Jakarta Riots of May 1998 were riots that occurred in several parts of Indonesia, notably Jakarta during May 1998.The riots were triggered by economic problems like food shortages and mass unemployment in Indonesia.

The Indonesian currency Rupiah had collapsed and prices of basic goods skyrocketed. Students took to the streets in Jakarta and protested against then President Suharto. Prominent in the protests were students from Trisakti University. Despite the promise of election next year, the students refused to return to their campuses. They tore down the gates of Indonesia's parliament. Many buildings were also destroyed–the main target were shops and cars owned by ethnic-Chinese (Indonesian Chinese) who were blamed for the economic situation. There were also reports of mass rapes of ethnic Chinese women by native Indonesians. Fearing for their lives, many ethnic Chinese fled the country. Ethnic Chinese make up about 3-5% of Indonesia's population

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pictures:

http://img34.imageshack.us/img34/5345/may1998059ad.jpg
http://img34.imageshack.us/img34/53/may1998037cl.jpg
http://img45.imageshack.us/img45/5787/may1998048mb.jpg
http://img45.imageshack.us/img45/2632/may1998060gn.jpg
http://img34.imageshack.us/img34/8484/may1998079qa.jpg
http://img45.imageshack.us/img45/7023/may1998086tt.jpg
http://img34.imageshack.us/img34/421/may1998099wj.jpg
http://img45.imageshack.us/img45/704/may1998107lg.jpg
http://img34.imageshack.us/img34/4919/may1998132iu.jpg
http://img45.imageshack.us/img45/7329/may1998140yt.jpg
http://img34.imageshack.us/img34/3068/may1998155th.jpg
http://img45.imageshack.us/img45/396/may1998160lj.jpg
http://img34.imageshack.us/img34/6469/may1998170hw.jpg
http://img45.imageshack.us/img45/9956/may1998180zb.jpg
http://img34.imageshack.us/img34/4817/may1998193xf.jpg
http://img45.imageshack.us/img45/9969/may1998209ic.jpg
http://img34.imageshack.us/img34/701/may1998217ld.jpg

While pictures can tell more than thousands words, some more text will help people understand the images posted by Encon.

Some of them are NOT the riot itself; they are students demonstrating to push then-Indonesian President Soeharto to step down.

2 of them are the images of the bury of 13 students shot death several days before the riot erupted.

tata

it was a bloody turning point in the country's history...a very ugly chapter..i hope we will never have to go through that ever again....

it was a bloody turning point in the country's history...a very ugly chapter..i hope we will never have to go through that ever again....

it started from universitas Trisakti which near my house ............

and started on my birthday 12 may :cry:

really scary...

They are the true heros...

it started from universitas Trisakti which near my house ............

and started on my birthday 12 may :cry:

really scary...
Suharto resigned on my birthday...21 May.

The rape on chinese woman is real. But of course nobody will dare to seek the truth about that.

Student was pure at that time. Now, some already poisoned or 'cuman ikut2an'.

A friend of mine was an activist. He is not afraid of anything. He ready to die. The government (or whoever that is) afraid of him. Do you know what the they do to him? Well.. he is ready to die, but not ready to see his family die. Thats the reason he is softening his stance. Because 'they' threatening his father, mother, sister etc etc

Politics is just dirty.

At the time of the riots we see heroes.
Now they are even harder to see.
I hope we still have some.

I was at that time may 1998 in Jakarta and I got stuck at certain point at the Grand Hyatt because me and my friend we couldn t get back to our hotel the Millenium.
Those people they ve ruin the whole lobby. it was scary.

I took some pictures of the Thamrin fountain circle filled with armoured vehicle and a took also a banner at the Millenium the day after . There was a text written : Milik Pribumi

can we see the pictures?

at that time I ve used a traditional camera not the fancy digital, I ve those pictures some where in my album but in order to show it to you I ve to use a scanner which I don t have right now at the moment.

at that time I ve used a traditional camera not the fancy digital, I ve those pictures some where in my album but in order to show it to you I ve to use a scanner which I don t have right now at the moment.

you can take picture of the actual photographs using your digital camera ;)

My parents flew to Bali , but only after the riots...and when Suharto resigned they were in Bali. I was already in Sydney at the time, and the whole thing was quite scary.

I was stuck in my office the very day it was happening. I had to walk from Harmoni my office to Cilandak my home. And witnessed what happened the day when we wrote the darkest part of our history. We should all learn and fight anything from happening again.

tata

i was waiting for the results of my ebtanas sma that time. my dad was stuck in the office, my younger brother was stuck in school (i think it was ulangan umum time for him). there was only my mom and me at home. in the morning my mom told me to go beli beras, then i walked out and saw the streets were empty and all the shops were closed. i rushed home and turned the tv on, and realized what was happening. i think then we went on ronda malam for the next 3 nights. one night there was a false alarm, the guys in my neighborhood rushed to a location where we thought the rioters were coming in from, good thing it was a false alarm.

Wow, our nation sure does recieve more than its fair share of tragedy.. 1965-66 communist massacre, tanjung priok, east timor, Aceh and Papua, Ambon, Poso, Kalimantan and so on and so forth. I hope these tragedies never to occur again in our country.

I was at SMA in Yogya when the riots happened. My Japanese friend was visiting Jakarta and I remembered we told him not to travel anywhere and lay low since some people might consider him a Chinese. I also remembered being scarred that the violence would spread to Yogyakarta, since Surakarta was also in flames at the time. Thank god nothing happened.

I also remembered that Suharto resigned the day I was taking my graduation test. I remembered my mom picking me up and told me the story and we were so happy!! Finally that violent dictator is down for good.

it was appalling to see that they blamed the whole crisis to indonesian of chinese descent and all the true stories of indonesian chinese women being raped is very awfull.
It s easy that in crisis situation to look for a scape-goat which is a minority group. They should punished those who committed these crimes to your fellow country man.

I was in jakarta during the riots...I was leaving to America with my mom and my twin sister...(Sooo freekin scary) we were in a taxi going to the airport...no one was driving in the toll..we were the only one... I was so scared! the taxi driver was so brave ..(Much props to him) ..anyways while we were driving ..a bunch of teen boys was trying to stop our taxi..I seriously thought i was going to be killed..they probably thought we were chinese or something..but the taxi driver just kept on driving , and they were throwing rocks at our taxi..I was Hella' Scared..(thank God im still alive)

for me it was my birthday so we went to eat lunch , when we saw there were many policemen guarding around Universitas Trisakti we postpone our lunch and went home

that night, it started the worst is that it happened right in front of my house complex ....... scaryy

the RW & RT of my complex tell everyone not to turn on lights (day/night) as he afraid that our house may get fire (from tiang listrik)

all men must go out to guard the complex

when i go out i see the whole sky red colour (the fire)

some more the RT & RW already planted some explosive and electricity in case the people come they will turn on the explosive and electricity .....

as that time my complex does not have (gate) we use big bulldozer with board to prevent them coming really scary

we cannot sleep or eat as there are no more stock .............

yeahh that's what happen in front of my aunt's house too...in jakarta timur...because i stayed there for three days...then i was supposed to leave for the states...
my mom had two choices ..
- Manado-singapore-US
-Manado-Jakarta-US (she picked this one) when the riot started..I was so angry at my mom for choosing to stop by at jakarta first...

me has two choice

JKT-AUST

JKT-SING

so they choose jakarta & singapore that's why i'm here :D

I was in Bandung finishing my master degree during the time .... ( so pasti gw paling tua di sini .. .he he he gpp khan )
concerning with my family I went to jakarta to seee the situation ...

Got stuck in Jatinegara train station .... 22.00 at night ...
nobody dare to go outside the station.

So many strange face .... not jakartans .. I guess ....
It was chaotic ...
no rule no regulation ....

People throw stones at the policeman and police station.
During that time nobody respect the police ...

The Marine is handling the situation ....
then a group of marine .. are coming .....
securing the place .....

I just run to get the Ojek ... and ask him to Ngebut .....

I am a pribumi ......... was that scared ...
I really cannot imagine .... you guys must had much scary then me ...

Thanks God that .... it was the point .... in a history ... for Indonesia to change .... to be a better country ....

It's just not fair to sacriface all of those things as a starting point

" Hiduplah Indonesia Raya "

can we see the pictures?
http://img293.imageshack.us/img293/9294/may19986rt.jpg
http://img293.imageshack.us/img293/4466/may199828bg.jpg
http://img293.imageshack.us/img293/7898/htlpresident0do.jpg
http://img293.imageshack.us/img293/1551/htlmillenium2xy.jpg

After I returned frm the Grand Hyatt I found my hotel ( the Millenium ) where I was staying at that time completely ruined.

heheh I was In Cayman Islands from 1995-2000 so I didn't really know anything about it..but it was on the mass media and I was Embarassed(cuz I didn't kno it was a Perjuangan) but now I know that those were Patiotic acts. so I was Thankful.... Indonesia now has many problems but we correct them and go on with a better future

Hiduplah Indonesia raya..

doesnt matter chinese or pribumi
we are all indonesian people
since 1945

^^ that's right!! ;) ;)

how Times flies 8 years already ;)

Yeah, Police can do nothing about it... No commander at that time.. The police had defend themself.

This is my experience during the riot day..

I was in Hero Supermarket that noon, accompanying my mother shopping goods, then when we finished there's only two kasir open... There was a long queue at that time, everybody looks so panic... Many of them buy daily basis goods such as milk, cooking oil, beras, etc. Later just arriving at the kasir, suddenly incoming announcement from speaker.. "Mohon maaf para pengunjung, saat ini hero sudah tutup, silahkan pulang"... I said "Hah?", it's strange, even the cashier got confused with the announcement...Later, those cashier just walked away, leaving their kasir n customers... I dont know what is going to happen at that time... I was thinking about "free shopping" as much as i want... hahaha.... but later on, some satpam told to the customers that better we get off quickly, because the satpam heard some group of perusuh, not so far from here, will rushing hero in a matter of minutes... Oh my god, because my mother started to panic, then she told me to leave the carriage n get the hell out from here... yaa, here it goes.. i lost the chance to shop freely without paying...hehe