- Title: INDONESIA: SCORES OF WOMEN ARE RAPED DURING INDONESIAN RIOTS
- Date: 22nd June 1998
- Summary: JAKARTA, INDONESIA (RECENT - MAY 1998) (RTV) TOP SHOT OF SMOKE COMING OUT OF BUILDING CU SMOKE SV MEN RUNNING IN STREET IN CHINATOWN / THROWING STONES AT SHOPS (2 SHOTS) SV MEN BREAKING INTO A SHOP IN CHINATOWN (2 SHOTS) VARIOUS OF CHINESE FLEEING JAKARTA AND WAITING AT THE AIRPORT FOR FLIGHTS (3 SHOTS) JAKARTA, INDONESIA (RECENT) (RTV) SV ITA NAIDA, CHAIRWOMAN OF THE KAYANMITRA WOMEN'S GROUP, SAYING, "THE FIRST TIME THEY CAME AND THEN THEY ATTACK THE HOUSE, AFTER THEY ATTACK THE HOUSE THEY FOUND A WOMEN OR TWO OR THREE WOMEN AND THEN THEY WILL CHOOSE THE YOUNGEST WOMEN OR IF THERE ARE OLDER THEY DON'T TOUCH IT. AFTER THEY ATTACK THE HOUSE, THEY WILL RAPE, AFTER THEY RAPE, THEY WILL BURN THE HOUSE. SO IT'S SYSTEMATICALLY. IT'S LIKE AN OPERATION OF THE.. I DON'T KNOW. IT'S A SYSTEMATIC OPERATION OF THE ATTACKING, AND THEN RAPE AND THEN BURNING THE HOUSE. IT IS THE SAME MODE EVERYWHERE IN EVERY PLACES." (ENGLISH) SV VARIOUS OF WOMEN WORKING IN ASSOCIATION / CLIPPING NEWSPAPER ARTICLES ABOUT THE RAPE OR ABUSES OF CHINESE WOMEN (3 SHOTS) SV LIM SIAN TIE, AN ETHNIC CHINESE RESIDENT AND HOTELIER, SPEAKING AT A SEMINAR ON RIOT TRAUMA AT THE UNIVERSITY OF INDONESIA CU/SV VARIOUS OF WOMEN AND MEN LISTENING TO HIS STORIES (5 SHOTS) CU LIM SAYING, "THESE WOMEN WHO HAVE BECOME VICTIMS OF GANG-RAPE, IF I MAY SAY SO, GANG-RAPE, THEY TRY TO HIDE THEMSELVES. THEY DON'T WANT TO BE INDENTIFIED. THEY TRY TO COVER OR TO HIDE FROM THE PUBLIC. THE TRAUMA IS SO UNBEARABLE." (ENGLISH) VARIOUS OF FORUM (3 SHOTS) CU LIM SAYING, "FOR MANY OF THEM, THIS FOR THE CHINESE, EVEN A DIVORCE IS IGNOBLE, EVEN DIVORCE. SO IF THEY ARE KNOWN TO HAVE BEEN GANG-RAPED, THEY WOULD PREFER TO COMMIT SUICIDE AS SOME OF THEM, I HAVE BEEN TOLD, HAVE DONE SO." (ENGLISH) JAKARTA, INDONESIA (RECENT - MAY, 1998) (RTV) SV CHINATOWN AFTER A NIGHT OF BURNING CU INTERIOR ROOM IN WHICH PEOPLE WERE BURNED TO DEATH SOLDIER STANDING GUARD WIDESHOT STREET JAKARTA, INDONESIA (RECENT - MAY, 1998) (RTV) SV NAIDA SAYING, "THE ORDINARY CANNOT DO IT LIKE THAT. BECAUSE ORDINARY PEOPLE HAVE SUFFERED FROM THE ECONOMIC CRISIS AND EVEN THEY WILL COME TO THE SHOP OR SUPERMARKET TO GET THE FOODSTUFF BUT DON'T HAVE FEELING TO RAPE TO RAPE THE WOMEN BRUTALLY, DIRECTLY AND COMMUNAL." (ENGLISH) JAKARTA, INDONESIA (RECENT - MAY 1998) (RTV) SLV SMOKE COMING OUT OF BUILDING SV MAN COLLECTING DEBRIS / CLEANING UP SV OVERTURNED CAR ON STREET Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
- Embargoed: 7th July 1998 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: JAKARTA, INDONESIA
- Country: Indonesia
- Reuters ID: LVA8OM4FMWCZJCN8XMHS7TWQXWRY
- Story Text: One month after widespread riots struck the Indonesian capital of Jakarta, evidence has surfaced that scores of women - mainly ethnic Chinese - were raped during the riots which claimed the lives of some 1,200 people.
For two full days last month, Indonesia's capital Jakarta was in flames.
Entire neighbourhoods were burned down in different parts of the city.Looters roamed the streets.But the violence while much of it was sporadic also had its specific targets.
One of them was Chinatown.
Fearing for their lives thousands of ethnic Chinese, Indonesian citizens, fled the city.
But those who managed to get out of the country were the lucky ones.Only recently have reports begun to surface of the alleged rape of scores of ethnic Chinese woman left behind.
Activist groups estimate more than 100 rapes took place, many in a frighteningly systematic fashion, most of them targetting the ethnic Chinese minority.
Ita Naida is chairwoman of the Kalyanmitra women's group which has been counselling victims.She describes the horror stories that has been told to her.
"First they came and then they attacked the house, after that if they found women, if there wre two or three, they would choose the youngest woman.After they attacked the house they raped and after that they burnt the house.It was systematic, it was like an operation.Attacking, rape and burning the house.It was the same in all the places," Naida said.
The gang rapes took on a disturbingly similar pattern through Jakarta on May 14 as rioters took control of large pockets of the city of 10 million.
Prominent members of the ethnic Chinese community said many of the women affected in the community had remained silent for shame and fear of retaliation.
Lim Sian Tie is an ethnic Chinese and hotelier.He spoke out at a seminar on riot trauma organised by the University of Indonesia: "These women who have become victims of gang rape, if I may say so, gang-rape, they try to hide themselves.They don't want to be identified.They try to cover or hide from the public.The trauma is so unbearable," Lim said.
One woman, he was told, killed herself by drinking insecticide after she was raped in front of her husband and children in the Chinatown district of North Jakarta.
"The trauma is so unbearable.If they are knwon to have been gang-raped, they would prefer to commit suicide, as some of them, I have been told, have done so," Lim said.
According to Indonesia's official National Commission on Human Rights there were a number of reports of rape during the riots but few, if any, had been reported to the police because of the victims' distrust of authorities and fear of being identified.
Some victims reported they were within earshot of police and troops when the rapes occured, but activists said the security forces ignored the women's desperate calls for help.
The government has ordered an investigation into the possibility that organised groups were behind the rioting, but insists if there was any deliberate provocation it was organised at a very low level.
Naida disagrees: "The ordinary people can not do it, because ordinary people have suffered from the economic crisis.They may come to the shops or supermarket (and take) the foodstuff, but (they) don't have any thoughts for rape," Naida said. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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