Indonesians Riot Over Prices, Unemployment

Thousands of Indonesians rampaged in at least eight towns Friday, burning shops, houses and cars in the most violent day of protest since the onset of an economic crisis. One person was reported killed.

Mobs vented anger against Chinese traders they blame for the soaring prices and massive unemployment that followed a plunge in the value of the currency, the rupiah. Sweeping austerity measures under a $40-billion International Monetary Fund bailout have only aggravated the economic despair.

Searching for scapegoats, rioters Friday attacked the Chinese minority. Three Chinese churches in two towns were raided and furniture burned outside. Looting was widespread.

“My children and I are still too afraid to leave our house. My neighbors are scared as well,” said one woman in Pamanukan, about 65 miles east of Jakarta, the capital. She spoke by telephone on condition of anonymity.

Chinese families found shelter in police stations or fled to other towns. Fearful residents painted the word “Muslim” on their doors to keep rioters from attacking their homes.

Friday’s strife broke out one day after President Suharto ordered the military to crack down on activists. He accused them of harnessing economic discontent to destabilize the state before a presidential election in March. Suharto, who has governed for 32 years, is expected to win a seventh five-year term.

Having amassed fortunes as members of a clique linked to Suharto and his family, a few Chinese are among the richest people in country. Many among the ethnic Chinese--who make up 4% of Indonesia’s population of about 200 million--are farmers or hold salaried jobs in offices and factories.

The Muslim majority has turned on the Chinese in the past at times of crisis. Many members of the Chinese community were among the hundreds of thousands of people killed in the 1960s when mobs attacked suspected left-wing activists and sympathizers following a failed Communist coup attempt.

After a daylong melee Friday, troops moved into Sukamandi, about 55 miles east of Jakarta.

In the biggest of the riots, hundreds of troops and police clashed with 3,000 rioters in Losari, 125 miles east of Jakarta. One man died, the official Antara news agency reported. Details of the death were not immediately available.