Rumors of more unrest rock West Java
JAKARTA (JP): Rumors of further religious and ethnic unrest rocked Bandung and several West Java towns yesterday.
Violence did erupt in the industrial area of Rancaekek near Bandung when thousands of striking workers wrecked dozens of vehicles within their factory compound, officials said.
Police said the workers were angered by the company's failure to pay their Idul Fitri holiday allowance on time. The management had promised to give the money on Feb. 6, just three days before the holiday.
According to a manpower minister decree, companies are supposed to pay Idul Fitri bonuses two weeks before the celebration.
Rumors of major unrest swept Bandung, Cianjur, Ujungberung, Cicadas and Padalarang, after leaflets inciting people to attack Chinese and Christian properties were circulated.
The rumors prompted Bandung shopping centers on Jl. Cihampelas, Jl. Otto Iskandar Dinata, Jl. Kepatihan and Jl. Ahmad Yani to close.
A Bandung resident working for a travel bureau on Jl. Ahmad Yani told The Jakarta Post that she first heard the rumors at 10:30 a.m. yesterday.
"All shops on Jl. Ahmad Yani closed immediately on hearing the rumors. We also closed our office then," she said.
The rumors also affected the Bandung town square. The city authorities alerted the riot police, who deployed in the area with two armored vehicles.
There was no official comment on the rumors. A public affairs official at the Siliwangi Regional Military Command only said that there had been no instruction to close the shops or schools.
"It was done on their own initiative," he said.
Meanwhile, life in Rengasdengklok, the scene of Thursday's riot, returned to normal yesterday. Town market businesses opened as usual and shops and schools were also open.
The chief of the Siliwangi Regional Military Command, which oversees West Java, Maj. Gen. Tayo Tarmadi, said in nearby Karawang yesterday that the authorities have released 115 of the 126 rioters arrested Thursday and declared the remaining 11 to be suspects.
Chief of the Karawang District Police Lt. Col. Harry Montolalu said all of the 11 suspects were residents of the Karawang regency.
When asked about the whereabouts of Go Wie, who allegedly triggered the riot, and her husband Kim Sin Cian, he said they were in police custody. "They are also suspects in the rioting," he said.
Tayo called on West Java residents to be wary of provocative statements and actions instigated by irresponsible people or parties.
Seventy-six houses and 72 shops were destroyed in the Rengasdengklok unrest, while 19 cars were damaged and eight other vehicles were burned.
The rioters damaged three churches and burned another. Two Buddhist monasteries were also damaged and burned in the violence.
Security officers imposed a 9 p.m. night curfew on the subdistrict Thursday to prevent further disturbances.
Meanwhile, the Indonesian Buddhist Council (Walubi) expressed grave concern in Jakarta yesterday over the violence. It said in a statement that the riot had disrupted public order, endangered the peaceful coexistence of people from different faiths and could lead to national disintegration.
"May God give the victims strength and the perpetrators love. As Buddha teaches us, hatred will never end if we fight it with hatred," said the statement signed by the council's acting chief Oka Diputhera.
The council called on Buddhists to keep calm. It praised the authorities for taking prompt action to quell the riot.
Oka Diputhera told the Post that damage to the two wrecked Buddhist temples exceeded Rp 1 billion (US$420,000).
Another part of the country that witnessed tension yesterday was Pontianak, the capital of West Kalimantan, where city bus drivers protested a new traffic ruling they considered unfair. The protesters pelted traffic offices with a variety of objects.
Shops and banks closed for security reasons, eyewitnesses said. During the protests, 18 people sporting menacing black and white headdresses followed the drivers, heightening the tension.
Government and military officials were not available for comment.
This followed Wednesday's incident when a group of 30 to 40 people whose faces were covered with the same black and white headdresses attacked a Catholic foundation in the nearby Siantan Tengah subdistrict.
In the attack two motorcycles and a truck were burned, three offices damaged and two women residents living nearby injured. They are reported to be "improving" at Santo Antonius Hospital. (ahy/imn/01/pan)
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