Hundreds of locals, foreigners flee riot-torn Jakarta

JAKARTA (JP): Hundreds of Indonesians and expatriates flocked to Soekarno-Hatta International Airport yesterday in a bid to flee the riot-torn city where hundreds of people have been killed over the past three days.

Indonesians, mostly those of Chinese descent, and foreigners lined up at check-in counters while hundreds more queued for hours to buy domestic and international tickets.

"Our parents in Yogyakarta are worried about our safety and want us to leave Jakarta," Budi Yulianto, 25, told The Jakarta Post.

Budi, a university graduate who is taking an English course in preparation for post-graduate study in Australia beginning in July, said his brother and sister had also been summoned home.

"I have been queuing for almost four hours but I still don't have a ticket," Budi added.

Budi, who lives in Grogol, West Jakarta, with his two siblings, said he spent Thursday night guarding his residential complex along with neighbors.

The widespread looting and wanton destruction of properties, mostly those owned by Chinese Indonesians, was triggered by the deaths of four Trisakti University student protesters on Tuesday.

Mobs burned dozens of cars and motorcycles, ransacked hundreds of Chinese-owned shops, and damaged buildings including banks, hotels, houses and police stations.

People lay wearily on the floor, chatted, and ate take-away meals in the departures terminal at the airport while they waited for their plane tickets.

Airline staff said earlier this week that most international flights were fully booked, especially those bound for Singapore, Hong Kong and Australia.

"I'll fly on any airline. In a situation like this, I do not have any preference," Lesmana, 56, an executive of a chemical industry company in Tangerang, West Java, said.

Lesmana, along with his wife and daughter, wanted to go to Singapore, where they planned to stay for at least one week.

"We will return to Indonesia as soon as the situation returns to normal," he added.

He deplored the rioting, saying that the ongoing violence would ruin Indonesia's image.

Some expatriate communities, including those from the United States and Australia, have expressed concern at the bloody riots and urged the military to exercise restraint.

The military, however, pledged to clamp down on recalcitrant mobs Thursday after widespread rioting and looting which went on until the early hours of Friday.

A visiting United States citizen, Mike Gaudry, 50, said he was willing to take an unscheduled flight to Taipei late yesterday evening because he thought the situation would deteriorate further.

"I want to try to get out of the country while I can," Gaudry, an engineer from Chicago, said, adding that he was originally scheduled to leave for Singapore tomorrow.

Gaudry said he saw security officers fire warning shots to disperse violent looters near his hotel in Kedoya, West Jakarta, on Wednesday evening.

"I was surprised that they (the looters) could be so violent," he said.

Even the evacuation of distressed citizens can be turned into a healthy profit. Philadelphia-based International Assistance specializes in emergency situations, including giving assistance to fleeing foreigners.

"The company's branch office in Blok M has been receiving incessant phone calls from expatriates wanting us to organize homeward journeys for them since rioting started on Wednesday," Heru Broto Semedi, said.

"They are all panicking," he added.

Heru said that at least 200 expatriates from the United States, Japan, and some European countries were scheduled to leave yesterday on chartered flights.

Meanwhile, at least 20 families from a nearby residential complex sought refuge from violent rioters in the airport.

"We were able to fend off the rioters initially, but they returned in ever increasing numbers," a resident who requested an anonymity said.

"We cannot afford to buy airplane tickets, but we have decided to remain at the airport until we feel it is safe to return home," he said.

Hotels in the airport compound were also packed with people who had been placed on passenger waiting-lists, hotel employees said. (byg)