Medan (4–8 May) By the beginning of May, students had been demonstrating in campuses throughout
Medan for nearly two months. The growing number of demonstrators was coupled with increasing calls from the public for overall reforms. On 27 April, the death of a student in a vehicle accident was blamed on security officials who had fired
tear gas onto the campus. Over the next few days, the clashes between students and security forces grew. On 2 May, a
showroom of the "national car"
Timor, whose controversial development was spearheaded by the President's son
Tommy Suharto, was attacked. When the government announced on 4 May that it would increase the price of
gasoline by 70% and triple the price of electricity, campus groups reacted. More than 500 students gathered at the
State Institute of Teacher Training and Education of Medan (IKIP Negeri Medan). Security forces barricaded the campus to prevent students from leaving and allegedly threw
Molotov bombs at demonstrators through the day. Although the students had dispersed by late afternoon, replacement forces were brought in to keep them on campus through the night. When they were allowed to return home hours later, police reportedly stopped a group of students and assaulted them. Word of this attack spread through several witnesses, and a large group later attacked and destroyed a traffic police post. As the outnumbered police fled, protesters began attacking
shopping malls and another police post. Thousands poured into the streets and burned cars and shops through the late night. On the morning of 5 May, a crowd gathered at a police station where it was reported that more than 50 people suspected of involvement in the previous night's attack were detained. When more officers arrived to confront the group, the station was attacked. The crowd moved toward the nearby market of Tembung as they burned cars and attacked houses. Shops owned by
Chinese Indonesians were looted, while they reportedly left those marked with the words "''
" (owned by the indigenous pribumi'') in graffiti alone. When the
Mobile Brigade arrived in the afternoon, the crowd was dispersed with tear gas. As businesses in Medan closed on the following day, thousands of people attacked markets throughout the city and its surrounding districts. Police and anti-riot soldiers fired
rubber bullets at the crowd to disperse them but were unsuccessful. When the violence ended two days later, six people had died (two by gunshot) and one hundred were injured (nine with gunshot wounds). Police detained 51 people for questioning, and the damage was estimated in the hundreds of billions of rupiah. Many looted shophouses were mainly in nearby indigenous and outskirt areas like Jalan Aksara, Tembung, Pasar Baru, Brayan and Pancing. Meanwhile, in Chinese-majority areas such as
Medan Kota and
Maimun districts (Jalan Asia,
Kesawan, Pandu, Cirebon, Wahidin, Sutrisno, Sumatra), Cemara,
Sunggal, Setiabudi and several roads nearby were mostly safe from the mobs due to strict guarding by local residents.
Jakarta (12–14 May) On 9 May, one day after the violence in Medan ended, President Suharto left the country for a
Group of 15 summit in Cairo, Egypt. Prior to his departure, he called on the public to end the protests. To the
Suara Pembaruan daily newspaper, he said, "I judge that if we continue like this there will be no progress." He later returned to Indonesia earlier than scheduled on 14 May, when the worst violence occurred in Jakarta. they protected their friends from "attacks and looting". The total death toll was around 1,188 according to one report, The majority of anti-Chinese violence in previous riots also involved only looting Chinese shops and property without killing the owners themselves. Most Indonesians believed that the Chinese have an infinite supply of products and thought that the shops would open again in the future despite the looting.
Allegations of false pictures On 19 August, a group called the Reformasi Presidium Council of Youth and Students of Surabaya issued a statement claiming that the rape photographs were 'bohong belaka' (flat out lies) and part of a 'rekayasa' (political engineering) with the goal of inciting hatred against Indonesia. The following day, this story was picked up by
Asia Wall Street Journal, and the story broke internationally. The story claims that the sources of some of these photographs were from a gory photo exhibit and a pornographic website, including one named "Sexy Asian Schoolgirls". This story made its way into an Indonesian national newspaper, Republika, a few days later and began to be widely disseminated in other local newspapers as well. American author Karen Strassler is concerned with the effect of these allegations on the Indonesian public discourse. She argues that although many Indonesians did not see the photos, the "discussion of them in the press served those who would deny the rapes particularly well." The campaign to question the veracity and authenticity of the photographs creates "extraordinary power to discredit the effort to gain recognition for the rape victims." == Response ==