Inter Press Service

JAKARTA, (Oct. 6) IPS - The shops in Glodok, Jakarta's Chinatown, close at 6:30 in the evening, after which their Chinese Indonesian owners hurry back home.

"It is not safe to stay late. Since the May riots, who dares to stay late?" one shop-owner said, when asked why stores close earlier than usual.

Five months after violent riots shook this part of town, Glodok is a depressing place with many blocks still in ruins. Burnt out and looted shops dot the area, and houses, hotels and offices are abandoned, left to decay in the tropical heat.

Security guards patrol the area to try to assure residents, but the atmosphere remains heavy with fear.

The scars from the May riots remain deep, even as some reports continue of racial violence against the ethnic Chinese across different parts of Indonesia, a mainly Muslim country of more than 200 million people.

In fact such reports trigger alarm in the Chinese Indonesian community about a renewed wave of attacks, as the economy stumbles in recession and unemployment.

Dr. H. Roeslan Abdulgani, an economic analyst, warns that t he combination of steep rises in prices, massive unemployment, the increase in poverty may re-ignite violence.

The economy is seen to contract by more than 10 percent this year, and some experts say the real unemployment figure may approach 50 percent.

At a time of social unrest, Roeslan says the ethnic Chinese, who make up some 3 percent of the population, is the most vulnerable target of mob violence.

Experts say the targeting of the ethnic Chinese is often fed by perceptions of their weal th. According to stock exchange data, almost 80 percent of the 173 locally listed firms are owned by ethnic Chinese -- but the average Chinese Indonesian is no tycoon.

"There are in fact only 5,000 rich ones at the top out of 6 million ethnic Chinese population. But in time of economic difficulties, they are easily made to be the scapegoats," well-known economist Dr. Frans Seda said in an interview.

Here in Glodok, one of the most painful episodes remain the rapes of at least 160 ethnic Chinese=20 women and girls at the height of the May violence. Residents keep a tight silence when asked about the rapes. The few who do talk say that nothing seems to get better over time.

Last month, Marzuki Darusman, vice chairman of Indonesia's Human Rights Commission and head of a fact-finding team into the rapes, confirmed in an interim report that the rapes did occur in organized assaults.

Scheduled to issue a final report this month, the team says it hopes its findings will clearly show the assault s did occur, given statements from some military officials calling them "rumors" because none had reported to the police.

But this is not enough to erase the fear. "The Chinese victims are still facing terror and intimidation targeted at them and families," said Father Sandyawan, who runs the Jakarta Social Institute and who had probed into the rapes.

Efforts to talk to victims or their families are difficult. One father whose daughter had been raped and asked that he be identified only as Leo, says he is trying to piece together a life changed by May's violence. His small electronics shop was looted by mobs at the time.

"We have been going through a very difficult time, a time of anger and shame," Leo said. "However, the very first thing I have to do is to salvage my business. Without my business, the whole family is going to starve to death."

He continued: "I am therefore engaged in a fierce battle with the insurers. It took them a long time to define the nature of the May riots. I t is not a 'war', but simply 'riots'. I am entitled to get compensation."

"Luckily, my shop is not that seriously damaged. I am still able to revamp it and start the business all over again," he pointed out.

But when asked about his daughter, Leo became furious and denied she had been assaulted. His neighbor friends say the daughter is away from home, getting treatment and counselling.

"I am sorry to tell you his daughter has been raped. Until now the father still refuses to face the reality. He prefers to keep it secret as he is worried nobody wants to marry her daughter once the rape is revealed," one neighbor explained.

Acong and Afung used to run a leather bag factory in Glodok, but stopped production as business dried up after May.

"We are now living on our past savings and borrowing only. However, more and more of our friends are losing jobs or their business too. Who can help? Maybe we should wait patiently for God's helping hands," Acong said.

Acong adds he dares not go out of the house after witnessing the lootings and burnings around Glodok. He has just had a security grille installed outside his house.

Apart from the mental scars many ethnic Chinese harbour in the wake of the riots, racial violence has opened new wounds in ethnic relations in Indonesia.

In many ways, the gulf between Chinese Indonesians and indigenous Indonesians has widened despite the state's decades-long efforts to foster nationhood, and led to worrisome hostility and labelling by both groups.

Acong, for instance, says he welcomes some friends who come visiting but not indigenous Indonesians. "We don't want to be their friends. They are killers."

Indeed, one analyst says the outlook for improvement amid the present racial tension is bleak. "It is about recognition, acceptance, and respect. But I am not optimistic at all that President (Bacharuddin) Habibie is determined or able to solve the problems left by his predecessor Suharto," he said.

Many Chinese Indonesians recall decades of discrimination under Suharto's regime, during which they were excluded from civil service and the military and could not use Chinese names. Some hark back to the deaths of ethnic Chinese in 1965 and 1966, along with other Indonesians suspected of being communist allies.