Indonesia: The Damaging Debate on Rapes of Ethnic Chinese Women

I. Introduction

Reports that ethnic Chinese women were raped during riots in Jakarta in mid-May have generated an outpouring of rage from around the world and a furious debate inside Indonesia. Legislators in Taiwan and Hong Kong have threatened cut-offs of aid and expulsions of Indonesian migrant workers. Officials in Beijing have abandoned their stance that human rights questions are a domestic concern and have publicly and repeatedly condemned the rapes. U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright raised the issue with the Indonesian finance minister in July.⁽¹⁾ Numerous websites have sprung up on the Internet to campaign against the rapes and demand international action.

Within Indonesia, the issue has pitted top military officers, who challenge the validity of the rape accounts, against Indonesian rights advocates and leading members of the ethnic Chinese community, who claim the assaults on women in mid-May were widespread, systematic, and organized. The fact that as of late August, not a single witness to a rape in mid-May could be persuaded to come forward and give testimony to a government fact-finding panel where anonymity was guaranteed has only fueled the debate. One side points to the lack of witnesses or reports to police as evidence of "fabrication" while the other maintains that the rape victims have either fled Jakarta or remain too terrified to testify, particularly when they or their families believe security forces were involved. In fact, there are many reasons that ethnic Chinese women might hesitate to file charges of rape, including the fact that ethnic Chinese in general in Indonesia have been routinely subjected to extortion by police.

Human Rights Watch believes that the more the debate focuses on the issue of whether or not rapes occurred, the less likely it is that serious investigations will be pursued to establish the extent of, and reasons behind, attacks on ethnic Chinese. In particular, concerns of victims of sexual violence that they will not be believed may have intensified because of the official denials that rape took place. There may well be problems with some of the data initially collected, and rights advocates probably need to exercise more than usual caution in ensuring the credibility of their sources. Rape and sexual violence against women in general can be difficult to document, even for experienced human rights investigators. But the government is not helping matters by alleging "fabrication." Instead it should be working to ensure a climate that is as sympathetic as possible; to develop a witness protection mechanism in which victims can feel wholly confident; and to work out a strategy for following up every lead to determine how and why any kind violence against the ethnic Chinese took place.

Before examining the claims and counterclaims regarding the rapes, it is important to note that the focus on rape has obscured several issues that need to be kept in view:

• The violence of May 13-15 in Jakarta and some other cities such as Solo, Central Java, and Palembang, South Sumatra, was almost certainly orchestrated, with anti-Chinese sentiment manipulated by mob leaders. The majority of the more than 1,200 who died may not have been Chinese (many of the victims were residents of poor neighborhoods who joined in the looting and died while trapped in burning shopping centers) but it is clear that Chinese-owned shops and homes were targeted, and hundreds of Chinese were physically attacked. It may prove easier to address the question of sexual violence if the perpetrators of other forms of violence can be identified and prosecuted.
• The viciousness of the violence led to a mass exodus of ethnic Chinese from Indonesia and a desire of many more to emigrate. No previous episode of anti-Chinese violence has so convinced this important part of Indonesia's population that they will never be accepted as equal citizens and never be physically safe in the country that has been home for generations.
• The campaign to end deeply entrenched discrimination against ethnic Chinese seems to have lost steam, deflected by the debate on the rapes.
• Rape was not the only form of sexual violence that took place during the May riots, and ethnic Chinese women were not the only victims. If witnesses to actual rape have been difficult to produce, witnesses to the public stripping of women have not, and the degrading, humiliating, terrifying nature of this act and the fear it has engendered among the women and their families need far more attention.
• The debate at home and the campaign abroad seem to have generated a backlash in Indonesia, spawning a host of overtly racist organizations that in Indonesia's newly open political climate can flourish without fear of closure. Anonymous flyers have circulated in several Indonesian cities, threatening rapes of Chinese women and castration of Chinese men in the crudest possible terms. Isolated but well-documented rapes of and sexual assaults on ethnic Chinese women have taken place in June, July, and August. It is unclear whether the incidence is higher than the norm or whether heightened attention to the problem has led to better reporting; it is also unclear whether these rapes are a continuation of the May pattern or whether the anti-Chinese backlash is a factor here as a well. But it is clear that the belief of many people that widespread rape occurred in May, and is continuing, is being exploited by those who are eager to see the ethnic Chinese leave Indonesia forever. This is another reason why the government must create a climate in which a serious investigation, free of accusations and recriminations, can take place.
• The men and women trying to document the rape cases have been subjected to a barrage of threats and intimidation, ranging from telephone threats against their children to placement of a grenade outside the Jakarta Social Institute, the office where the group that has done more than any other to document the rapes, the Volunteer Team for Humanity, is based.
• Anti-Chinese violence continues to erupt as the economic situation continues to decline, with the most recent episodes being four days of rioting in the Central Javanese town of Cilacap on August 28-31 and a riot in Lhokseumawe, Aceh, on September 1. That violence may have been spontaneous, like much of the anti-Chinese violence that spread across the country in January and February 1998. But the failure of the government to address the roots of the violence makes it all the easier for unscrupulous groups to mobilize anti-Chinese feeling for their own purposes.

These developments need to be kept front and center. Regardless of how many rapes took place or how many witnesses can be found, the fact that unprecedented violence, including sexual assaults, against ethnic Chinese took place in May in which soldiers and police were involved is not disputed. A serious, competent fact-finding team appointed by the government that includes well-known human rights defenders as well as military personnel is investigating that violence now. How such violence can be prevented in the future, and how the social fabric of Indonesia can be restored so that persons of all ethnicities feel secure, should be the top priorities for all concerned.