Jakarta haunted by return of riots

Jakarta haunted by return of riots

JAKARTA (JP): Jakarta lurched to the brink of a citywide riot
on Saturday as sporadic outbreaks of looting sprung up in various
parts of the city.

The worst hit areas were Senen and Sawah Besar in Central
Jakarta, where about a dozen shops and banks were looted, torched
or pelted with stones. Dozens of vehicles were also burnt.

In some locations, order appeared to break down completely,
with cars being stopped arbitrarily and their occupants robbed.

With the devastating May riots still fresh in people's minds,
most residents were expecting the worst and local security
patrols were stepped up.

It was the combination of these civilian patrols, quick and
persuasive military action, particularly from the Marine Corps,
and a great deal of self restraint from Jakartans which prevented
a recurrence of May's unrest.

Jakarta Military Commander Maj. Gen. Djadja Suparman, speaking
on Saturday evening, maintained that "the situation is still
under control".

Nevertheless both he and Jakarta Governor Sutiyoso called on
residents not to leave their houses after 10 p.m. for the rest of
the weekend.

"This is not a curfew," Djadja quickly emphasized.

President B.J. Habibie also held separate meetings with
Cabinet ministers, and religious and community leaders to review
the situation and attempt to instill calm.

The tense atmosphere built up as a result of the bloody
clashes between students and security personnel in the Semanggi
cloverleaf area in South Jakarta on the previous night.

By Saturday morning an ill feeling towards military personnel
had developed and a mob on Jl. Sudirman near Semanggi stopped
vehicles, "hunting" for military personnel.

Maintaining security at strategic locations was largely left
to the Navy's maroon beret marine corps, who's reputation
survived intact.

On several occasions people shouted "Long live marines!" as
the corps moved in to replace Army and police units perceived to
be the culprits in the deaths of students over the past two days.

The grudge borne towards other elements of the military was
evident, with trucks not belonging to the marines beng hailed
with stones and shouts of "Communist!" when they passed along Jl.
Gatot Subroto.

In a peculiar incident in the Senayan area of Central Jakarta,
a member of the marine corps was hit in the leg by a bullet.

The head of the Marine Corps' information bureau, Maj. Ibrahim
Sadong explained that "he was hit by a stray bullet and it's only
a light wound". Ibrahim said the bullet was believed to have been
fired by a police detachment stationed near Semanggi.

Looting

A crowd numbering in the hundreds gathered in the morning in
the Salemba area near to the front of the University of Indonesia
while students held a rally inside the campus.

The crowd became increasingly agitated, despite the best
efforts of students to calm them down.

At about 10 a.m. a Kijang van with military license plates was
turned over and set on fire by the crowd.

An eyewitness told The Jakarta Post that a mob became angry
after the driver of the van honked the horn at people to move
them out of the way.

The two military personnel inside the van escaped after being
beaten by the mob.

The mob, which by now numbered over one thousand, then moved
up the road towards the Senen area.

At around 3 p.m. they began looting shops on the lower level
of Senen market. Many of the goods taken from the shops were then
burnt in the middle of the road.

Many vehicles parked on the side of the road were vandalized
or burned.

The mob then moved on to the Atrium shopping center, where
several shops were ransacked.

The mayhem only stopped when a truck load of marines arrived
on the scene and persuaded the crowd to calm down.

Marines were also able to dissuade a mob from attacking a
police station in Kramat, Central Jakarta.

Saptohadi, a police assistant from the Krekot police station,
said marines also stopped the mob from burning a Metro department
store.

A crowd of several hundred continued marching towards the
Sawah Besar area. They were joined by another mob and then
wrecked havoc along Jl. Samanhudi and Jl. Pecenongan.

Screaming "We are hungry!" and "Long live students", they
began pelting stones at several buildings. A motorcycle showroom,
and a Bank Danamon office were torched and a Bank Tamara office
in the area was ransacked.

Several small shops adjacent to the burning buildings also
caught fire.

The owner of a jewelry store ran out of his shop carrying gold
and money. He was fortunate to be saved by security personnel
before the mob could get to him.

The progress of the hostile mob was quickly curtailed by
soldiers, who were quick to block off major intersections in the
area.

The rule of law also came to an end in the Cawang area of East
Jakarta for several hours Saturday afternoon.

At around 1 p.m., mobs began to destroy anything in their
path, including phone booths, flowerpots and road signs.

Witnesses said the security forces had abandoned the area
after they were unable to stop a the wave of students forcing
their way towards the Assembly building.

The situation got so out of control that several cars were
stopped and robbed and a truck was turned upside down and set on
fire.

An hour later, the masses moved towards Pancoran and set fire
to three toll booths.

Two police stations, one on Jl. M.T. Haryono and one near
Gelael Supermarket were also bombarded with stones.

It was not until 4:30 p.m. that three trucks of marines
arrived to calm the situation.

Late yesterday evening it was reported that people had also
scattered debris along parts of the Kebon Jeruk-Tangerang toll
road, forcing cars to pick their way slowly along the route or
turn back altogether.

By 10:30 p.m. on Saturday evening, most of Jakarta was
reportedly calm, with no new reports of unrest. However the
situation on the streets remained extremely tense. (team)