The following letter was sent to the Minnesota Daily Editor at the University of Minnesota but not published.

Dear Editor,

My purpose in writing this article is to raise people's awareness of the recent recurrence of riot in Indonesia, my home country, which are getting worse as each second ticks by.

Everyone who is exposed to media knows six students were killed within their campus compound. Nine Chinese were trapped and burnt to death in their house yesterday, around the same time my house was burnt. What seemed to be a shiny day in Minneapolis turned out to be my dimmest day since my 30 months stay in US. I received a call six in the morning from my sister in Singapore, to be told shockingly that my parents' house and cars have been robbed and burnt, together with other houses along the street.

My parents are ordinary Chinese people whose concerns have never violated political interests of the government. Just like any Chinese in the country, all we are looking for is peace and a country to stay. Yet, as I am typing this article down, there are still houses and shops belonging to the Chinese being looted and burnt in different city districts. There are banners around the city that demand, "All Chinese Must Be Finished Today."

We are always the scapegoat for any government actions that displeases the public, for any unstability in the country. It is purely racial discrimination against us, the Chinese, that can justify (ironically) their hatred toward us. Violation of human rights in my land has become more ordinary than driving to work.

Now is already midnight, which means around noon in Indonesia. Roads to the airport has been blocked. My latest call to my parents only brought to us more anxieties as riots spread wider, and people get more violent. None of my friends is able to sleep now.

Probably many people may think that this article neither brings facts to readers, nor remedies to the situation. No matter how much I would love so much to have the capability to suggest remedies, I can only vent my frustration, my anger, my helplessness, and my hope for the best.

I don't know which section of the MN Daily my story is fit for, but I plead to you to publish my article. I want the people of U of MN to know what is happening, and hopefully to provide us with information on how to help our country.

Yours truly,

Anggle Sugianto

14 May 1998