A tragedy in women’s history and the birth of a guardian

A tragedy in women’s history and the birth of a guardian
Niken Prathivi, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Mon, June 02 2014

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....

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