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As dust of May 22 riots settles, a rush to search for loved ones
The National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM) has received reports of 70 missing people.
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A riot police vehicle launches tear gas at protesters during a clash in Central Jakarta on May 22. (JP/Dhoni Setiawan)
M
ulyanah, 45, could not hide her tears when The Jakarta Post approached her to ask what she was doing at the Jakarta Police headquarters on Tuesday afternoon.
“I am looking for my brother,” she said.
Nurdin, her 40-year-old brother, has not returned home for a week, after riots sporadically erupted in five locations in Central and West Jakarta for three days, following protests from supporters of losing presidential candidate Prabowo Subianto.
Thousands of people took to the streets on May 21, a day after the General Elections Commission (KPU) announced incumbent President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo’s victory over the former Army general. At least eight individuals died during the three days of riots, while some 700 others were injured.
The protesters initially planned to hold a demonstration on May 22, the day the KPU initially scheduled to announce the election result, but the situation changed after the poll body made its announcement in the early hours of May 20.
At the riot sites, the police arrested more than 400 accused provocateurs and rioters, some of whom committed violent acts, such as throwing stones and Molotov cocktails at security forces. Many have yet to inform their families of their whereabouts.
“[Nurdin] informed us [on May 22] that he was trapped in the crowds. Since then, we have yet to hear anything from him,” Mulyanah said, adding that she searched various hospitals yet found no clues as to where Nurdin might be.
