Vivian's Story
June 1998
Name : Vivian (not real name)
Age: 18
Sex: Female
She has a younger sister and a younger brother. The family lives in an apartment in the Pluit area. (Note: Pluit is a heavily Chinese-populated area).
Around 9.15 in the morning they found hundreds of men surrounding the apartment complex. Those people looked very fierce and cruel. They shouted: ' Kill all Chinese!', 'Let's eat pork', 'Let's have a party!'... "
"Our family lives in the 7th floor. A neighbour from 3rd floor called to say that the crowd had gotten onto 2nd floor, and there were even some residents who were being chased all the way up. We were very scared, but we still had time to pray to God. Then all of us packed and left the room, and went up using the stairs. We got to the 15th floor. As soon as we got there we saw many people come out of the elevator. We quickly locked the door and hid in separate rooms. We heard doors banged and many screams from women and girls. We can hear the voices of girls ages 10 to 12 shouting 'mommy...mommy....','mommy...it hurts....mommy...'. At that time I still didn't realize what had happened."
"After half an hour the situation seemed to calm down and we didn't heard any more voices. We decided to look outside. What we saw outside cannot be named. We saw many people lying on the floor. Many children and little girls also lay there. My younger sister, Veny was hysterical. She grabbed my dad and I was crying also. Then we had another couple (newlyweds) join us. We climbed down the stairs to 10th floor. We heard many screams for help, and we decided to help. At the end of an intersection (inside of the apartment) we saw a crowd raping a girl in her 20's. She was being raped by 4 people. Seeing that we tried to escaped. Unfortunately Veny was caught by those people. I tried to save her, but there were at least 60 people. At the end the whole family (mommy, daddy, me, Veny, Doni (younger brother)) and Vera and Dodi (the couple) were tied up by the crowd using torn blanket sheets. They took us to a room. Dodi kept asking them what they wanted. They didn't answer. The expression on their faces were very cruel and evil. One of them pulled Veny to the couch. At that time I felt she was in danger, and I tried to shout. One of them then hit me with his hand and they hit my dad with a brick until he collapsed. My mom already collapsed when she saw Veny being pulled by them. I was still praying to God, 'Please don't let this happen to us...'".
"Dodi tried to offer them money in exchange for leaving us alone. It was not successful. Finally they raped Veny. I couldn't stand it. I closed my eyes. I still hear her painful screams. There were 5 people who raped her. Everytime they started they always shout 'Allahu Akbar...' (It's a muslim word for saying God Almighty). They were so cruel and sadistic. The look on their faces was so evil and full of hatred. Not long after there were 9 more people coming. The new people pulled me and at the same time, I also saw Vera being pulled by them. I collapsed immediately."
"I woke up around 5 or 6 pm. I was having a bad headache. I realized I wasn't wearing clothes anymore. I cried. I was very angry, sad, disappointed. Vaguely I remembered seeing my dad hugging mom and Doni. I saw Dodi lying on the ground and Vera crying on top of his body. I was very weak. I fell back unconciously. The day after I was at the Pluit hospital. I saw my mom and dad next to me. All my body felt pain. I kept asking my mom what had happened to me. My mom cried, not responding. Dad tried to smile while withholding his tears. After about 4 days in the hospital I began to recover. Dad then told me what happened. While I was unconcious I was raped by 7 people. Dad was still weak after being hit with the brick. He saw what they did to me. They crashed my body against the wall and raped me. After telling the story my dad said...'Vin, Veny has left.' I gave a painful cry that could be heard in the next room. 'Why, dad?' Dad didn't answer. He just told me to get some rest and left the room immediately."
"After a week I was able to leave the hospital. They then told me what happened to Veny. When Veny was raped she kept fighting. They hit her in the face all the time. The last time Veny fought she spit on one of them. Feeling unhappy, he took a knife and stabbed Veny in the stomach. He kept stabbing until Veny died with blood all over her body. Dodi was also stabbed to death, witnessed by Vera his wife, who was also raped. God, why should this happen?"
At this time Vera is with her sister in their parents' house. She is still in shock, she not responding to people, and seldom eats. Vivian and her mother still cry everyday. They cannot forget what happened that day.
Comment 1
Please, observe that even today, the new Indonesian government has not given any serious statement of regret toward what has been happening with many Indonesian women who were born as Chinese descendents. The head of the police in Jakarta was even denied the gang rapes, saying, 'Where is the proof?' Even the new president has not pointed out to the failure of the police or army to protect the female members of society.