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18 years on, families of 1998 May riots victims gather in prayer to demand govt resolve cases
A dozen families of the victims of the May 1998 riots staged a mass prayer and flower-laying ceremony at the front of Citra Mall on Jl. I Gusti Ngurah Rai in Klender, East Jakarta, on Saturday.
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Never forgotten: R. Subiyanto (center), displays a picture of his son, Gunawan, one of over 1,000 victims of the May 1998 riots in Jakarta, with the parents of other victims who mostly perished in a fire that engulfed Yogya Mall in Klender, East Jakarta. The picture was taken on May 19, 2013, in front of a memorial for the victims. No one has been held accountable for the riots, which took place in a number of cities. (JP/Jerry Adiguna)
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span style="line-height: 20.8px;">Dozens of families members of the victims of the May 1998 riots staged a mass prayer and flower-laying ceremony at the front of Citra Mall on Jl. I Gusti Ngurah Rai in Klender, East Jakarta, on Saturday.
The group, mostly women from nearby Penggilingan, Kampung Bulak, Klender and Kampung Pulo, gathered at 8 a.m. to pray for loved ones who died in the shopping mall, previously known as Yogya Plaza, which were among many malls with casualties during the riots.
Ruyati Darwin, 70, said the mass prayer had been annually performed since 1999. Ruyati lost his eldest son Eten Karyana who previously studied French literature at the University of Indonesia.
"It has been 18 years but the case has been left unresolved,” said Ruyati.
She demanded President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo fulfill his promise to shed light onto the cases.
“We are all tired [of empty promises],” she was quoted by tempo.co.
Until now, the government has refrained from stating an official number of victims from the riots, where the figure varies from one source to another.
The report of the joint-fact finding team (TGPF), a team dedicated to finding the truth about the alleged violation of human rights surrounding the May riots, found that the total number of fatalities in Jakarta ranged from 288 to 1,217. Data sources came from the Jakarta administration, police, the Jakarta Military Command and the Volunteers Team for Humanity.
The Volunteers Team for Humanity, a non-governmental organization advocating for the victims' families, and who represents the highest number of them, claim that 1,190 burned to death while 27 died of other causes such as from gun shot wounds.
The TGPF also found that 52 women, mostly Chinese Indonesians, experienced sexual abuse ranging from harassment to gang rape during the May riots. (dmr)
