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