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A tragedy in women's history and the birth of a guardian
Revealing the pain: Writer Dewi Anggraeni and her newly-released book on the 1998 riots
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Revealing the pain: Writer Dewi Anggraeni and her newly-released book on the 1998 riots. JP/Niken Prathivi
Sixteen years have passed and yet mystery still surrounds the May 1998 riots.
Melbourne-based writer Dewi Anggraeni dug deep into Indonesia's dark history before penning Tragedi Mei 1998 dan Lahirnya Komnas Perempuan (May 1998 Tragedy and the Birth of the National Commission on Violence Against Women), a book which she claims is a reminder for everyone to continue unravelling the mystery of the May 1998 tragedy ' especially in terms of the mass rapes that are believed to have been suffered mostly by women of Chinese ethnicity.
The May 1998 riots were incidents of mass violence and rape that occurred in Jakarta and other locations in Indonesia. The riots hit Jakarta following the shootings of four Trisakti University students on May 12 and unrest in the previous week in Medan, North Sumatra.
According to a government-appointed joint fact-finding team, which was established in July 1998, the riots showed signs of being 'orchestrated', resulting in over 1,000 people dying in burning buildings, or being tortured or raped, in Jakarta alone. The team also concluded that the riots were related to an intensive struggle among the political elite amid a financial crisis surrounding the 1997 elections that put president Soeharto back in his seat after ruling the nation for three decades.
The fact-finding team also found that the riots in several cities mostly victimized the urban poor and Chinese-Indonesians.
The National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM) concluded that the incidents were gross human rights violations. Dozens of security officers were convicted and discharged, but that has never answered the question of who was responsible for what the rights body called 'systematic and massive' atrocities.
'What has happened now is that the country's rulers [have continued to] fool all of us. Those [powerful] people, who know about the history [of the tragedy], remain silent. Therefore, we need to keep on working to reveal the tragedy,' Dewi, a journalist and contributing writer for Tempo, Forum Keadilan and The Jakarta Post, said on the sidelines of the book launch event in Jakarta.
It took Dewi about a year to produce the 214-page book.
Dewi decided to connect the May 1998 tragedy with the birth of the National Commission on Violence Against Women (Komnas Perempuan) because the commission was initiated by rights activists and volunteers who took care of victims when the tragedy occurred and sought justice for them.
The book starts with a glimpse of a scene in which then president B.J. Habibie delivered an official statement ' aired live by national television stations ' expressing his 'deep regret' about violence acts against women that happened in May 1998. He promised that the government would be proactive in providing protection and safety to all Indonesians in order to avoid other such incidents in the future. It is a promise that has been neglected by his successors.
Prior to the official statement, the Masyarakat Anti Kekerasan Terhadap Perempuan (MAKTP), or the Anti-Violence Against Women Society, had sent a report on the mass rape and sexual assault of women during the May tragedy to Habibie. The written statement was signed by 4,000 people.
In the second chapter of the book, Dewi flashes back to the series of events that led to the riots and gives testimonies from activists regarding their experiences in helping victims and their views about the tragedy.
Myra, the co-founder of the Kalyanamitra women's communication and information center, for example, explained that one day she 'sensed anarchy' among some particular groups of people who were in the midst of destructive acts while she was stuck at an intersection in Grogol, West Jakarta, during the riot. She made sure she kept herself safe.
On the following day, Myra further said that she started to hear news about gang rapes of ethnic Chinese women as well as sexual harassment against women with headscarves. She immediately made contact with doctors and hospitals to help the victims, she added.
Another Kalyanamitra activist, Ita Nadia, said that she offered help to rape victims, who she described as being in terrible condition. In the Jembatan Tiga area of Pluit, West Jakarta, for example, a victim was on the verge of killing herself because of the incident, she added.
Psychologist and women's rights activist Saparinah Sadli said she was in New York, the US, when the riots stuck Jakarta and other cities across Indonesia. As soon as she arrived in town, she was told about the chaos and the impact on female victims.
With her skills as a psychologist, Saparinah visited the rape victims and did all she could to support them, including demanding that the government apologize for the crimes, investigate the case until it was settled, punish the perpetrators and provide help to the victims. She later co-founded and became the first chairperson of Komnas Perempuan.
Surgeon and rights activist Lie Dharmawan explained his experience in giving medical help to victims and taking care of them ' including protecting the victims' identity. Along the way, he received threats from unknown people over his involvement in helping the victims.
Meanwhile, Andy, who was a student activist during the riots, said that she experienced a life-changing moment as she witnessed the burnt bodies of victims in body bags at the Cipto Mangunkusumo Hospital in Central Jakarta. Andy, who was sexually harassed while she was waiting for a bus in South Jakarta about a month after the May riots, currently serves as a commissioner for Komnas Perempuan.
In chapter three, Dewi recounts the murder of Ita Martadinata, a victim of rape during the riots. Ita was 18 years old when she experienced the horrible crime but survived and managed to rebuild her shattered life.
Ita later agreed to reveal her story in front of several international human rights groups in the US. But just a few days before her departure, Ita was found dead. Authorities claimed that Ita was murdered in a robbery. However, human rights activists believe that the murder was related to her plan to speak up.
In the fourth chapter, Dewi writes about the establishment of Komnas Perempuan and the joint fact-finding team to investigate the May 1998 riots. Dewi sums up reports from the fact-finding team on the tragedy in chapter five to refresh readers' minds.
Dewi said that she decided to not interview rape victims for the book.
'I don't want to be a sadistic person who pushes victims to retell their stories over and over again. The book is just a reminder. I hope that those who don't believe that the tragedy really occurred will change their minds as soon they read my book,' she said.
Tragedi Mei 1998 dan
Lahirnya Komnas Perempuan
Dewi Anggraeni
214 pages
Penerbit Buku Kompas, 2014
