May 1998 Indonesia riots | ||||
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Part of the fall of Suharto, 1997 Asian financial crisis and Anti-Chinese sentiment in Indonesia | ||||
Date | 4–8 and 12–15 May 1998 | |||
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The May 1998 Indonesia riots (Indonesian: Kerusuhan Mei 1998),[1] also known colloquially as the 1998 tragedy (Tragedi 1998) or simply the 98 event (Peristiwa 98), were incidents of mass violence, revolutionary protests, and civil unrest in Indonesia in May 1998, many of which were targeted at Indonesia's ethnic Chinese population. The events were mainly in the cities of Medan, Jakarta and Surakarta, with small incidents in other regions of the country.
Under the Western-backed Suharto, there had been widespread and systematic discrimination against ethnic Chinese in Indonesia. The riots were triggered by corruption, economic problems, including food shortages and mass unemployment. It eventually led to the resignation of President Suharto and the fall of the New Order government, which had been in power for 32 years and heavily backed by Western powers such as the United States. The main targets of the violence were ethnic Chinese Indonesians, but most of the casualties were caused by a massive fire and occurred among looters.[2][3][4][5][6][7]
It was estimated that more than 1,000 people died in the riots.[8][9] At least 168 cases of rape were reported, and material damage was valued at more than Rp3.1 trillion (US$260 million). As of 2010, legal proceedings regarding the riots were stalled and not completed.[10]