People can't stop talking about 'Gray Thursday'

JAKARTA (JP): The rioting and looting in Greater Jakarta last Thursday is still a hot topic even though business as usual resumed in the capital yesterday.

People still comment on the widespread damage done to buildings as they travel through riot-hit areas of the city on public transportation.

For many, yesterday was the first time they had been exposed to the ghastly wake of the social uprising.

Some even condemned the rioters for being so reckless.

"Damn them, I would not have to queue like this if it weren't for them," a woman, wearing an office uniform, was heard to say in front of a Niaga Bank automatic teller machine on Jl. Falatehan.

Long queues of people waiting to use bank ATMs were a familiar scene yesterday as many of the machines have not been operational since Thursday.

On a minivan, Mikrolet 01, plying the Senen-Kampung Melayu route, four female academy students exchanged stories of what they had seen on that fateful day -- which has been dubbed "Gray Thursday" by the mass media.

They stopped talking about their class papers and began discussing the rioting and looting when their minibus passed a Modern Bank building on Jl. Jatinegara Timur, East Jakarta. The building's windowpanes had been smashed.

One of the students was heard telling her friends that a Lippo Bank ATM near her neighborhood had been broken into by rioters last Thursday.

"They took the machine out and opened it with a crowbar and then handed out the money inside to everybody around," she exclaimed.

"Did you get any?" asked one of her friends.

"Well, unfortunately for me, it's haram (forbidden), you know!" she retorted.

While they talked about the rioting and looting as the mikrolet passed many burned buildings along the streets.

They were later surprised to find, when they alighted from the mikrolet on Jl. Matraman Raya, that their destination -- a Gramedia bookstore -- had been ravaged by fire.

The bookstore was one of 4,940 buildings looted and set alight during last Thursday's rioting which caused damages estimated in excess of US$250 million.

It could have been the fires that inspired two street performers on a bus plying the Pasar Baru-Ciledug route yesterday to sing a Javanese song titled Anoman Obong (Anoman got burned) to entertain passengers.

Anoman is the commander of monkey troops who helps King Rama of Ayodya defeat the devilish king of Alengka, Rahwana, in the classical Ramayana epic.

The song's lyrics were altered to capture the scenes at several Ramayana department stores. One verse went like this: Look, Jakarta is burning/Togog and Mbilung are looting basic essentials/Big buildings have become charcoal ... Dosomuko was crying.

In the epic, Togog and Mbilung are characters representing the common people, while Dosomuko -- a 10-faced king -- is one of the names of the wayang (leather puppet) character Rahwana.

"We made this song to describe the current situation," one of the singers, Andi, 26, said. Andi strummed a guitar while he and his friend Erwin, 25, performed the tune.

On Andi's black guitar there were two stickers -- one of Indonesia's first president Sukarno and the other of his daughter Megawati Soekarnoputri -- which were well placed.

"We are Megawati supporters," Erwin said, asking The Jakarta Post for the address of the ousted leader of the Indonesian Democratic Party (PDI). (aan)