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)