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Solemn Prayers Mark May Riots in Jakarta, Indonesia
Families of May riot victims commemorate the three-day riots which rocked Jakarta on May 13 to 15, 1998 by paying tributes and prayers at the Pondok Rangon Public Cemetery in East Jakarta on Sunday.
The cemetery is the resting place of over 1,000 unidentified victims of violence in a series of bloody fray that hit Jakarta in May 1998, one of the worst incidents recorded in the country's history.
The riots broke out three years ago following the fatal shooting of four Trisakti University students during a mass demonstration on their campus in West Jakarta on May 12, 1998.
Coordinator of the May Tragedy commemoration Rinto Tri Hasworo said that the prayers and gathering are meant to hold solidarity among the families of the victims of violence.
"We are gathering all families of victims of violence, not only those from the mid-May riots but also from various incidents such as the Semanggi bloody shootings (in 1998) and Christmas bombings (in 2000)," Rinto was quoted by the Jakarta Post.com online news service as saying.
The prayers, organized by Humanitarian Volunteers team, also continued to pay tribute to several sites of incidents such as the Klender Plaza in East Jakarta where hundreds of people were burned to death as they were trapped inside on May 12, 1998.
"It's very difficult to ask for legal accountability in this kind of cases... it's even hard to ask the government to care for the burial grounds for the victims of violence," Rinto said.
Similar prayers were also held outside the Hotel Indonesia in Central Jakarta.
On May 13-15 1998, Indonesia saw the worst looting and rioting in decades in Jakarta, Medan and Solo. It was believed that more than 1,300 lives were claimed in the riots, while thousands of buildings and vehicles were destroyed or set ablaze.
And just one week after the riots took place, Soeharto stepped down from his presidential office.
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