Life goes on for May riot victims -- with painful memories

Sari P. Setiogi, The Jakarta Post/Jakarta

Hasanuddin was only out to have a little fun when he went with some friends to the Yogya Department Store at Plaza Klender in East Jakarta during the May 1998 riots. He never imagined that his fun would turn into a nightmare.

"My friends came home with food and nice clothes that afternoon. They said they got it from the Yogya (department store). I was thinking I could bring something home for my family," said the 22-year-old, shaking his legs nervously. "I knew it was wrong, I just wanted to have some fun."

Though nervous he sat down on Saturday to share his experiences from six years ago, while someone drew sketches from a photograph of another young man in the area who was killed in the riots.

The non-governmental organization Solidaritas Nusa Bangsa has undertaken a project to draw sketches of those who perished when Plaza Klender exploded in flames during the riots, giving a face to the hundreds of victims of that tragic day.

The organization's chairwoman, Ester I. Jusuf Purba, said the sketches would be taken to the national rights body and the Attorney General's Office in a bid to encourage an investigation into the deaths.

Hasanuddin said that when he arrived at the plaza at about 3 p.m., the foyer was crowded with people trying to force their way through the front door. Other people had entered through a back door and had broken windows. Hasanuddin said he came in through a broken window.

He said he grabbed five shirts from a store. "I brought them home and I thought I might get some more if I was lucky, so I decided to go back."

When he returned, the scene was one of chaos. Still, he entered the plaza and made his way to the third floor, where he was trapped when a fire broke out.

"I tried to find a way out and got down to the second floor, but it was even worse there ..." said the youngest of four children.

"I heard a cry for help. It was a woman's voice, but I couldn't do anything. I shut my eyes and jumped," Hasanuddin said, closing his eyes at the memory.

Someone brought him to Persahabatan Hospital in Rawamangun. He received 10 stitches on his left arm and was treated for a broken leg.

Six years later, he says he can still hear the woman's cry for help. "I really wish I could have helped her."

He said that sometimes at night, "It feels as if I was still there, trapped inside with the woman's voice calling me."

"I desperately want my life back," says the unemployed man. "I am willing to do anything."

Hasanuddin is among the survivors of the fire that gutted the Yogya Department Store as it was being looted during the May riots. Some 486 burned bodies were later found inside the plaza, most young residents of Klender.

Many people in the area would like to forget the horrible incident, and the department store is now called Mal Klender. The national rights body has announced it is reopening the case into the fire, but there is still no news of any progress.

Families have tried to come to terms with the silence following the aftermath of the riots. Koes lost her 15-year-old son Mustofa in the fire at the shopping center.

"I recognized my boy from a piece of his underwear at Cipto hospital," said the thin woman. "There was also a piece of the brown shirt he was wearing when he left home that afternoon."

Her son was buried at Pondok Kelapa cemetery. "I was lucky. I recognized my son and had him properly buried. For me, that was enough."

Other families are not sure whether the remains of their loved ones are in the mass graves provided for the fire victims.

Koes said, "I often find my husband crying at night." Mustofa was their only son.

Many witnesses told a fact-finding team that a group of men operating in what looked like an organized manner provoked the residents into breaking into the shopping center and looting it. The men, who the residents could not identify, then fled in vehicles while people were burned alive in the inferno.

Ester said, "We are trying to remind the government that the tragedy is there and is still waiting to be legally processed."

Survivors and their relatives have mixed feelings about efforts to prosecute those responsible for the tragedy; activists assisting rape victims from the May riots have been targets of threats.

At the very least, in the words of one mother who lost her 15- year-old son, "I want to be clear about who killed him."

Jakarta turned into a giant battlefield when riots paralyzed the capital for three days in May 1998. Other cities such as Medan, Palembang, Surakarta and Surabaya also experienced violence.

More than 1,000 people died in the violence, most in fires that gutted shopping centers that were being looted, and more than 60 women and girls, mostly Chinese-Indonesians, were victims of gang rape and sexual violence.

The riots were precipitated by the shooting deaths of four Trisakti University students on the afternoon of May 12, for which a number of low-ranking police officers have been punished.

A government-appointed fact-finding team found strong indications of "systematic gross human rights violations" amid what it said appeared to be a power struggle in the last days of Soeharto's rule.

Among the team's recommendations that were ignored was for a formal investigation leading to trials for the perpetrators and masterminds of the violence.

Former Golkar presidential candidate Gen. (ret) Wiranto, the chief of the Indonesian Military during the riots, and the then chief of the Army's Special Forces, Prabowo Subianto, were among the many officers in charge of security at the time.

Both men have published books that include their versions of what happened during those three day and why they failed to prevent such massive destruction and loss of life.