Subject: Touching Indonesian rape story
This is really a sad story......
My name is Vivian, and I am 18 years old. I have a
little sister and
brother. As a family we live in what is supposed to be
a secure
apartment. At 9.15 am, May 14th, 1999 a huge crowd had
gathered
around our apartment. They screamed, "Butcher the
Chinese! Let's eat
pigs! Lets have a party!" We live of the 7th floor and
we got a call
from a family on the 3rd floor saying that the crowd
had reached the
2nd
floor. They even chased some occupants upstairs. We
were all very
frightened.
In our fright we prayed and left everything in God's
hands.
Afterward we left our room and went upstairs to the
top floor, as it
was
impossible to go downstairs and escape. We got to the
15th floor and
stayed with some friends. Not long afterwards we were
surprised because
some of the crowd coming out of the elevators right
before we entered
the
room. We hurried into the room and locked the tightly.
At that time we
heard
them knock at the other rooms loudly and there were
some screams from
women
and girls. Our room was filled with fear.
We realized they could come to us. So we spread
throughout the room
hiding in the corners. We could hear girls of 10 to 12
years screaming,
"Mommy,mommy...mom...mom...it hurts." That time I
didn't know that
these
little girls were being raped. After about half an
hour the noise
diminished
and we had some guts to go out and check. It was
indescribable. A lot,
some
of them young girls, were lying on the floor. Oh my
God, what has
happened?
Seeing all of this we screemed and little sister
Fenny, screamed
histerically and hugged her father.
Tears started coming down from my eyes. With our
friends, a newly-wed
couple, we started going downstairs. Reaching the 10th
floor, we heard
a
scream for help. The scream was very clear and we
decided to go down
and
see. But as we turned we saw a lot of people. I saw a
woman in her 20s
being
raped by 4 men. She tried fight back but she was held
down tightly.
Realizing the danger we ran as hard as we could. But
unfortunately the
mob
caught Fenny. We tried to rescue her, but could not do
anything.
There were about 60 of them. They tied us up with
ripped sheets,
myself,
my father, my mother, Fenny, Donny, Uncle Dodi and my
Aunt Vera. They
led us to a room. Uncle Dodi asked what they wanted,
but they did not
reply. They looked evil and savage. One of them
grabbed Fenny roughly
and
dragged her to a sofa. At that time I knew she was in
great danger. I
screamed loudly but one of the mob slapped me in my
face. My father who
also screamed was hit with a piece of wood and
hefainted.
My mother has fainted when Fenny was dragged to the
sofa. I could only
pray and pray that disaster would not befall us. Uncle
Dodi kept
trying to stop them by offering money. His efforts
were fruitless. And
in
the end 5 people raped Fenny. Before beginning with
the raping they
always
said Allahu Akbar!(an islamic phrase in arabic meaning
God is
great!)They
were ferocius and brutal. Not long afterward, around 9
men came to the
room
and dragged me. I also saw them forcing and dragging
my Aunt Vera.
But at that time I passed out and everything blank. I
became
conscious at around 5 or 6pm. My head was hurting and
I realized I had
no clothing on my body. I cried and realized my family
was still there.
My
father was hugging my mother and little brother Doni.
I also saw uncle
Dodi lying on the floor and Aunt Vera was crying over
his body. I felt
so
weak and fainted again. The next day I was in the
Pluit hospital.
My father and mother were beside me.
With all the pains on my body I asked, "Mom, where is
Fenny? Mom?" I
felt a
stinging pain as I said these words. My cheeks were
swollen. My mother
cried
again and couldn't speak any words, while my father,
holding back his
tears,managed to smile at me. After 4 days in
treatment, my condition
has
improved. With a sad look, my father told me then what
had happened.
After I
fainted 7 people raped me. At that time my father
still couldn't see
well
after being hit with a piece of wood.
They raped me repeatedly.
Then my father said "Vivian, Fenny is gone..." I was
confused and cried
out,
"Why Dad?" My father couldn't answer. He told me to
rest and went out
of the
room. I cried over and over again,feeling that my life
had no meaning
any
more. A week ago, after I was released from the
hospital I was told
everything that had happend. When Fenny was raped she
kept on fighting
and
so he was repeatedly slapped by her rapists. The last
time she fought
Fenny
spitted on one of them. Offended, the man grabbed a
knife and stabbed
Fenny's stomach over and over again. Finally she died
with blood over
her
whole body. My father told me that uncle Dodi had the
same fate watched
by
Aunt Vera who was also raped. My aunt Vera now stays
with her parents.
She
is in shock. Her face is blank and refuses to eat.
Almost every hour my mother and I cry over all these
happenings. I can
never. These mobs of people are uncivilized
monsters.The scariest part
about all these is that most of the girls and women
were raped by
soldiers, whose jobs were to control the chaos. Some
were raped by
commoners, the rest by demonstraters (most of whom are
university
students).
Most of the victims were raped by a minimum of 3
men.The victims ages
ranged from 10 to 55. Most of the victims were raped
in front of
friends or family.Some were thrown into burning
buildings after being
raped (these were often witnessed by family and
friends). Most them
committed suicide. The rest of the surviving victims
are divided into
these sections, admitted into mental institutions,fear
of public
places,
fear of anyone male, did not report to authorities.
The list goes on
and
on.
Please forward this Yellow Ribbon to all friends
around the world to
show our soladirity and sympathy for the victims of
the riots and chaos
in Indonesia last May 13-15. Let us all remember them
in our prayers.
Because of their race, many Chinese Indonesian were
abused, tortured
and
killed. Their houses and stores were looted and
burnt.Hundreds of
Chinese Indonesian girls/women(aged 10-55)were
sexually harassed and
gang raped brutally.Some victims were even raped in
front of their
family
members or in front of inhuman cheering crowd. Some of
them were even
thrown
into the fire and burnt to death after being raped.
Yet, not many
actions
seem to have been taken to investigate all this or to
help the victims.
And
not every many people seem to know or care about what
happened. Please
pass
this ribbon around as the symbol of campaign.