Fear stalks fugitives of Jakarta riots

Nightmares, constant fear and unhealed wounds dominate the lives of two Chinese Indonesian women seeking sanctuary in the SAR five months after the May riots.

The two Lam sisters, aged 20 and 25, got out of Indonesia two weeks ago after paying 13 times the official rate for visas.

The women, who would not give their full names, are now with their aunt, Maggie Lam, 55, who lives in Kwun Tong.

The younger sister suffers from dizziness and nausea caused by a severe wound behind her left ear, which is still swollen. She was beaten on the head and fell unconscious as her family tried to resist looters at their Jakarta home.

But she said the emotional scars were perhaps even harder to cure and she was haunted by insomnia and nightmares of rioters' threats to break into her house again and rape her.

'I am scared at the sight of men. I hid behind my aunt whenever I saw a man walking up the street when I first arrived,' the younger sister said.