BEIJING -- China has broken its silence on ethnic
Chinese victims of
rioting in Indonesia in May, saying it is "concerned
and sympathetic"
about their plight.
"China is concerned and sympathetic with the
suffering experienced by
the Indonesians of Chinese origin during the riots
which occurred in
Indonesia in May," Foreign Ministry spokesman Tang
Guoqiang said at a
news briefing on Tuesday, says Reuters.
Asked about reports that ethnic Chinese women were
raped and killed
during the riots which led to the resignation of
Indonesian President
Suharto, he said China had noted that the Jakarta
government was
investigating the riots and had taken measures to
stabilise the
situation.
"China hopes that the Indonesian government will take
effective
measures to secure the peace and safety of Chinese
and other ethnic
groups so they may live and work in peace, and
contribute to the
social development and economic prosperity of the
country," he added.
On Tuesday, a prominent Indonesian human rights
organisation said 20
women died after being raped during mid-May riots in
the capital
Jakarta and other cities.
Ms Sandyawan Sumardi, secretary of the Volunteers of
Humanity, said
most of the victims were ethnic Chinese and that the
attacks appeared
well-organised and premeditated.
China censored news reports of the riots and of Mr
Suharto's
downfall, informing its citizens of a change of
government in Jakarta
amid the Asian financial crisis without discussing
the role of
protests or of misrule.
Reuters news agency said that Beijing's reticence
about ethnic
Chinese caught up in the Indonesian turmoil stems
from complicated
factors, including China's rejection of foreign
criticism of its
handling of protests and ethnic troubles as well as
memories of
anti-Chinese rioting in Indonesia in the 1960s that
resulted in tens
of thousands of deaths.
In KUALA LUMPUR, the Federation of Chinese
Associations of
Malaysia announced that it would submit a petition to
the Indonesian
embassy here to protest against the rapes of the
ethnic Chinese
women.
It said in a notice that its women's branch would
file the petition
within two or three days, Lianhe Zaobao reported
yesterday. The
petition would contain signatures collected by the 13
women's
groups affiliated to the federation.
Denouncing the rapes as "unacceptable in a civilised
and democratic
society", the federation said recent reports had
indicated that the
rapes were planned and engineered, with the rapists
being trained and
given stimulants, and rewarded financially after the
acts.
It expressed regret that the Indonesian authorities
did not stop the
inhumane acts in time and urged the Indonesian
government to take a
serious view of the matter.
It called for severe punishment to be meted out to
the rapists and
the masterminds behind the whole operation, and for
action to ensure
the safety of ethnic Chinese Indonesians.