Why look for masterminds?

I would like to know why it is that so much attention is being given to the so-called issue of "trying to identify the masterminds behind the Jakarta riots of May 13 through May 15".

According to the Oxford dictionary, the word "mastermind" means "a person of outstanding ability". Was there really such a person or persons behind the Jakarta riots?

Trying to create an impression that "masterminds" planned the Jakarta riots appears to be an exercise in deflecting attention away from the prime cause.

In reflecting upon the sequence of events that led to the Jakarta riots, it should be remembered that there had already been riots in other cities and towns. Fuel prices had been increased and the cost of basic commodities had sky-rocketed. In other words, frustration was being felt by increasingly large numbers of people all over the country.

An equally important cause of frustration was the refusal by the New Order government to include political reform, including the right to freedom of expression, in its agenda. The people were told that they would have to wait until 2002 when then president Soeharto would have finished his term of office before reforms would be implemented. This, in effect, meant a perpetuation of the corrupt, collusive and nepotistic practices the people had come to despise.

When four of Jakarta's Trisakti university students were shot dead on May 12, the whole nation fell silent. There was in the air a piercing feeling of grief mixed with latent anger, just as if one's own brother or friend had been killed. The frustration and anger that had culminated during the weeks before were now at a boiling point. The powder keg was about to explode.

In Jakarta the next couple of days, this anger and frustration manifested itself in the form of large-scale rioting and looting. The reason was simply a matter of cause and effect. Why look for scapegoats or a so-called "mastermind"? The fuse had been burning long before the May riots erupted.

ROBIN PETER HOLMAN

Sanur, Bali