The Chinese become the silent minority

By Sri Lestari

JAKARTA (JP): Not long after the first riots broke out in Jakarta less than a month ago, hundreds, or even thousands, of people hastily grabbed their belongings and fled the city in fear of their lives. Some even left the country.

Most of them were Indonesians of Chinese descent -- the main targets of the rioters.

Lily, who went to Denpasar with her family, decided to escape after her shop, located near her house in Pamulang, South Jakarta, was looted and burned down.

"The people were still on the street until very late that night and we stayed awake the whole night because our neighbors warned us that we must be prepared to get out of the house in case people set it on fire," she told The Jakarta Post.

"To add to the chaotic situation, my mother slipped and fell. The morning after, even though I knew it wasn't safe to be on the street, I decided to take my mother to the hospital. The next day, we all flew to Bali."

Lily's sister added: "According to my shop attendant, when the people were burning and looting our belongings, the police arrived. But they only watched, it was said they were waiting for further instructions."

Caught up by fear and panic, they decided to go to Bali, leaving their important documents with a Moslem neighborhood leader, with whom they had a good relationship.

Frantic. That was the situation in Jakarta then.

"We kept calling our family, relatives and friends to let them know how we were faring. We were on the phone almost all the time," Shirley, who lives in Karet Sawah, near Jl. Sudirman, Central Jakarta, said.

"My heart beat faster whenever the phone rang. It was always about Mr. X's house being burned, or that Mr. Y's shops were looted. All our relatives experienced financial losses," she recalled.

The chaotic situation forced many people to flee the city or even the country to save their lives. Some who were badly need of cash sold their cars at the airport.

"They brought their car papers with them and tried to sell the vehicle at the airport for a very low price," said a driver, who had just dropped his boss, a Briton, at the airport.

"One of them asked if I would buy his car, but I didn't have the money," he added.

There are always people ready to make a profit out of others' hardships, and last month was no exception. Not only did desperate people rush to the airport, but so did people with a sharp business sense, and they knew people would go to the airport by car. Cars that they could buy cheap. Ten million rupiah was the going rate for a 1993 Toyota Kijang van, a Toyota Starlet sedan of the about same year had a going rate of Rp 10 million. Normally a Starlet would sell for Rp 50 million. A BMW would normally fetch between Rp 100 million to Rp 200 million, at the airport an owner had to accept between Rp 35 million and Rp 40 million.

The fact that many desperate Chinese-Indonesians fled Jakarta and even sold their cars for such low prices might draw unfavorable comments. Some said it was "too much" while others said those leaving the country were unnationalistic.

"This has nothing to do with nationalism," said Lily, who returned from Bali last week. "It is not foreigners, but our own fellow countrymen who attacked us. People who say that have no idea how horrible our experiences were."

Tono, an office boy at a PR company, was on his way home on May 14 when he saw a girl of Chinese descent being sexually assaulted in Kebon Jeruk, West Jakarta.

"The girl was terrified. She was trapped and surrounded by a violent mass that was stripping her clothes off. Once her clothes were off, the people harassed her and threw her clothes here and there.

"The people were not satisfied, and they forced her to take off her bra and panties. She was begging and crying. My God, I wish I could have helped her, but I didn't dare as there were too many people there. Finally, an old man came and gave her newspaper to cover her naked body. He stopped a taxi, which happened to pass by, and told the driver to take her home."

As Tono got closer to his house, he saw another shocking incident.

"One of my Chinese (Indonesian) neighbors died in her shop. She was burned. I saw her shriveled body."

Melly, who lives in a residential area in Pluit, North Jakarta, said all her neighbors, except two families, fled the area.

"My husband didn't want to move out of the house because we didn't have any place to go. The day before, they had burned down our shop. My three children, including my baby, were all sick that day.

"In my neighborhood, there were only two families left. That day (May 15), I heard people approaching from both directions, we were trapped. I was scared to death, but we stayed because my driver told me that he had seen a girl who fled from her nearby apartment get caught by the masses. They ripped her clothes off," she said.

She continued, "When people were throwing stones at our house, a truck full of soldiers arrived and blocked their way. The Army protected us and took us to the nearest police station."

Still, she considers herself lucky. "Most of my friends' children have been traumatized, they frequently sob and scream during their sleep, 'Mommy, Mommy, I'm scared.' My children were frightened but coped well. They just said, 'Mommy, they were bad'."

Report

Tini, a secretary who works on Jl. Sudirman, said one of her Chinese-Indonesian friends was raped in Glodok.

"She tried to hide in her shop. But the people battered the door down and gang raped her."

Asked if she or her friend would report the case, she said "Why? What's the benefit? Who would care?"

These incidents depict only a very small part of the experiences of Chinese-Indonesians during the recent riots. There are probably many other equally terrifying cases, or even worse stories, that would only be told to close relatives. Many victims of rape and other forms of sexual harassment have chosen to remain silent and bury the incidents.

"You'll never find such stories in the newspapers. The victims and their families will never let them out," said Wiwied, an education counselor.

The Commission on Human Rights said last week it had received reports of the deaths of 1,188 people and 101 injuries along with some cases of rape.

It also said that 40 shopping centers, 2,479 shop-houses and 1,604 shops were attacked, burned or looted, along with 1,119 vehicles, 1,026 private homes and 383 offices.

Women's rights group Mitra Perempuan also said it had received many reports on sexual abuse cases during the riots.