Zeev, And do not forget the harassment of Chinese Christians within Malaysia and Indonesia by the Muslim majorities. Every time there is a problem, the minority gets targeted-indeed the Indonesians are the champion church burners in 1997, having burned 372 churches in Indonesia- when they are not busy torturing and harassing the Melanesian Christians in East Timor which Indoenesia illegally occupies since 1974....
Watch for more action to escalate in the Sudan...
Indonesian food riots accelerate
Fri Feb 13 10:05:02 1998
Also on CBS
MarketWatch
News Index
Market Snapshot
World markets
Surprises
StockWatch
JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) -- Thousands of rioters went on a rampage in four towns today, burning shops, houses and cars in protest of Indonesia's soaring food prices.
It was the worst day of violence yet in growing unrest over the nation's economic crisis, which has created high inflation and mass unemployment.
Angry crowds looted and threw rocks, witnesses said. As in other
protests in recent weeks, the rioters targeted the property of Chinese
traders, who are blamed for price hikes. A Chinese church in one town
was raided and its furniture burned.
No arrests or serious injuries were immediately reported.
More than 3,000 people ran wild in the biggest riot in Losari, about 125 miles east of Jakarta. Trouble was also reported in the towns of Gebang, Pamanukan and Jatiwangi. All four towns are on the western side of the main island of Java.
A Losari resident, who identified himself only as Hendrik, said Chinese merchants abandoned their stores when the mob attacked.
'I saw rioters burn at least three stolen drums of kerosene on the street,'' he said. ''At least seven shops near my house were damaged. Three had smoke rising from them.''
Police said 30 Chinese-owned shops were damaged in the city, including
one that was burned. The crowds piled looted goods in main streets and
set fire to them before hundreds of police and troops broke up the melee.
Some residents reported hearing gunshots.
Dozens of shops in Bandung, the provincial capital of West Java, were
closed amid fears that the violence would spread, police said. However, the city was quiet tonight.
The violence erupted a day after President Suharto ordered the military to take tough action against any violent protests ahead of a presidential election in March.
Suharto is expected to win a seventh, five-year term when a
1,000-member assembly votes on the presidency.
Police announced today that all meetings, seminars and rallies would be banned in the capital as a security measure during the assembly's meeting.
Suharto accused unidentified groups of trying to exploit the widespread economic discontent as a means of attacking national stability.
During the past month, more than a dozen towns have been wracked by
riots as economic problems hit the poor.
Chinese dominate commerce and storekeepers are often targeted when
prices increase and civil unrest breaks out.
Ethnic Chinese people, who are mainly Christian or Buddhist, make up
only about 4 percent of Indonesia's population of 202 million, which is about 90 percent Muslim.
Hundreds rioted in Gebang, four miles from Losari.
Witnesses there said trouble started on Thursday night and intensified
today when rioters broke into several Chinese-owned stores and houses.
On Thursday, ''they just threw rocks at shops, but now they burned
goods including furniture from Chinese-owned houses,'' said a police
officer.
In Pamanukan, about 55 miles east of Jakarta, protesters entered a
Chinese church and burned furniture outside. Three stores, one house
along with cars and motorcycles were also set alight.
Police in Jatiwangi, where 13 Chinese-owned shops were burned on
Thursday, said unrest flared again overnight and lasted until the morning. A small factory was damaged when a mob threw rocks.
Jatiwangi is 100 miles east of Jakarta.
|
