APSN Banner

Six die as riots shake Indonesia for third day

Source
Reuters - May 6, 1998

Ian MacKenzie, Jakarta – Riots in the North Sumatran capital of Medan shook Indonesia for a third consecutive day on Wednesday, with local reporters saying at least six people were killed in blazing buildings or by gunfire from security forces.

Mobs looted and burned shops and vehicles in the commodities trading centre and neighbouring towns as financial markets tumbled on fears the violence might spread throughout the nation of 200 million people.

Despite the nation's economic and political woes, the government said President Suharto would attend a summit of 15 developing nations in Cairo followed by a state visit to Egypt next week.

The official Antara news agency said Suharto would attend the summit of the G-15 group of Asian, African and Latin American nations from May 11 to 13 and then stay in Egypt for a two-day state visit.

Suharto last left Indonesia for an extended visit to southern Africa, Canada and Saudi Arabia last November, following which he was seriously ill for several weeks.

The violence in Medan was triggered by Monday's announcement of an increase in the prices of fuel, transport and electricity.

Reuters journalists in the city of two million reported seeing at least two people shot and wounded. Local reporters said at least six people were killed in Wednesday's violence and one man died on Tuesday when he was trapped in a burning building.

Reports from the nearby town of Lubukpakam said one person was killed in a riot there, they said.

Demonstrations involving thousands of students were held in the capital Jakarta, Bandung in West Java, Yogyakarta in Central Java, and Indonesia's second city of Surabaya in East Java.

Witnesses said troops fired rubber bullets into the air during protests at the National University in Jakarta but there were no other immediate reports of trouble.

Troops also replaced riot police at the Institute of Sociology and Politics in the capital in a show of force indicating the army was taking charge in dealing with the protest movement.

More than 20,000 students gathered at three universities in Surabaya and troops prevented them from taking their anti-government protests to the streets.

Witnesses said the students dispersed and made their way to the East Java legislative building, where they were joined by members of the public in a mass protest over prices.

Thousands of students also demonstrated in Yogyakarta, but there were no reports of trouble after a confrontation late Tuesday night. There were no immediate reports of trouble elsewhere.

Student confrontations with riot police in volatile Medan had set the scene for the explosion of violence there, sparked by the sharp increases in fuel and transport prices.

Political and diplomatic analysts said it was not clear how the situation in Medan might affect the rest of the country, where student protest movements have so far lacked cohesion and national leadership.

A senior diplomatic analyst said anti-government opposition remained localised, and had not yet spread beyond major urban centres.

But there was the danger for the government that broad public discontent over rising prices could give added backing to the student movement and broaden opposition to unpopular government measures.

"It is a festering sort of situation, with a good deal of uncertainty," he said.

The powerful armed forces have warned students against a descent into anarchy and to restrict their protests – in which they have called for quick political and economic reforms and an end to President Suharto's 32-year rule – to campuses.

The Medan riots shook the rupiah currency, which slid to around the 9,000 level against the dollar in London trading on Wednesday from just over 8,000 at the Jakarta opening.

The Jakarta composite stock index fell 4.72 percent to end at 414.63 points. Some analysts predicted it could reach the 400 level or lower.

The Medan riots were a bitter blow to a government that had hoped to boost confidence in the nation's battered economy after the International Monetary Fund approved a balance-of-payments loan of nearly $1.0 billion on Monday.

The IMF's implicit approval of Indonesia's progress on economic reforms had helped counterbalance the Medan violence on Tuesday, but it failed to keep up the support on Wednesday.

The collapse of the rupiah from around the 2,400 level against the dollar last July plunged Indonesia into its worst economic crisis since Suharto took power in the mid-1960s. Inflation and unemployment are shooting up, most companies are in technical bankruptcy and trade has come to a virtual standstill.

The increase in fuel prices that went into effect at midnight on Monday were part of the IMF reform agreement, but they will cause additional hardship in a nation dependent on transport between 17,500 islands spread for 5,000 km (3,000 miles) along the Equator.

Leading opposition figure Megawati Sukarnoputri castigated the government for the increases, saying they showed Suharto's administration was out of touch with the people.

Markets in other Asian centres were also hit by fears for Indonesia's stability.

Indonesia straddles key shipping and air routes, and is by far the largest country in the nine-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).

Instability in the world's fourth most populous nation would have a major impact through the Asia/Pacific region and beyond, analysts said.

Political and diplomatic analysts said that while the Medan riots were dramatic, the security authorities appeared to have kept nearly three months of student demonstrations fairly well under control.

Diplomatic sources said military commanders had put out the order to avoid using live ammunition to prevent an escalation in confrontations.

Injuries, mainly from rubber bullets, had been relatively small given the numbers of people involved, they added.

[On May 6, a volunteer with the Indonesian Legal Aid Foundation in Medan told Radio Australia that some 130 people have been arrested in the rioting. The city was 'like dead', he said. Thousands were involved in the rioting, he added. Some 30 Chinese Indonesians have sought shelter in a hotel in Medan and Chinese propert and police vehicles have been burned, he said.]

Country