Christopher Torchia, Jakarta – Thousands of rioters burned cars and looted stores in an Indonesian city today and police battled rock-throwing students in the capital as sharp hikes in the cost of fuel and transport kicked in.
The violence came as the government pushed through reforms geared to lift Indonesia's drifting economy, but sure to deepen the economic pain of millions of Indonesians.
"Everybody is now complaining about the prices," said Yayah Syamsiah, a 40-year-old noodle vendor in Jakarta who has six children. "Who will listen to us? Ordinary people are crying."
In the second day of violence in the northern city of Medan, mobs swarmed onto a main highway, torched nine cars and attacked shops owned by ethnic Chinese shopkeepers, police said. The ethnic Chinese minority, which dominates commerce in the nation of 200 million, was targeted in deadly riots over price increases in February.
"It's not a pure student protest anymore, because it involves ordinary people," police Lt. Col. Amrin Karim said. "There are thousands of angry people trying to burn houses. They are burning tires and turning over cars." At least 20 officers were injured and 59 people arrested in Monday's unrest.
Rioters said they were angry over a 71 percent rise in the price of gasoline today as well as increases in the cost of kerosene and bus, train and ferry tickets, said Medan lawyer Ramadaniel Daulay.
Many truckers did not deliver goods to the port because they didn't want to pay higher fuel costs, port officials said.
Campus unrest broke out in Jakarta, where police lobbed tear gas canisters and fired rubber bullets at student protesters demanding the ouster of President Suharto. At least five officers and 25 students were injured in two clashes, police and witnesses said.
President Suharto's economic advisers, meanwhile, got high marks from the International Monetary Fund when IMF directors approved loan disbursements from a $43 billion bailout for Indonesia.
Nearly $7 billion in aid is now available to Indonesia, IMF special envoy Prabhakar Narvekar said after meeting with Suharto. Aid had been suspended amid fears that Suharto was backing off pledges to open up the economy.
The news that aid had been resumed did little to soothe 200 student protesters in Jakarta, who shouted "Fight Suharto!" and demanded the lowering of fuel prices at a rally outside Parliament. "This is a mistake. This is the fault of Suharto," said one protester, who gave his name as Jimmy. Trucks of police were parked nearby, but did not enforce a military ban on street protests.
Hundreds of students chanting for democratic reform also rallied at campuses in the Java Island cities of Yogyakarta and Semarang.
Angry over the fuel price hike, bus drivers refused to drive high school and university students to classes in Kupang, 1,150 miles east of the capital. Thousands of students marched in protest to the governor's office.