TheJakartaPost
Please Update your browser
Your browser is out of date, and may not be compatible with our website. A list of the most popular web browsers can be found below.
Just click on the icons to get to the download page.
Trisakti University remembers 1998 tragedy
A flag-raising ceremony at Trisakti University has been held in commemoration of the 1998 shootings that occurred on the campus
Change text size
Gift Premium Articles
to Anyone
Share the best of The Jakarta Post with friends, family, or colleagues. As a subscriber, you can gift 3 to 5 articles each month that anyone can read—no subscription needed!
A flag-raising ceremony at Trisakti University has been held in commemoration of the 1998 shootings that occurred on the campus.
On May 12, 1998, four Trisakti University students were shot dead during protests in Jakarta, triggering widespread riots and mass rapes, mainly of ethnic Chinese women, in the following days. Over 1,000 died, including in burning buildings, during the riots in Medan, Surakarta, Jakarta and elsewhere.
The flag ceremony started at 8 a.m. and was led by the university's rector Thoby Mutis. After the flag was raised, the families of the four victims - Hafidhin Royan, Elang Mulya Lesmana, Hery Hartanto and Hendriawan Sie - paid their respects by spreading flowers on the site where the victims' bodies were found, kompas.com reported.
The families, alongside Thoby, then gathered at the May 12, 1998 Tragedy monument at Trisakti University, where they placed a wreath of flowers at the base. The ceremony finished at 9 a.m. and was followed by a visit to the May 12, 1998 Tragedy Museum on campus in West Jakarta.
The 1998 shootings on campus took place amid an economic crisis that engulfed Southeast Asia starting from 1997. The crisis led to university student protests and demands for the political and economic reform of the New Order regime.
Low ranking police personnel were convicted in the shootings, but no one has been brought to trial for the riots, arson, sexual assault, torture or mass rapes. (fss)
