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)