Jakarta – Hundreds rioted and looted in Indonesia's third-largest city [Medan] today when a strike by public transport drivers turned violent. And in Jakarta, Indonesia's capital, soldiers blocked 300 students who tried to demonstrate outside military headquarters to demand that the armed forces get out of politics.
Discontent has been mounting in Indonesia over the worst economic crisis in 30 years, as well as past human rights abuses by the military. The government fears more unrest as more than 17 million families face severe food shortages.
The students who tried to demonstrate in Jakarta oppose a policy that gives the military two roles: acting as legislators and guarding national security. Seventy-five of the 500 Parliament seats are allocated to the military. In a separate protest in Jakarta, 500 demonstrators assembled outside Parliament, demanding that bank executives accused of corruption and misuse of funds be brought to trial. They also demanded food price cuts.
In the third-largest city, Medan, on the northern end of Sumatra island about 870 miles northwest of Jakarta, students joined 6,000 drivers in a protest outside the office of the provincial governor against the soaring price of spare parts for minibuses and other vehicles. They also complained about big increases in food prices, the newspaper Suara Pembaruan reported.
Shops were closed, mainly those owned by the ethnic Chinese minority. Their owners fled when crowds gathered and threw rocks at the windows of a shopping mall and passing vehicles. One mob broke into the mall and looted goods, mainly clothes, witnesses said.
Troops and police were deployed to quell the violence. Police said the situation had been brought under control. However, offices and schools in the city of 2 million were closed and residents were advised to stay home.
The private SCTV station reported that 33 people – five looters and 28 rioters – were arrested. Ethnic Chinese make up a small fraction of Indonesia's 202 million people. But many Indonesians struggling to make ends meet resent their success in commerce and blame them for Indonesia's economic meltdown.
News reports said Chinese residents also had fled Pinrang, a coastal town on Sulawesi island, amid rumors of riots. Most shops in the town, about 850 miles northeast of Jakarta, were closed today even though no trouble was reported.
In Jambi, on Sumatra island, police broke up a crowd that looted a rice warehouse today. The official Antara news agency reported that police arrested 10 people.
[On September the state news agency Antara reported that the capital of East Kalimantan, Samarinda, was paralysed by a strike by public transport drivers demanding lower prices of spare parts. They also protested against the arbritary issue of traffic tickets - James Balowski.]