Turmoil in Indonesia

[Ravenlocke]

🇮🇩🔥 Indonesia Is Boiling Over

On the evenings of August 27 and 28, Jakarta erupted as tens of thousands of protesters surrounded the Indonesian parliament building, condemning what they call a corrupt, elitist political class.

➡️ The spark: lawmakers’ obscene salaries.
Public records reveal that ordinary MPs earn up to 230 million rupiah/month (~$14,000 USD), 43× the average Jakarta worker’s wage and over 100× that of workers in Central Java.

Most of it comes from padded “allowances,” including new housing subsidies, criticized as “taxpayers’ money fattening privileges.”

Protesters are demanding:
• Deep cuts to MP perks
• More public spending on education, healthcare, and transit
• Higher minimum wages
• The end of transmigration laws that forcibly relocate Javanese citizens
• The resignation of President Prabowo Subianto, who is accused of dismantling Indonesian democracy through authoritarianism and elite rule.

🔥 Protests, dominated by left-liberal youth and civil society groups, have reignited after months of tension. The movement is increasingly viewed as a reckoning with inequality and militarism in Southeast Asia’s largest nation.

🚨 On August 28, the crisis escalated when a police armored vehicle plowed into a crowd of protesters in Jakarta, ran over a motorcycle driver, and sped away.
The incident ignited a wave of online fury, not only from Indonesian citizens, but also Chinese opposition circles watching authoritarian repression closely.

https://x.com/DD_Geopolitics/status/1961277631619535016

1961277631619535016

🇮🇩🔥 Mass unrest grips Central Java. In Tegal, protesters have reportedly stormed the headquarters of the Legal Police (Kepolisian Khusus), local prison authority offices, and the Tegal City DPRD (People’s Regional Representative Council).

Videos show chaos in the streets, with demonstrators throwing objects and damaging property. Meanwhile, deployed soldiers are seen standing idly by, choosing not to intervene as state institutions are ransacked.

The unrest follows public outrage over government salaries and more recenelty, the reported killing of an app-based driver by law enforcement officers

https://x.com/DD_Geopolitics/status/1961462599209587112

1961462599209587112

[Ravenlocke]

From Brian Berletic,

🇺🇸🇮🇩US-Funded Riots Target Indonesia (or, NED is Alive and Well...)

US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth said in May during the Singapore-based Shangri La Dialogue the US would focus more on the, "Indo-Pacific" region after years of distractions waging war and regime change elsewhere around the globe.

Source: https://defense.gov/News/Speeches/Speech/article/4202494/remarks-by-secretary-of-defense-pete-hegseth-at-the-2025-shangri-la-dialogue-in/

Since then, there has been a border war between Thailand and Cambodia precipitated by US-backed politicians on both sides of the border, and now violent "student protests" in Indonesia similar to US-sponsored riots in Hong Kong and Thailand in recent years.

Known Western government funded (including US NED-funded) media organizations, "rights groups," and others (like Remotivi, Project Multatuli and Jakarta Legal Aid) in Indonesia are openly backing the protests and attacking the current government.

Sources:

Project Multatuli admits on its site collaboration with Open Society and a variety of NED-adjacent funding tools used by the US for political interference worldwide: https://projectmultatuli.org/en/about/kolaborasi/

Remotivi and Project Multatuli are both mentioned as being disrupted by temporary NED funding freezes earlier this year: https://news.mongabay.com/2025/03/without-us-there-is-no-scrutiny-indonesias-independent-media-count-cost-of-us-funding-cuts/

Their social media presence has spent the duration of the protests condemning the government and police and encouraging unrest.

The same formula of violent protests forcing police responses, leading to injured or dead protesters, thus increasing the size and violence of the protests is in motion.

The same US color revolution gimmicks - using colors, flags, pop culture symbols for protest branding are also being used. In Thailand it was the "Hunger Games" and "Harry Potter," in Indonesia, the BBC boasts of "One Piece" pirate flags being flown.

Source: https://bbc.com/news/articles/c3ezvj4d111o

The goal at best is to install a client regime willing to transform Indonesia into a Ukraine-style battering ram against China, and at a minimum, destabilize the nation and reduce its utility in both China's and all of Asia's rise.

https://x.com/BrianJBerletic/status/1961479937334112261

1961479937334112261

[Thevortexpurple]

WoW:
That is incredible. I'm not quite sure what to believe about that:
In particular:
What would Turmoil in Indonedia, or the effects of it, have on any other part of the world?
In fact: Is there any reason in particular why we should want to tune into that part of the world, or it, for the matter: Anyways?

[madrotter]

Ehrr, yeah, lots of stuff happening here indeed. Huge riots in Jakarta, Makasar, Medan, Surabaya and loads and loads of other places. Pretty heavy stuff happening here in Bandung too...

And yes, one of the triggers for this was the insane raise in payments for members of the DPR. This is how they, the DPR members, reacted after hearing about their three million rupiah raise PER DAY:

6_09srqrnfg

And that went viral....

But anger was already boiling over here for quite a while, the biggest thing is all these new very high taxes and raising taxes on houses/ground, in some places by a thousand %. Factories have been closing down like crazy all over Java, most of them moving to countries like Bangladesh, China etc. where wages are even lower. Unemployment rate is insanely high now, corruption is crazy now and if caught they get off with a slap on the wrist, a small fine, they get to keep their ill gains and if they have to do jail time they do it here in Bandung, in a place called Sukamiskin, kind a like a hotel.... Most people here barely can make it, everybody is deep in debt and the middle class is disappearing ....

Meanwhile, these types, government and billionaire business types, and police and army generals are almost all into (often illegal) mining, palm oil and their newest thing, the so called "food estates" where they destroy insanely huge amounts of forests, all over Indonesia. They always fail so you're left with huge areas, totally barren so they'll just plant even more palm oil trees, they're doing one now in West Papua, sugar cane for ethanol, as big as Switzerland. Lithium mining is truly insane now, recently the beautiful island of Halmahera was turned into a poisoned wasteland for that. The original people there just get thrown off their lands, no or very little compensation, no more forest, no more fish and coral, everything poisoned and heavy cancer rates as a result.... I could go on and on and on.....

It breaks my heart... I've been living here for 29 years, beautiful country, so many beautiful cultures.....

I survived the 1998 riots, the fall of dictator Suharto, insane stories, truly a miracle I survived that time, got caught smack in the middle of it....

And on top of all that.... I live in an area called Lembang, some 15 kilometers outside Bandung City... We are code red now, earthquake imminent and they say it'll be around 6.8 to around 7 if it happens. A thing called the Lembang Fault Line and I live right on top of it.... They are now going around the villages here teaching people how to survive an earthquake. The Bandung government has started, since last week, to make ready some places for evacuation. it's estimated that around 80.000 people will die when it happens, 4 million will become homeless.... There's small earthquakes daily now here, I don't even feel them, mostly up till around 2, 2.5... And it's confusing, they say that's a sign that a big one is coming soon, any moment basically but on the other hand they're saying that it's a good thing these small earthquakes because they relieve pressure....

But yeah, the riots.... So far it's students and youngsters... A guy was killed when a brimob (riot police) car drove into a crowd and that escalated things, if folks get killed by cops shooting, then it'll be really on, then everybody joins, just like in '98....

When it comes to Indonesia I always tell people to watch this documentary. It'll blow your mind (you can watch it with auto-translate).

3tILiqotj7Y

And it's companion piece (which I found even more scarier)

Y6JkXdkS07s

[Ravenlocke]

🚨⚡️Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto cancels his visit to China to attend the commemoration of the end of World War II, due to widespread protests in his country sparked by the killing of a demonstrator under a police vehicle.

https://x.com/mog_russEN/status/1961885836024090740

1961885836024090740

[Ravenlocke]

🇮🇩🔥 Protesters have set fire to the Video Office of the House of Representatives (DPRD) in Makassar, South Sulawesi.

There has been a slew of attacks on government buildings in Indonesia in the past few days.

https://x.com/DD_Geopolitics/status/1961785592070689088

1961785592070689088

🇮🇩🔥 Protesters have burned down the Regional House of Representatives (DPRD) building on Lombok Island, located in West Nusa Tenggara Province.

This adds to the growing list of government offices targeted amid Indonesia’s escalating unrest.

🇮🇩 The President of Indonesia canceled his trip to China due to large-scale protests in his country.

He was supposed to participate in events marking the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II.

In three provinces, protesters set fire to government buildings. Security forces are using water cannons and tear gas against them.

https://x.com/DD_Geopolitics/status/1961835765681541390

1961835765681541390

[Bill Ryan]

WoW:
That is incredible. I'm not quite sure what to believe about that:
In particular:
What would Turmoil in Indonedia, or the effects of it, have on any other part of the world?
In fact: Is there any reason in particular why we should want to tune into that part of the world, or it, for the matter: Anyways?Don't 'tune in' if you don't want to! :) Avalon has over 100,000 threads on a myriad of different topics. Geopolitics and International Relations make up just a tiny fraction of those.

:focus:

[Thevortexpurple]

WoW:
That is incredible. I'm not quite sure what to believe about that:
In particular:
What would Turmoil in Indonedia, or the effects of it, have on any other part of the world?
In fact: Is there any reason in particular why we should want to tune into that part of the world, or it, for the matter: Anyways?Don't 'tune in' if you don't want to! :) Avalon has over 100,000 threads on a myriad of different topics. Geopolitics and International Relations make up just a tiny fraction of those.

:focus:

Great! Thank you. I'm finally done with listening to the news. It used to eat up too much of my time.

[madrotter]

WoW:
That is incredible. I'm not quite sure what to believe about that:
In particular:
What would Turmoil in Indonedia, or the effects of it, have on any other part of the world?
In fact: Is there any reason in particular why we should want to tune into that part of the world, or it, for the matter: Anyways?Don't 'tune in' if you don't want to! :) Avalon has over 100,000 threads on a myriad of different topics. Geopolitics and International Relations make up just a tiny fraction of those.

:focus:

Great! Thank you. I'm finally done with listening to the news. It used to eat up too much of my time.

The reason that you should tune in is that the people of Indonesia are now showing the World how to deal with these corrupt politicians. Right now you can see more and more videos of them apologizing to the public on Instagram and other places. Their houses are being plundered and burned down. Some of them have fled to Singapore. They have now shut down live streaming in Instagram and TikTok but people are filming with their smart phones and posting everywhere. The whole country now sees how absurdly extravagant these people live, garages full with the most expensive cars and motors, no, not 5 cars and 4 motors, but 50, 60 luxury cars, 50, 60 motors, helicopters, you name it, palaces.... I'm seeing lists of these folks and their addresses being posted in the comment sections on Instagram, so I'm thinking, they'll probably will shut down internet completely soon...

To me, it's really surprising that the army hasn't stepped in yet, they normally have no problem with mass murdering here. Maybe they know what will happen if things REALLY escalate... In '98 it was looting shopping malls, burning down Chinese areas (the economy here is mainly controlled by Indonesian Chinese and they are much hated), mass rapes of Indonesian Chinese women....

Can you imagine this happening in Europe? In America? Those corrupt politicians fleeing, their houses being looted and burned down?

[madrotter]

Before:

https://www.instagram.com/reel/DNmVQJUCC6O
DNmVQJUCC6O

After:

https://www.instagram.com/reel/DN_JbIxiaQM
DN_JbIxiaQM

[madrotter]

Now... For those that are interested.... I've written a bit here already, now let's look at the bigger picture.... And what I'll write is just my personal take on things ok, I haven't read this anywhere, it's just my personal beliefs and observations....

I'm now hearing that they are employing snipers (just like in '98). That they have cut off CCTV cameras everywhere to try and hide the evidence of that (which is why I think internet will be blocked pretty soon here, everybody here has a smart phone and they're all posting like crazy) and that there are already several deaths because of this. I have no confirmation of this yet....

"They" want chaos here, TOTAL chaos.... Who are they? First off, the military who have lost so much income and power since the fall of the Suharto regime. Then there are the 9 Dragons (the Chinese Indonesian billionaires and there's more then 9 of them) and the 5 Hadji's (the indigenous billionaires, there's more then five of them and they are for a big part fairly new money,).... Plus, there's retired generals and others now doing interviews saying that there are "outside players", names like Soros and the Rothschilds are being thrown around.... Read a bit about recent history about Indonesia, starting from say the 50's, specially the 60's and the bloodbaths here. Read about Kissinger and the CIA's role in all of that. People often just don't realize how insanely rich this country is when it comes to resources....

Look at who is the President now, these interviews will tell you all you need to know:

https://etan.org/news/2014/07nairn.htm

https://www.allannairn.org/2014/06/news-do-i-have-guts-prabowo-asked-am-i.html

He's a very vain guy, grew up in England, had all of his military training in America and.... and this is something that nobody talks about, by the I D F ....

Like I wrote above, right now the houses of some of these lawmakers are being plundered and burned down. No security whatsoever and it's widely publicized. Not on tv, tv stations are now forbidden to show anything of substance and they closed down live streaming on tik tok and Instagram.... You see videos of these clowns apologizing to the Indonesian public etc.

But who are these people? These so-called lawmakers? Mostly they are ex actors, singers, comedians, business people. Yes they are filthy rich but they are NOBODY'S and they are being sacrificed, first to give the (mostly poor and un-educated) public a sense of justice being done, by the people themselves, but secondly, and more important (I think) , they are "the face" of the democratic experiment that Indonesia has gone through in the years since the downfall of the military dictatorship under Suharto and his cronies, and that face turns out to be totally corrupt.

This is a well planned, well organized take over by the military, I'm sure of it..... "Ordo ab Chao", most of you here know these words very well I presume and that's what we are seeing now....

Just my two cents....

[Thevortexpurple]

WoW:
That is incredible. I'm not quite sure what to believe about that:
In particular:
What would Turmoil in Indonedia, or the effects of it, have on any other part of the world?
In fact: Is there any reason in particular why we should want to tune into that part of the world, or it, for the matter: Anyways?Don't 'tune in' if you don't want to! :) Avalon has over 100,000 threads on a myriad of different topics. Geopolitics and International Relations make up just a tiny fraction of those.

:focus:

Great! Thank you. I'm finally done with listening to the news. It used to eat up too much of my time.

The reason that you should tune in is that the people of Indonesia are now showing the World how to deal with these corrupt politicians. Right now you can see more and more videos of them apologizing to the public on Instagram and other places. Their houses are being plundered and burned down. Some of them have fled to Singapore. They have now shut down live streaming in Instagram and TikTok but people are filming with their smart phones and posting everywhere. The whole country now sees how absurdly extravagant these people live, garages full with the most expensive cars and motors, no, not 5 cars and 4 motors, but 50, 60 luxury cars, 50, 60 motors, helicopters, you name it, palaces.... I'm seeing lists of these folks and their addresses being posted in the comment sections on Instagram, so I'm thinking, they'll probably will shut down internet completely soon...

To me, it's really surprising that the army hasn't stepped in yet, they normally have no problem with mass murdering here. Maybe they know what will happen if things REALLY escalate... In '98 it was looting shopping malls, burning down Chinese areas (the economy here is mainly controlled by Indonesian Chinese and they are much hated), mass rapes of Indonesian Chinese women....

Can you imagine this happening in Europe? In America? Those corrupt politicians fleeing, their houses being looted and burned down?

Wow. This reminds me of something I remember seeing a while back: I remember this opne man who figured out a clever way to dox politicians. As in: He found out a clever way to figure out where to hide the list of addresses involved ans such. However, I forget the details of that exactly. I'm not even sure if it is still around.

It is shocking to see how much of a degree that these sorts of cases get to. As in: taking on both big institutions and politicians takes a great deal of both courage and risk.

-How-Ever: Politicans are not themselves always the causes of peoples problems/ Those have com0plicated roots. In my own personal life specifically, I have realized that much of the issues I have in my life has to do with how I communicate with and deal with others.

[Ravenlocke]

From Brian Berletic,

🇺🇸🇮🇩Continuity of Agenda: US Targets Indonesia - Seeks to Punish Jakarta for Joining BRICS

On YouTube: https://youtube.com/watch?v=BqgOn94c23M

Some Indonesians have been convinced by foreign-funded media and organizations to protest against the central government over various issues, violence has taken place including arson and there have been deaths.

In reality - the protests are taking place, funded by the US government, because Indonesia refused to become a battering ram against China and instead joined BRICS alongside China.

The protests are copied and pasted from the US State Department's "Milk Tea Alliance" playbook which previously targeted Hong Kong, China, as well as Thailand and Myanmar in recent years.

https://x.com/BrianJBerletic/status/1963316157307654545

1963316157307654545

[Ravenlocke]

Text:
Who is behind the mass riots in Indonesia

RT found out that Western NGOs are behind the protests in this country.

Main points:

The main driving force and organizers were the All-Indonesian Student Union (BEM SI) and the Confederation of Indonesian Trade Unions (KSPSI). They are supervised by the Labour Party. The union tried to storm the Indonesian parliament building;

The student union had already participated in large-scale protests in April 2022 and October 2023, and its social media featured an abbreviation used to criticize the police — A.S.A.V.;

Another source of protest activity is the trade unions, whose leader Said Iqbal also heads the Labour Party and cooperates with organizations from Europe;

behind the protest leaders stand the Soros and MacArthur foundations, as well as USAID, which is called the "main tool of colour revolutions'";

the protest leaders are also supported by the Jakarta Legal Aid Institute (LBH), the resources of Project Multatuli and Remotivi. The first has repeatedly opposed the country's government and cooperates with the American Search for Common Ground, which deals with gender issues;

Multatuli openly admits that it received grants from the Open Society Foundation (OSF) of George Soros, and among its sponsors is Google. Remotivi received financial support from an institute founded with the assistance of the MacArthur Foundation.

When will GS wake up to the fact that they must close down all western sponsored NGO’s?

https://x.com/DagnyTaggart963/status/1963513480788549910

1963513480788549910

[madrotter]

Thanks Ravenlocke :)

I find this X account quite interesting:

https://x.com/RooneySianny/status/1963627314635219107

[Ravenlocke]

From Sianny Rooney

Stop being a coward
@BrianJBerletic
so we can reply to your post!
What do you know about Indonesian history & internal politics?
Tell us, what the US' aim or agenda to do this, when Prabowo is a long-time loyal subservient US' asset? Even his father Sumitro was also a CIA Asset.

https://x.com/RooneySianny/status/1962184993645486384

1962184993645486384


October 2020
Prabowo's trip to US this week as defence minister is an example of history coming full circle. Before fall from grace (& visa ban), Prabowo trained at Fort Bragg & Fort Benning, was thought to be pro-US & seen by CIA in 1985 as someone w/ great potential https://cia.gov/library/readingroom/docs/CIA-RDP86T00590R000300450001-3.pdf

https://x.com/benjaminbland/status/1316503479809003520

1316503479809003520

[Ravenlocke]

From S. L. Kanthan,

Big win for the US in Indonesia’s Presidential elections. 💥

Prabowo Subianto is the son-in-law of former brutal dictator, Suharto.

He’s a military guy with dark past, very Westernized, entire family is ultra rich (0.01% of Indonesians).

Let’s see if he turns anti-China.

https://x.com/Kanthan2030/status/1758095664058445954

1758095664058445954

[Ravenlocke]

From Sianny Rooney

You're not doing a service to humanity. You're lying badly.
The early revolt was genuine or organic, then it was hijacked & taken over by CIA Front Agents to "neutralise" people's demands & make sure Prabowo & corrupt cronies stay in power.
🇮🇩 hasn't been independent since 1965!

https://x.com/RooneySianny/status/1963650639650598952

1963650639650598952

[Ravenlocke]

Auto-translated by Grok
🇮🇩 ONE DAY PATIENCE RUNS OUT

Indonesians set fire to the Parliament and have been protesting for 5 days.

Reason: the 580 legislators receive $3000 additional to their salaries as housing allowance, which is 10 times more than the minimum wage.

https://x.com/sebaalvareza/status/1962626473170293124


From Andalou English,

Clashes between protesters and security forces continued in Surabaya ⤵️

The unrest was triggered by a monthly housing stipend of 50 million Indonesian rupiah (approximately $3,075) granted to members of parliament, an amount nearly ten times the minimum wage in Jakarta

https://x.com/anadoluagency/status/1962095782300934645

1962095782300934645

From Al Mayadeen English,

The demonstrations began last week after revelations that all 580 of #Indonesia's lawmakers were receiving a monthly housing allowance almost ten times #Jakarta’s minimum wage on top of their salaries.

https://x.com/MayadeenEnglish/status/1962386680767299611

1962386680767299611


🇮🇩 Public outrage sweeps Indonesia as people rise against the ruling crooks. Streets of Jakarta turn to chaos after a protestor was crushed by a police car.

Parliament handed itself a $3,000-a-month housing allowance ten times what the average worker earns while the masses scrape by.

Decades of colonial hangovers, Dutch lootings, and Western-backed puppet rulers have kept the country poor, dumbed down, and exploited. The elites thrive, the people starve, and now the streets are saying enough.

Censorship can hide the news, but it can’t stop the anger from spilling into the streets.

https://x.com/aprajitanefes/status/1961411336933687720

1961411336933687720


🇮🇩 Ahmad Sahroni, DPR member for Jakarta, until recently Vice Chair of Commission III overseeing law, human rights, and security, went on TV calling protesters “stupid” for opposing the Rp 50 million/month housing perk for MPs.

Soon after, his luxury home was swarmed, safes cracked, cash, designer bags, watches, even his cars looted and smashed. A public service palace, stripped bare in full view.

This is Indonesia’s political class,
perks bankrolled by taxpayers, zero accountability, no taxes on their allowances, and a belief they’re untouchable. The crowd proved they’re not.

https://x.com/iwasnevrhere_/status/1961839221632569439

1961839221632569439

[bojancan]

Todays talk by Berletić suits also in this thread!



Sept, 5
The New Atlas
296K subscribers
Continuity of Agenda: US Targets Serbia - Trump Does Rerun of Clinton-Bush-era Regime Change
HGaqIPhCtY0

The US government admittedly overthrew the government of Serbia in 2000 through secret funding and meetings between the US National Endowment for Democracy (NED) and Serbian opposition leaders.

Today, the same network of NED-funded organizations are promoting protests across Serbia, citing legitimate criticism of the current government to mobilize crowds, incite violence, and divide and destroy the country again.

Regardless of what one's opinion is of the current Serbian government, and how deeply one believes the US-EU has supported it in the past, for whatever the US government is determined to target and undermine it today to replace it with either a more obedient client regime, or greater sociopolitical dysfunction and division than before.

To determine a protest's legitimacy, one must go beyond slogans and superficial conclusions drawn about either the opposition or the targeted government, and instead, name organizations involved, and trace their money back both to their true donors, and the true purpose of the protests themselves.

[madrotter]

New post on Sianny Rooney's substack, hope some of you will find this interesting (I think it is):

https://siannyrooney.substack.com/p/indonesia-on-fire-and-the-cia-front

In this post she links to an article about the 1998 riots, but be warned, it's not for the weak-hearted:

https://web.archive.org/web/20161115135429/http://edition.cnn.com/ASIANOW/asiaweek/98/0724/cs1.html?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email

Been driving through Bandung, everything is quiet, for now. Even the "hot spots" are cleaned up and quiet, there was a small pro Palestine demonstration, very peaceful, just folk walking with banners....

I will never forget the '98 riots.... I was living in Bandung with my then girlfriend (and still my wife) and her baby daughter. Had been living in Bandung for one and a half year, my Bahasa Indonesia was still very, very poor, and I had a vacation planned, back to Rotterdam where I'm from. Back then, those pre-internet times, Indonesia was a different country. There was almost no news, only a few tv channels and they were heavily censored, there were the weekly Times and Newsweek magazines and that was it. I would go to a telephone store to call my parents once or twice a month, a few times a year an occasional post-card or letter from friends back in Holland.... A great, but very isolated life back then....
I knew there were riots in Jakarta but I had no idea about how wide spread they were and I felt it was safe to go to the airport in Jakarta so I went. That was the day that all hell broke loose... Everything seemed ok when I came out of the Gambir train station in the center of Jakarta and I hailed a taxi. Close to the airport on the toll road we got stuck in a huge, huge demonstration. Dictator Suharto was supposed to come back from a trip to the Middle East that day (he actually landed on another airport) and tens of thousands of demonstrators were waiting for him to arrive.... People started smashing in the windows of the taxi where I was sitting in, trying to get at me, a white guy in the midst of all that madness, and only the quick thinking of the driver saved me. He threw a blanket over me and somehow managed to get out of there. He drove me all the way back to Bandung, all the way crying over his broken windows but I gave him a huge tip, in Dutch guilders and I'm sure that with the rupiah in free fall he must've been a lot happier after changing that money....

Back home and now they were showing what was really happening on the tv, the airport was insane, thousands and thousands of Chinese Indonesians escaping the wide spread slaughter, buying tickets out to anywhere, anywhere at all.... HUGE demonstrations in Jakarta.... The next morning I decided that, to hell with it, I'm going to give it another try, so I took the train again but the train stopped at the train station in Purwakarta, not all that far from Bandung, because the whole train station was on fire, I mean, the whole train station, it was crazy. After a while busses showed up to take all the stranded passengers to Jakarta. In the front sat an English couple with a small child, maybe three years of age. I saw them again later on tv, being dragged out of a taxi and savagely beaten and robbed.... When those busses finally arrived in Jakarta, again at Gambir train station it was dark...

There were no taxis anywhere so I started walking to nearby Jalan Jaksa, that was where all the backpacker hotels used to be. Everything was burning, every building I saw was burning. Huge groups of people running around, screaming, looting, burning. Tanks with soldiers were driving around but there wasn't much they could do. Sometimes they would shout at me, "You're crazy!!! A white guy alone walking around with a backpack, but I made it safely to Jalan Jaksa, and there everything was closed, everything was boarded up, no idea what to do, but suddenly a taxi drove by. I managed to get the taxi to stop and I sat in the front, "Airport!!!"....

The driver was a HUGE guy with a HUGE afro, I swear, he could've been a brother from Andre the Giant, easily a 300 pounder, probably more, and after a while I started realizing that he was driving a very different route and I started to get scared. He was trying to make converstation which wasn't easy with my really bad Indonesian and him not speaking English and at a certain point I said "Alhamdulillah" which is something you hear all the time here. He immediately stopped the car and said "You are Muslim???" And I said yes, I am a Muslim! I wasn't actually a practicing Muslim back then but I had done the conversion thing and the religious marriage in order to live together, we got officially married a few years later and I had done the whole circumcision thing which is a pretty insane story too but ok. He grabbed me, hugged me and exclaimed that I was his brother and he was going to bring me to the airport! And he turned the taxi around and took me to the airport....

The airport was dead, quiet, not a living soul which was really weird after seeing the pandemonium there the night before on tv and I had no problem catching a flight to Holland. I was planning to go for 6 weeks but I was back within two weeks, didn't want my wife and step daughter to be alone.... And then the insane years after '98 started. The first democratic elections and the insane campaign days, the time of the ninja killings, the terrible wars in Maluku and in Poso, Sulawesi, the Bali bomb and all that. So many insane stories, the other times I got stuck in other riots....

But anyway.... Bandung is quiet for now but I personally think that the riots last week were just the beginning of much heavier stuff to come....