Medan calm but sporadic looting continues

By Efendy Naibaho

MEDAN, North Sumatra (JP): Medan was mostly calm, albeit tense, yesterday after three days of rioting, although some looting continued on the city's outskirts, witnesses said.

In Titipapan and Labuhan, two districts between Medan and Belawan port, hundreds of people were seen breaking down doors and smashing windows to enter shops. But they dispersed as soon as security forces arrived and fired warning shots.

There was a strong presence of police and troopers on most of Medan's main roads as the city struggled to restore normalcy.

Nearby towns like Siantar, Binjai and Lubuk Pakam resembled ghost towns, with most shops and banks remaining closed and the main roads virtually deserted.

Some government workers said they were ordered to turn up in mufti instead of their uniforms. Storekeepers, mostly ethnic Chinese, cleared up debris and counted the losses from the looting and arson.

The North Sumatra Military Command said the Army's Strategic Reserves Command (Kostrad) had dispatched Battalion 305 from Jakarta to Medan as reinforcement.

"The local command actually has enough troopers, but some of them have been assigned to other places like Aceh, East Timor and Irian Jaya," Maj. Gen. Ismed Yuzairi, the chief of the Bukit Barisan Regional Military Command, said.

Medan Police chief Lt. Col. Nono Priyono said sharpshooters had been assigned to take part in patrolling the city on motorcycles. They had a standing order to shoot troublemakers, such as looters and arsonists, on sight. "They can be dispatched to the scene of trouble instantly," Nono said.

Police gave details of the toll of the rioting, which began Monday night only hours after the government in Jakarta announced steep hikes in fuel prices.

About 170 shops were destroyed and looted, and 38 cars and 21 motorcycles were set on fire, they said.

There were conflicting reports about the number of fatalities.

North Sumatra Police chief Brig. Gen. M.A. Sambas confirmed only one death, a boy. Sambas identified the boy as Bobby, who was trapped in a burning shop he was reportedly looting on Jl. Sutrisno.

Some local reports had earlier put the death toll at six.

Six security officers and four people were listed as injured, police said.

A total of 423 people were arrested during the three days, including 145 university students and 28 school students. The rest were listed as workers.

"Some of them were just kids. Just imagine, children looting," Sambas said in disgust.

All but 51 of them had been released with warnings. Those still in detention will be investigated and possibly prosecuted.

Booty seized from those arrested was displayed at the Medan Police Headquarters yesterday. It ranged from spring beds to a sack of rice.

At Wulan Windi hospital, at least two patients, including a 12-year-old girl, were being treated for wounds from rubber bullets.

The girl, Dewi Sartika, was out shopping with her mother at Rengas Pulau market in Belawan when she was suddenly hit in the stomach by a rubber bullet, her father, M. Makarao, said.

"Her condition is improving," Makarao said.

On Jl. Wahidin in Medan, shop owners said they had organized their own patrols, taking turns to guard their property, with the help of the Pemuda Pancasila youth organization.

On Wednesday night, Minister of Defense and Security/Armed Forces Commander Gen. Wiranto arrived from Jakarta to tour the riot-torn city.

Wiranto promised that the military would be firm with rioters.

"I have given the order that they (troopers) act firmly in accordance with the law. This is not about containing riots. This is about fighting crime. We've got to stop the looting," he told reporters accompanying him during the tour.

He pointed out that what he had always feared had come about -- that student demonstrations would turn into full-scale riots the moment students took their protest off their campuses.

He said the riots were crippling the economic life of the city. Besides causing financial losses to the people, these riots were sowing fear among them, he said. "All of this has got to stop," he said.