SEMARANG (JP): In Central Java the spirits of many wealthy
Chinese-Indonesians who died more than 20 years ago have been rudely
disturbed because they, too, have had to bear the brunt of the present crisis.
Over the past month, suspicious-looking strangers have dug up Chinese
graves and stolen the valuables in Pekalongan and Surakarta.
Eyewitnesses say the criminals usually came in groups of at least 10
people. Armed with sickles, crowbars, saws and hoes, the looters arrived in
trucks at all times of day without fear of being apprehended.
They targeted graves of people who died at least 20 years ago. Many
relatives of the deceased were devastated on finding the remains of their
loved ones had been left scattered around the grave site.
Officials in charge of cemeteries have confirmed 268 ChineseIndonesian
graves dug up and looted in the batik town of Pekalongan and another 15 in
the ancient sultanate of Surakarta.
"The looters would carefully remove the marble gravestone. Then they would take out and open the casket
where the deceased's valuables such as gold are usually kept," says
Subagio, 40, who resides in Kuripan cemetery in Pekalongan.
In many cases, especially in Surakarta, thieves also got away with
the expensive marble tombstones and the coffins made of top-quality teak.
Such caskets usually measure 2.5 meters long and up to 12 centimeters
thick.
Local residents reported that the looters were all strangers to them.
They described the thieves as well-built, fiery-looking and armed with
sharp weapons.
"With daggers, sickles and army knives, they looked threatening. We
villagers were afraid of reprisals if we tried to stop them," said Suparno,
36, also from Kuripan, Pekalongan.
Villagers who had the guts to go close enough to the crime scenes said they
saw looters collect gold and diamond-encrusted jewelry. In one grave
gold-plated glasses frames were picked up.
"In one incident, the thieves failed to open the teak casket,"
Suparno said. "So they just threw it onto their truck."
Pekalongan Police chief Lt. Col. Ismu Haryomo has expressed disgust
over the widespread grave looting.
"I can't stop wondering how people have the heart to loot graves in
this supposedly civilized society7" he said.
In Surakarta, aB 15 cases of grave looting occurred in the Jebres
Chinese cemetery, where caskets and valuables inside it were stolen. The
skeletal remains were casually reburied.
"The looting occurred a month ago. The torch-wielding mob came on
trucks and dug up the graves at night," said M. Sastro, who guards the
cemetery.
Surakarta, along with Jakarta, Medan and Palembang, was badly hit by
anti-Chinese riots in mid-May, in which hundreds of shops, banks and
vehicles were destroyed. Chinese-Indonesians in the ancient city are still
repor
tedly experiencing harassment.
Under Chinese tradition, dead people are buried with their favorite
belongings. It is considered taboo for the living relatives to keep the
items.
Until about 20 years ago, the casket would be made of expensive teak.
Nowadays, coffins are mostly made of less valuable materials for practical
reasons, especially if the body is to be cremated.
Suwardi, a Jebres cemetery keeper, said almost all of the looted
graves were those that contained the remains of people who died more than
30 years ago.
He recalled a day when a group of Chinese-Indonesians from Jakarta
visited the grave of their relatives and found it already dug up.
"They were hysterical to find the skeletal remains scattered all over
the place and the coffin missing," he says.
Sources in the timber business estimate that a stolen top quality
coffin could fetch about Rp 70,000 (US$5.80) on the black market.
The head of the Surakarta public cemetery office, Soepodo, said the number
of looted Chinese graves could be higher than reported.
The grave looting incidents also alarmed the legislative council.
"The crime must be stopped. It is disgusting and deeply offensive to
the deceased's relatives," one councilor said.
In both Surakarta and Pekalongan, people who had their relatives'
graves looted say they could do nothing to stop the crime except ask the
police to investigate.
"In this economic chaos, what can one possibly do about it," says
Budiman, aged 38, whose relative's grave in Pekalongan was looted.
The grave looting has, for the moment stopped and the disturbed sites
restored to their former state, including the replacement of the stolen
headstones.
However no one has been arrested and while public cemetery officials
have referred the hair-raising incidents to the authorities, the police do
not seem to have specific plans to track down the perpetrators.
