Riot and Vandalism Patterns

Investigative Report

On The Jakarta Riots On May 13-17, 1998

By Volunteer Team for Humanity

(Tim Relawan untuk Kemanusiaan)

This is an English translation of a preliminary report on the patterns of riots in Jakarta and its surrounding. This report has been modified to suit international audience.

For the original report, please write to:

L. Sandyawan Sumardi SJ

Tim Relawan untuk Kemanusiaan

Jl. Arus Dalam No.1 RT001/RW012

Cawang, Jakarta 13630

Indonesia

Phone/Fax: 62-21-809-4531

Translated by

Introduction

The shootings and deaths of 6 Trisakti University students on May 12, 1998 led to a series of riots, looting, and burning in Jakarta and its surrounding areas that caused severe damage to many buildings, private and personal properties. The death toll as of documentation of this report reaches 1198. In addition to destruction of properties, torture, beating, rape, burning to death were committed against the victims.

This report investigates the nature of the riots and discovered that the riots were systematically organized by a certain group of people. Victims and eyewitnesses reported the presence of provocateurs who incited the masses to destroy, loot and burn buildings, houses and other properties. Thus, the riots were not spontaneous acts of the masses.

Some unusual phenomenon of the riots

The following are some incidents that show unusual phenomenon if riots were the spontaneous act of the masses.

The burning of Jatinegara Plaza, East Jakarta

There were many mob initiators who entered incident location unhampered. Before the burning happened, tear gas was sprayed from the first floor. On the third floor, a man struck a match and burned a roll of paper and ran away.
There were two armed men on the Plaza roof who aimed their weapons to two people who were trying to climb down the water pipes and shot them.
After the burning, it was seen there were black-clothed men who carried black plastic bags to take something (the dead bodies) from the incident location and put the bodies inside the plastic bags.
There was a teenager who confessed as a participant of the arson. This teenager confessed receiving ‘training’ with thousand other teenagers in many places such as Cilangkap, Cirracas, Bekasi, Pondok Gede, East Jakarta and Bogor. He often mentioned, "Christians must die; PPP (United Development Party) must die; and PDI (Indonesian Democratic Party) must die. "

The "hijack" of KRL Jabotabek train in a location near Lenteng Agung, South Jakarta.

A number of men wearing high school students lied on the rail of the KRL train. When the train stopped, they boarded the train. During the journey, they produced a map and discussed about street names, building and shopping center locations in Jakarta. In Lenteng Agung station, they threatened the passengers with sharp weapons and ordered them to get out of the train.

Threats of burning in various residential areas.

Residents were threatened through phone calls to prepare a ransom of several million rupiahs ($1=$15,000). Otherwise, their residence would be burned.

Riot and Destruction Patterns

According to various testimonies of victims and witnesses, the initial actions of destruction, looting, and burning in almost all locations had certain patterns.

Masses were organized to gather in the target locations to be destroyed.

There were two methods employed in this step:

Rumors were spread that there were destruction, looting and burning in certain locations. The rumors were spread through telephone calls, public transportation drivers, and by the word of mouth.
There were groups of people who burned woods, tires, and other things while they incited the masses to participate.

The presence of groups of people who acted as provocateurs and/or leaders of the masses who guided the masses to destroy, loot and burn. In general, the masses originated from nearby locations of incident. However, the provocateurs did not originate from nearby locations. They originated from unknown places.

There were 2 methods by which the provocateurs incited the masses to destroy, loot, and burn:

The provocateurs infiltrated the masses and shouted anti-Chinese yells.
The provocateurs were in front of the masses and led and guided them to attack targets with shouts of "coward students" . They also shouted anti-Chinese yells. In some locations, there was only first category of provocateurs while in other locations there were provocateurs from both categories.

There were 4 kinds of inciters or provocateurs of mass destruction, looting, and building:

Male groups who wore high school uniform.
Male groups who wore university student attires.
Male groups who had firm body, crew-cut hairstyle, and wore military boots.
Male groups who had firm body, fearsome looking, and had tattoos.

Not all incidents of destruction, looting and burning were initiated by the above-mentioned groups. Each location had its own characteristics of initiators. The following table shows a few examples of the incident locations and the characteristics of provocateurs/leaders of the destruction, looting and burning.

Table 1 -How the masses were provoked.

Incident	Location	Characteristics of provocateurs
Burning of shopping complex	Meruya, West Jakarta	A group of youths wearing high school uniform were dropped from 2 public transport buses.
The attempt to attact UPN campus	Pondok Labu, South Jakarta	Tens of youths wearing high school uniforms were dropped from 2 trucks and one public transport bus.
Destruction and burning of Putri Indah Mall	Klender, East Jakarta	Four men sported crew-cut hair-style, had solid bodies, wore black jackets who claimed to be university students.
Destruction and looting of Permata Cimone Mall	Tanggerang, Jakarta outskirts	Hundreds of people were dropped from trucks originating from south.
Destruction and looting of Aneka Subur Shopping Center	Istake, Tanggerang.	One man who wore black jacket shouted to the masses, "Don’t be hesitant if you want to attack!". One man who wore black jacket shouted to the crowd.
The attempt to destroy and burn shopping center	Along Dewi Sartika Road, Cililitan, East Jakarta.	One man who wore purple jacket and claimed to be a university student shouted, "Burn the shops !"
Destruction and looting of shopping center	Around Kampung Melayu bus station, East Jakarta.	Provocateurs were known to be gangsters by local residents. They wore high school uniform.
Destruction and looting	Along S. Parman Road and Citraland shopping center, Grogol, West Jakarta	Provocateurs sported crew-cut hairstyle, had solid bodies, and wore military boots. They were in the middle of the masses. The leaders: a group of men wearing high school uniform but looked old.

Source: Testimonies of victims and eyewitnesses, May 13-15, 1998.

The following tables show the detailed report of terrorism targets, casualties of the riots, areas affected by the riots.

Table 1-Categories of Targets.

No.	Target Category	Targets/Criminal Acts Committed Against Victims
1.	Person	Torture, beating, rape, molest, and burning to death.
2.	Building	Bank, shops, market kiosks, department stores, plazas, supermarkets, gasoline station, show rooms, houses, and police stations.
3.	Private and public transport	Cars, motorbikes, buses, military vehicles
4.	Various kinds of object	Various sale items inside the shops and market, and private properties.
5.	Public facilities	Hospitals, ambulances, public phones, traffic lights, flower pots, plants, and road fences.
6.	Sense of security	Threats of destruction, burning and attack.

Table 2-The Number of Casualties in Jakarta and Surrounding Areas on May 12-17, 1998

Date	Dead		Injured		Missing
	Shot	Burned	Serious	Mild
5/12/1998	6		16		1
5/13/1998			12
5/14/1998		12	19	18
5/15/1998		472	4		27
5/16/1998		146	1		1
5/17/1998	4	558			1
Total	10	1188	62	18	30

Source: Documentation by Volunteer Team for Humanity

Table 3- Location of Riots in Jakarta and Its Surroundings

No.	Areas	Specific Locations
1.	Central Jakarta	Wahid Hasyim (Tanah Abang), Kemayoran, Samanhudi (Pasar Baru), Gahu, Cempaka Putih, Sumur Batu, Salemba, Harmoni.
2.	Southern Jakarta	Cinere, Pasar Minggu, Cipeta, Fatmawati, Kalibata, Bintaro
3.	Eastern Jakarta	Pasar Rebo, Kramat Jati, Kampung Melayu, Klender, Jatinegara, Mataraman, Rawamangun, Kalimalang, Penas
4.	Western Jakarta	Palmerah, Kebayouran Lama, Grogol, Roxy, Green Garden, Bojong Indah, Jelambar, Jembatan Dua, Jembatan Lima, Gajah Mada, Glodok.
5.	Northern Jakarta	Kelapa Gading, Mangga Dua, Pantai Indah Kapuk
6.	Jakarta outskirts	Depok, Bekasi, Lenteng Agung, Tanggerang, Ciputat, Ciledug, Cikarang.

Conclusion

It is in fact a popular opinion that the presence of riot provocateurs and many other strange phenomenon in the riots made it impossible to believe that the riots were not carefully staged. An investigation by BBC radio stated that: "before the mob‘s anger exploded, few well dressed people were seen giving money to a number of men to stage riots". (Aksi, May 19-25, 1998, page 5). In addition, there were no fire engines that came to put down the fires. How could we explain all these facts as mere coincidence?

Therefore, it is our next urgent goal to pin point the network of rioters who committed destruction, looting and burning. Due to threats of abduction and assassination that also happened recently, a further investigation of this tragedy require the highest level of cooperation of all parties concerned.