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Violent protests erupt in Indonesia

Source
International Herald Tribune - February 3, 1998 (compiled by our staff from dispatches)

Jakarta – Violent protests have again erupted in key parts of Indonesia, with thousands of people burning shops as they challenged higher food and fuel prices, according to police and news reports Monday.

Violence flared during the weekend in up to 10 towns and villages on the densely populated island of Java and on Sulawesi, the officials said, with shops and the ethnic Chinese minority taking the brunt of the mobs' fury. About 2,000 people pelted shops with stones in the western coastal town of Banawa, in Central Sulawesi Province before being dispersed by paramilitary and police units, a military officer said.

Another large disturbance occurred in Pasuruan, 750 kilometers (470 miles) east of Jakarta, where 400 people demonstrated in a marketplace against higher kerosene prices, the police said.

"They wanted to attack fuel agents there," a police officer said. "But fortunately, soldiers and police arrived in time." About 30 people were detained for questioning.

In Banawa, security forces regained control after two hours, arresting several alleged ringleaders, the military officer, Suwardi, said by telephone from the district military headquarters there. "People are still concerned," he added. "Shop owners are still afraid to open. They raised prices indiscriminately and almost every day for basic necessities. " The officer said 13 shops had been damaged.

Analysts warn that social unrest could increase as the painful effects of Indonesia's current economic crisis are felt. Unemployment and inflation are rising after a dramatic drop in the value of the currency, the rupiah. Austerity measures, enacted by the government under an International Monetary Fund economic rescue plan, are adding to the discontent.

A private television station, RCTI, reported that teenagers and children attacked shops in Ujung Pandang, provincial capital of South Sulawesi, on Monday. Dozens of other stores, mostly owned by minority ethnic Chinese, closed down in fear of more violence.

Chinese make up only 4 percent of Indonesia's population of 202 million but they dominate commerce and are often targeted in civil unrest. A resident said the attack was "obviously caused by current price hikes."

Ujung Pandang, about 1,400 kilometers northeast of Jakarta, was shaken by a series of anti-Chinese rioting in September, in which five people were killed.

Monday's disturbances were the latest in a recent series of such incidents. Security personnel were patrolling Tuban, a coastal town about 100 kilometers northwest of Pasuruan, on Monday after three days of rioting over higher food prices, the police and residents said. Residents in Tuban said the violence coincided with celebrations for the end of Ramadan, the Islamic month of fasting.

A police officer said 46 people had been arrested after disturbances rocked Tuban last Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. A local government official said that about 20 stores had been ransacked.

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