Riots commonplace in RI

Riots commonplace in RI

By Ester I. Jusuf

The following is the first of two articles reviewing the riots
that broke out in Indonesia throughout the year.

JAKARTA (JP): The word "riot" which features prominently in
the Indonesian press since the last part of this decade has three
social symptoms generally.

The first is insurrection (unarmed popular uprising), the
second is mob looting, and the third is widespread gang fights
that cause much destruction.

The three symptoms marked its arrival following the July 27,
1996, forced takeover of the Indonesian Democratic Party (PDI)
headquarters on Jl. Diponegoro in Central Jakarta.

A riot broke out after a severe clash between the unarmed
people who tried to take back the headquarters and the fully
armed military that defended the aggressors. After the masses
were defeated and disbanded, they retreated, looted and burned
everything within their sight.

From then on, riot after riot of every degree tore the country
apart peaking at the May 1997 election. An uneasy calm ensued
which lasted until May 1998 when a savage riot broke out and
claimed numerous victims.

The military gunned down four Trisakti students demonstrating
on May 13 and soon mobs in the thousands swarmed in a spirit of
revenge through the Jakarta streets. The gathering quickly
degenerated into riots in which buildings were burned and shops
looted following brief clashes with the police.

At least 1,100 people lost their lives in this riot, either
consumed by fire or beaten to death. Ethnic Chinese were not the
only citizens that fell victim. The riot comprised mainly of mass
looting. The mobs took everything they wanted from shops, from
houses of the rich, or from pedestrians on the street.

What set the riot of May 14 to May 16, 1998, apart is the
allegation that there were organized rapes committed while the
riot was in progress. Facts show that there were a lot of rapes,
while it remains to be proven legally whether or not the rapes
were organized.

The second fact that is quite shocking is the military
admitted that they knew all along the riot was going to happen.
The Chief Director of the Army Intelligence Service (BIA), Zacky
Anwar Makarim was quoted as saying it to that effect in (Kompas
Sep. 3, 1998). Zacky also acknowledged the presence of "local
agitators" in the scene.

We can always ask ourselves whether there is any connection to
the fact that the security officers were late and were also very
slow in solving the mystery, or to unveil the so-called
provocateurs they had nabbed redhanded. The later phenomenon was
to become a recurring trend in later riots, such as the Ketapang
riot, Medan riot and Ambon riot.

After the May riots, which inflicted much damage (in terms of
financial, lives, and nation's morale), again the country plunged
into an uneasy calm. The people were shocked by the May
experience but happy with the downfall of Soeharto from his 32-
year iron rule.

Two months later, riots broke out again in the Irian Jaya
capital of Jayapura from July 1 to July 7, 1998. The crowd
rallied a demand for independence from Indonesia and the army
troops opened fire (Suara Pembaruan, Sep. 10, 1998).

Another riot also broke out in the Central Java town of
Kebumen on Sep. 7, presumably stemming from an individual dispute
between a Chinese shop owner and a local thug. The thug summoned
his friends from the local bus station and begun attacking the
Chinese community as a revenge.

Riots also broke out in the fisherman village of Bagansiapi-
api in North Sumatra, on Sep. 15, as a result of a personal
dispute between hoodlums. Fueled by rumors, the dispute quickly
turned into a wide-scale open fight between relatives of both
hoodlums (Suara Pembaruan, Sep. 16, 17 and 19, 1998).

It was about this time that the famous "ninja" case came to
the fore. Rumors have it that a number of organized killers
disguised in Japanese assassins "ninja" fashion were on the loose
preying alleged dukun santet (shaman) in the East Java town of
Banyuwangi. In the process they had taken the lives of innocent
kiyais (Muslim religious leaders).

In October, mobs began their revenge on alleged ninja which
set off a series of violent killings. Later, it was found out
that eight groups of hoodlums were the main actors on the scene
(Kompas, Dec. 31, 1998) though it remains unclear as to who was
the man behind them.

The most significant in the series broke out after the Nov. 13
to Nov. 14 uprising. The press mistakenly named it a riot. A
record of nearly one million people took to the street, demanding
cancellation of the Special Assembly of the People's Consultative
Assembly.

On Nov. 14, a small-scale clash between people and some
military personnel nearly incited a riot but the students managed
to prevent it (Kompas, May 15, 1998).

The students were caught by surprise, however, when a riot
with religious overtones broke out in the Central Jakarta area of
Ketapang on Nov. 22. The military put the blame on local
religious leaders but the kiyais said it was the security
officers who should be responsible for the riot (Kompas, Nov. 26,
1998).

The kiyais said the army troops provoked the mobs by shooting
into the air and failed to take lawful procedures against
capturing provocateurs. A similar kind of riot also broke out in
Kupang, a town in West Timor.

The writer is Chairwoman of Solidaritas Nusa Bangsa