This is the English version, translated by me from the original Indonesian version.

Please click here for the Indonesian version.

Hello fellow interneters, yesterday I had the chance to meet up with one of my friend’s relatives, who incidentally also was one of the victims of the May 14th riot in Indonesia. At that time, she was living in an apartment in Pluit.

Name : Vivian (not her real name but a pseudonym)
Age : 18 years old.
Sex : Female.

She has a younger sister and brother, and her whole family lives in this apartment. About 9.15 am on the fateful morning of May 14th the whole apartment was surrounded by what it seems to be a mob which consisted of hundreds of people, they looked absolutely frightening as accounted by Vivian. They were shouting and screaming like they were possessed and they spouted words like "Let’s whack the chinese!" "Let’s eat pork!", "Let’s have a party! It’s the festive season!"

Vivian tells her horrific experience,….

"At that moment, we were telephoned by a family that was staying on the third floor that the mob had already ascended to the second floor and there were already some residents who were hurrying up the stairs to avoid the crowd. As a result of the call, we panicked but managed to utter a quick prayer to God, asking for His protection.

"Straight after, we rushed to the fifteenth floor and wating to took refuge there, in one of the family friend’s lot. There was no way we could head downstairs as the stairwells were crowded with the angry mob. As soon as we reached the door of the family friend, the lift doors open and a small part of the crowd entered the floor from the lift. We then rushed into the family friend’s lot and quickly locked the door.

"While we were in the room, we felt very nervous and we were able to hear the doors of other apartment lots being knocked on very loudly. Hysterical screaming and pleading from the rooms can also be heard from the mothers and the daughters who live nearby. While hiding anxiously in the rooms we could hear more screaming of girls who can’t be more than 10 or 12 years of age, screaming "Mommy, mommy, … it hurts!!! Mommy!…" At that second I did not really knew what was their fate.

"After half an hour, the whole situation started to subside and quieten down, we gathered up enough courage and decided to go out to take a look. What we saw was unthinkable, and cannot be described with mere words, we saw many people sprawled on the floor, there were also little children, mostly girls who were sprawled together with the mess, their clothes torn and most of them were naked. They were groaning and crying, whimpering pitifully…. I thought, God what happened here…! My little sister Veny could not handle the sight and start to scream hysterically, while hugging my father. I too, cried while witnessing this scene. At that time, my family and the family friend who consisted of Vera and Dodi who just wed, then took the staircase down to level 10, as we heard several cries for help.

"The cries for help were very clearly heard, we went into the level to take a look. But the moment we turned the corner, we saw a crowd about 60 strong, and with my own eyes I had to watch a girl who was around 20 years old being ravaged by 4 males. She tried to struggle but was held down by strong hands. Upon seeing the incident we ran as quickly as our legs could possibly carry us. Unfortunately, Veny was captured by the crowd as we tried to flee.

"Mother, father and I then tried to rescue Veny, but in trying that we too were captured and tied up using torn bed sheets and was escorted into a room. Dodi at that point asked them what they wanted, but they did not answer they looked cruel and evil. One of them then dragged Veny in a very rough manner and pushed her onto a nearby sofa, at that moment I knew that Veny was in great danger. I tried to scream as loudly as I could, then, one of them responded by slapping me. As a result of my outburst, my dad who was also shouting at them was beaten up with a stick until he fainted. As for my mother, she had already fainted when she saw Veny being dragged to the sofa. I could only watch and pray that what happened to the people outside would not happen to us.

"Uncle Dodi then tried to persuade them to leave us unharmed by offering money as replacement but his efforts were in vain. Veny, suffered at their hands, she was gang raped by 5 men, what I saw, I want to forget, but it has scarred me for life. Everyone who started the session would cry out whole heartedly, "Allahu Akhbar!" which is translated from Arabic into "Glory for Allah!" They were sadistic and were animals, there was no doubt they were inhuman in nature.

"No long after, 9 more men came into the room and dragged me, I managed to see Aunty Vea being dragged away too. At that moment, I fainted and did not know what happened. I awakened about half an hour later stark naked. At that time I cried with an undescribable feeling of depression and disappointment in my heart, my whole family was still there, and I saw fom the corner of my eye, my father hugging both my mother and Uncle Dodi who was sprawled on the floor with Aunty Vera crying over him. I couldn’t muster the strength to stand up, I finally gave up fighting and fell fast asleep.

"On the morrow, I found myself in a ward at the Pluit Hospital, my whole self wrecking with pain. My mother and father was at my side, and I asked "Mother, why Vinny??" I felt so much anguish in me as I uttered those words, my cheek felt swollen, my mother did not answer me, she couldn’t and just cried, my father managed a smile but it was clear from his expression that he was fighting very hard to hold back tears. After 4 days in hospital, I was discharged after my condition improved. My father with a very sad and depressed manner told me what had happened after I passed out.

"He told me that after I fainted, I was gang raped by 7 people, at that point of time, he couild not have seen things very clearly as he was still disorientated from being hit by the men. They raped me by turning me over and hanging me out across the barrier. After that, he said, "Vin, Veny has gone." At that time I was dumbstruck and cried immediately. "But why?" I asked through my tears, father did not answer me, he just told me to rest and he went out of the room. I cried with the conviction that life no longer holds any meaning to me.

"After all that have happened and about a week I have returned from the hospital, I went over to my cousins place and I was told what happened. At the second when they tried to rape Veny, she fought them, and because of her fighting she was hit again and again by the animals. She then spat at one of the men, the man must have felt quite insulted at being spat at. He then took a knife I do not know what knife he used and lunged into Veny’s stomach, with a hatred not unlike an animal he repeated stabbed into Veny. With blood all over her, she gave up her fight for life and exhaled her last dying breath.

"I went into a state of shock from hearing that account, and I was then told that Uncle Dodi suffered the same fate as Veny, killed in the same manner, while witnessing his new bride being force raped by several men. I ask God, "Why must this happen??" At this moment, Aunty Vera is now staying with her relatives and according to her sister, she is still traumatised from the experience and refused to eat and only knowing to grieve over her loss. My mother and myself till this day, still cry almost every time when we think about the incident. We will can allow ourselves to forget what happened nor can we truly try to forget our experience. To us, to me and to my family, the crowd was not of humans, but of animals who do not know the meaning of being human.

Some words from the person who conducted the interview:

Internetters, at the moment she was accounting her experience, a lot of things she could not bring herself to mention, and throughout it all, her tears just flowed uninhibited. A few of my other friends who shared the same fate also confirmed that the crowd will always cry out "Allahu Akhbar!" Just before they commit the unthinkable.

Do they regard what they did as jihad (Holy War)? Dear "holy" men, in your religion you are the majority, and people who are of good and love and who another in your religion are the minority. How about the Christians, the Buddhists and Hindus, where their religion is obviously the minority. As a teaching to Muslims we respect your religion as well as we respect ours. Your religion is a good religion but the teachers of your religion do not teach the values of love and respect. Listen on FM 98.5 or 95.4 if I remember correctly. There they broadcast the khutbah (sermons at Prayers) direct from a mosque in Jakarta. If you have been following the broadcasts there, they will teach you to be vengeful, to be anti-christian, make enemies with the chinese and go against the government. Hey those of you who have gone astray, if you do not preach the values of love and respect one another as well as those from the other religions, you would still would still be classified as the minority but with a quality that is getting worse each day. REMEMBER, if you are the one that taught the bad principles, you will get the worst retribution from God. We do hope you repent your ways.

Thank you very much! People have read this article right here.

If you have any comments on the above issue and would like to email me to put up a column about here so that we can futher discuss it, please email me at mitzrah@cryogen.com and I will get back to you ASAP.

[ Indonesian Original Version | Visit my Home Page ]