Organized groups ignited May riots, says scholar

Organized groups ignited May riots, says scholar

YOGYAKARTA (JP): Last month's rioting, which claimed more than
1,100 lives, was not caused by anti-Chinese bias but by organized
groups who exploited ethnic sentiments for their own political
interests, a noted political scientist said yesterday.

Ariel Heryanto, a visiting lecturer at the National University
of Singapore, claimed that most conflicts between indigenous and
nonindigenous Indonesians, particularly people of Chinese
descent, were intentionally provoked to create tension and social
unrest.

Ariel said ethnic Chinese were an easy target of violence
since they dominated the country's economy despite being few in
number.

People were provoked by these groups in well-planned scenarios
to create social tension in society, he noted.

"The riots were conducted in a systematic way, by organized
and well-trained groups," Ariel said during a seminar here.

However he refused to speculate who these groups were.

An independent nongovernment group in Jakarta has forwarded
various witnesses' testimony which indicate that the riots were
organized.

Riots rocked major cities across the country last month and
paralyzed Jakarta, which saw about 5,000 buildings burned or
looted.

Premises believed to be owned by ethnic Chinese businessmen
were often the target of the mobs.

"The problematic relations between the indigenous and
nonindigenous people have existed since former president
Soeharto's rule of the last 32 years. But this is more a problem
of the economy and politics created by the government," Ariel
asserted.

In Jakarta, the widely respected Moslem scholar Nurcholish
Madjid told a seminar that frustration over rampant corruption,
abuses of power and poor law enforcement as being the primary
trigger of the riots.

"Our experience shows that injustices took place continuously
during the last 20 years," Nurcholish said, pointing to the huge
economic advantages given to certain groups as a result of the
corrupt system.

Nurcholish said the creation of good and clean governance was
the only way to eradicate sources of such conflicts in the
future.

"I am optimistic that if the government is clean and carries
out its duty excellently, such social upheavals can be prevented
in the future," said the rector of Paramadina University.
(23/44/prb)