Indonesia riots: Jakarta traders pick up the pieces as life slowly returns to normal
- The vice-chairman of a popular textile market estimated traders have lost about US$11.8 million, during a time when shoppers would normally have been out in force stocking up for the Eid ul-Fitr celebration in early June
- But for some Chinese Indonesians in Jakarta, the fear of being caught up in racially-inspired violence remains
Jakarta shopkeeper Ismail ran his kiosk selling instant noodles, eggs and instant coffee for 20 years, until last week when rioters protesting Indonesian President Joko Widodo’s re-election looted it and burned it down.
The kiosk was located on Jalan Wahid Hasyim, next to the Sabang police post, and in one of six hotspots in central and west Jakarta where hundreds, mostly young men, clashed with security forces. They hurled rocks, Molotov cocktails and marbles, and set fires along the street.
Ismail, 68, closed his kiosk, where he usually earned about 1 million rupiah (US$70) a day, as tensions simmered on Tuesday night. The clashes lasted until the early hours of Thursday morning.
On Saturday, while examining the ruins of his kiosk and the torched police post, Ismail estimated he had lost about 20 million rupiah in earnings and goods.
Ismail said he and another trader, whose roadside kiosk was also looted and burned, had received compensation from the government, although authorities have yet to announce a comprehensive plan to help the thousands of traders affected by the riots.