Speaker Amin Syam, chief of the Fourth Naval
Base Rear Adm. Hary Mulyo, chief of the Second Air Base
Operational Command Rear Marshal Suparno Muanan and Ujungpandang
Mayor Malik B. Masry.

The conference was televised live by the local TVRI station to
viewers in Ujungpandang.

Agum said he did not consider it necessary to impose a night
curfew in Ujungpandang. "However, people should not go out at
night unless it's really important," he said.

He warned that the military would not tolerate further
violence and would take necessary measures against rioters,

Hanafiah said 22 people had been detained for their alleged
role in the riot. Five of them were arrested for stealing, while
17 others for damaging people's property.

Separately, Armed Forces spokesman A. Wahab Mokodongan said in
Jakarta that 10 of the detained rioters were ex-convicts.
(30/31/37/imn)