Keith B. Richburg, Jakarta – In the port town of Balikpapan, on Borneo island, an Australian diplomat was dispatched to help rescue Australian mine workers besieged by people demonstrating against foreigners. He spent most of his time hiding from angry crowds, running down back stairwells and being trundled into a getaway van.

In Banyuwangi, in East Java, more than 100,000 Muslims signed up for a jihad against foreign peacekeeping troops if they try to invade Indonesia, and their leader predicted that Australian soldiers would go home in body bags from the peacekeeping venture in East Timor.

In the western Timor town of Atambua, a flamboyant militia leader, Eurico Guterres, pledged to attack the Australian-led peacekeeping force "because they are white people." He warned: "We East Timorese are thirsty for the blood of white people."

As the UN-sponsored intervention force prepares to land on the shore of Dili, East Timor's seaside capital, to end a rampage of killing and destruction by armed militia gangs and their military backers, Indonesians are coming to grips with what many in the political elite are calling a national humiliation, and which some are envisioning as a possible call to arms.

Few here talk about the atrocities committed by Indonesians in East Timor after residents voted overwhelmingly for independence on August 30 – the killings of priests and nuns, the razing of the capital, the mass deportations.

Instead, many are focusing on what they see as the Western world's unfair pummeling of Indonesia, including the suspension of military ties, the threats to cut off aid, and now the indignity of foreign troops landing in East Timor, which Indonesians call "the 27th province."

Those feelings of anger and humiliation are producing a sometimes nasty, xenophobic outburst of nationalistic pride in the world's fourth-largest country, with the largest Muslim population in the world, and many leaders are warning that the overwrought emotions could spiral out of control.

The backlash began as anti-Australian, but is becoming anti-Western, and more broadly anti-white, tapping into deep-seated feelings of resentment reaching back to the period when Indonesia was a colony. And with the peacekeeping troops due to arrive in East Timor on Monday, those feelings could lead to violence.

"People are no longer really focusing on what happened in East Timor, but on how Indonesia has been insulted," said Dewi Fortuna Anwar, a political scientist who serves as foreign policy adviser to President B.J. Habibie.

"There's always been a suspicion of white people in general, which is understandable because of the long experience in colonialism. The feeling is always there. Indonesia has always been very touchy about being pushed around by outside countries."

So far, Miss Anwar said, most of the anger had been directed against Australia and its prime minister, John Howard, whom she accused of "trying to prove his manhood and saying some very ugly things" about Indonesia, and thus "waking up this dangerous nationalism." She said that the United States, through President Bill Clinton and Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, had been "more moderate" and had shown more sensitivity, and that US relations with Indonesia should not suffer.

"The US has a very important role to play in supporting the democratic process here," Miss Anwar said. "Indonesia cannot be left alone wallowing around in narrow nationalism. If it goes down, the region goes down."

Abdurrahman Wahid, who heads Indonesia's largest Muslim organization, Nadhlatul Ulama, also put much of the blame on Mr. Howard and Australians, who he said are helping whip up the nationalist frenzy.

"There are calls in Australia to invade Indonesia," said Mr. Wahid, who also heads the National Awakening Party, which finished in the top four in recent parliamentary elections, making Mr. Wahid a long-shot candidate for president. "They are crazy. Put it in writing – they are crazy."

There are strong emotions on both sides, with anti-Indonesian passions whipped up among Australians as reports accumulate of the massacres in East Timor, which is less than 800 kilometers from Australia's northern coast. Australian dockworkers have refused to unload Indonesian goods from ships, and unions have boycotted the Indonesian Embassy and consulates, meaning trash is not collected and water is cut off. Some Indonesian facilities in Australia were vandalized.

The small but organized crowds that attacked Australian consulates and trade offices and the embassy in Jakarta said they were retaliating for the vandalism against their missions in Australia.

Much of the outrage seems orchestrated, or at least tolerated, by authorities. In Balikpapan, a port town where many Australian mining and mineral companies have offices, the demonstrations were held by a well-known government youth organization that has long been accused of being a violent intimidation force.

During the almost daily demonstrations in Jakarta, riot police stood by when students attacked the fence of the Australian Embassy, but when anti-government students marched to protest military brutality in East Timor, the police charged in with tear gas and rubber bullets.

What is unclear is how this rising anti-Western sentiment affects Mr. Habibie, whose term ends in two months and who is planning to seek a new mandate when the People's Consultative Assembly convenes in October to choose a president.