The riots were one of the darkest periods in Indonesian history. Street violence broke out throughout the country as President Suharto's New Order government failed to curb the effects of a regional economic crisis. Indonesia lost 13.5 percent of its GDP in a single year; the rupiah was in free-fall; the government tried to raise the price of gasoline by 70 percent, and the price of electricity tripled. Students took to the streets, protesting on campuses in most major cities to demand that Suharto step down.But officials within the New Order regime were pointing their fingers at the country's ethnic Chinese minority, a group that those in power have long used as a scapegoat.Read more: What It's Really Like to Live in the 'Rape** Capital' of India**
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Indonesia had seen a rise in sporadic anti-Chinese riots throughout much of that year, but tensions boiled over in May. In 1998, riots broke out on May 4in the country's third-largest city—Medan in North Sumatra—after a student was allegedly killed with a tear gas canister. By May 12, the violence had hit the capital after security forces opened fire on a crowd of student protestors at Trisakti University in west Jakarta. In a wave of violence that lasted for days, angry mobs took over the streets, looting and setting fire to Chinese-Indonesian-owned shops, and targeting ethnic Chinese communities.
"Such circumstances unfolded in the midst of denials about the tragedy that persist to this day. Refutations were made by the state, which until today has still failed to execute any follow-up measures on the outcomes of the investigation into the May 1998 riots. Accountability for the gross human rights violations that occurred in the incident have never been brought to bear. This state of denial is also manifest in the attitude of broader society, which refuses to acknowledge that the rapes and sexual assaults actually occurred."
I can't believe it's been almost 20 years. I am still so angry.
Sandyawan Sumardi, a reverend who investigated the rapes as part of the Joint Fact Finding Team, reached a similar conclusion and received similar death threats. His team met with many of the victims personally, interviewing the women, as well as the doctors, nurses, and those who rushed to the victims' aid. One woman was raped in a taxi for nine hours before she was dumped unconscious on the street, he said. Another was violated with a curtain rod by men who forced their way into her apartment. The city's hospitals were overflowing with victims, but amidst all the chaos and suffering, these two women struck up a friendship."At that time I was thinking, maybe as fellow victims, they could comfort each other," he told me. "So that's why I took her to visit the second victim. I only introduced them, and then they just held each other's hands and supported each other. Both of them survived."Today, the memories of May 1998 still fill Sumardi with emotion."I can't believe it's been almost 20 years," he told me." I am still so angry."Siska spent a year recovering in Singapore after an airline, shocked at her terrible state, let her board a flight out of Jakarta without a ticket or a passport. She underwent plastic surgery to repair the damage to her breasts, but it took much longer to repair the psychological damage"I had panic attacks five to six times a day," she says. "I would claw at my hair, face, and stomach like a lunatic. Each day I would stare at my breasts for hours in front of the bathroom mirror. While pointing to my breasts, I would curse loudly, 'Because of you, I have been reduced to this. You were the ones severed, but I am the one to suffer the pain. I am the one in pain… not you. Do you understand?'"
She returned to Jakarta and changed her name. She'd gained some weight while abroad, and she felt like her new body, as well as her new name and haircut, protected her. It made her anonymous—someone different from the woman who was sexually assaulted during the riots. As long as no one recognized her, she felt safe.But she plans to continue her studies abroad in the United States, and then return to Singapore to live full-time and work at a plastic surgery center to help women like her. Siska says she always felt uneasy back home, like a defenceless deer wandering through a forest of tigers."I don't know, because I am Chinese, wherever I go I feel like I'm being followed," she says. "I feel like I can easily be attacked at any time… I feel safer in Singapore because not many people know about my background."* Name has been changedBecause I am Chinese, wherever I go I feel like I'm being followed. I feel like I can easily be attacked at any time…