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Fearful chinese flee Indonesia

Source
South China Morning Post - August 14 1998

Greg Torode, Jakarta – Ethnic Chinese are starting to flee Indonesia amid threats of rape and rioting surrounding Monday's Independence Day celebrations. Travel agents said flights on Sunday and Monday to Hong Kong, Singapore and Kuala Lumpur were almost full. Many Jakarta Chinese said they were preparing to move their families from houses into hotels.

In the port of Surabaya in southern Java, hundreds of Chinese were crowding the airport seeking tickets. Others queued for passports, Reuters reported. One young student said that when she asked for her change from a bus driver she was told: "Do you want to be raped? Wait, you will get your return on the 17th."

One terrified northern Jakarta resident said his family had been receiving anonymous threats over the telephone for weeks, warning of dangers ahead. "I took my wife and children to Singapore during the May violence and I wish I could have stayed," he said. "This time I cannot afford to go. I'm trying to find a hotel where we might be safer. You cannot imagine the fear all Chinese are now living under. You can't even live in your own house in the city of your birth." Some calls involve threats that Chinese men will be castrated.

President Bacharuddin Habibie and military chiefs have denied spiralling rumours of unrest and violence, insisting people must not pay heed to leaflet campaigns and Internet gossip. "Let us jointly fight the rumours spread by irresponsible people," said Mr Habibie, who replaced president Suharto in May within five days of the worst rioting in Jakarta in 30 years.

The violence left more than 1,100 people dead as mobs torched and looted Chinese homes and businesses despite a vast police and army presence. Ethnic Chinese women were raped.

Chinese Embassy counsellor Duan Zengoi told the Post yesterday that diplomats were monitoring the situation. They were prepared to offer emergency help and visas for ethnic Chinese people should trouble erupt. "We made our concerns to the Indonesia Government very clear after the last rioting and we will be continuing to talk to them about the situation," he said. "We hope all sides can work together for better relations."

Chinese community leader, businessman and academic Jusuf Wanadi warned there was little that could be done to ease fears as long as Mr Habibie and other Suharto cronies were in power. "No one trusts this Government, that's why there is all this fear," he said. "There is no way the Chinese will feel secure unless there are real investigations and real justice. So far there is nothing."

Chinese make up an estimated six to seven million of the 200 million population, many in families that date back generations. In West Java yesterday, soldiers fired warning shots as mobs attacked shops owned by Chinese and torched a nightclub.

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