T

he capital city's main streets looked normal on Monday morning, with congestion frustrating everyone. There were no signs of May 13, 1998, the day after security forces fatally shot four Trisakti University students, or the riots, destruction, arson, rape and murder that followed.

A few low-ranking police and military members were tried and convicted for the shootings, but no one has been tried for the deaths and the rampage of the subsequent days. This has been so despite a state-sponsored investigation that concluded that the riots in Jakarta, Medan, North Sumatra; and Surakarta, Central Java; among other places, were the peak of events that began with the 1996 kidnapping of students and activists and ended in Soeharto's resignation as president.

Moreover, a joint fact-finding team stated that the riots contained a larger element of 'deliberation' than they did spontaneous action, and were supported by a rapidly worsening economy and an elite power struggle, and worsened by the glaring absence of security forces.

Let's assume that most citizens will eventually forget about the May 1998 riots: Today's young people don't know much about it, they're perhaps overwhelmed by too much information to memorize (for no clear benefit). The victims cannot forget though ' those who were teenagers can recall the sense of terror at that time, including the few Chinese-Indonesians who have written to this newspaper of their experience.

But what many of us don't realize is that the gaping holes in the report, i.e., that deliberation was more important than spontaneity and the conductive background situation, remain unresolved. The report added that such deliberations could be 'perceived as an effort to create an emergency condition needing the establishment of an extra-constitutional authority' and 'preparations in that direction started at the highest level of decision making.'

It was such indications that led the team to urge further investigation, to make clear why more than 1,000 people had to die in the riots.

Now we're heading toward the 2014 legislative and presidential elections ' and not many in power are interested in campaigning for accountability for the May riots. This means much more than the virtual end of hope for survivors and their families.

A lack of accountability opens the possibilities of repeating the violence, at least on a local scale. As we have often seen before, violence cannot be explained away as 'spontaneous'. Calls to defend religion for instance, can trigger violence in already conducive situations, such as areas where minority faiths have been told repeatedly to 'repent' and disavow their faith.

In the May riots, the victims were the urban poor, caught in flaming buildings and their families earning the stigmatization of their lost loved ones as penjarah (pillagers), and the Chinese-Indonesian minority, especially women, dozens of whom at the least were raped and killed in gang attacks. These two groups have been among the most disposable in times of crisis, as historians have shown, for minorities, whether in terms of numbers or social status, have much less ability to make demands for their losses.

With no clear accountability for the riots, we risk, for example, having many of our young taking for granted that the Chinese automatically bring trouble open themselves by being rich and 'exclusive.' Note the local riot in Makassar, South Sulawesi, several years ago that was triggered by a Chinese-Indonesian employer who reportedly abused her maid ' abuse which often involves an employer of any race.

The May 1998 survivors have drawn strength from each other, reminding one another that all were victims despite the public impression that the slain students were pahlawan reformasi, the heroes of the reform movement, and thus above all other victims. The state still owes it to all of them to follow the recommendations of the joint fact-finding team: prosecute the masterminds and find remedies for the survivors.

Sure, we would rather focus on propelling the economy, which is showing signs of declining growth. But we would still have an economy built on fragile foundations, where a crisis can sow chaos and public mistrust in the absence of assurances that those who mastermind riots and killings do not continually walk free.