Indonesian minister faces backlash after calling 1998 mass rape a ‘rumour’

JAKARTA – Indonesian Cultural Affairs Minister Fadli Zon, already under fire for his initiative to rewrite Indonesia’s history, is facing renewed public backlash for downplaying the well-documented mass rape of Indonesians of Chinese descent during the May 1998 protests and riots that led to the fall of then President Suharto.

In a June 11 podcast, Mr Fadli dismissed the rapes as mere rumours, claiming that there has never been any evidence to support the allegations – comments that triggered painful memories of the deadly chaos that engulfed Jakarta and elsewhere.

Criticism lit up social media, with responses coming from prominent human rights activists and a former police general.

“Has Fadli Zon never read about the mass rape in the 1998 riots or does he actually know of the incidents but chooses to be in denial?” user @bangjerrrr from Indonesia wrote on social media platform X.

The controversy also raises questions about the political motivations for Mr Fadli’s remarks and the

project to revise Indonesian history

to produce an “official” history book. There are also concerns that it is an attempt to downplay politically sensitive episodes in the nation’s past.

The 1998 events have also dogged President Prabowo Subianto for years. He is a former Commandant General of Kopassus (Special Forces Command) and has been accused of being involved in the abduction of activists and orchestrating the 1998 riots, accusations he has repeatedly denied.

He is also Mr Suharto’s former son-in-law. Mr Prabowo married Ms Siti Hediati Hariyadi, a daughter of Mr Suharto, in 1983. They divorced in 1998.

Mr Usman Hamid, executive director of Amnesty International Indonesia, cited findings from a government-commissioned fact-finding team that confirmed the mass rape happened, noting that the team’s report prompted then President B.J. Habibie to acknowledge and express regret in his first speech before Parliament in August 1998.

Mr Usman called Mr Fadli’s remarks “a fatal mistake” and “an arrogant denial against a fact the mass rapes occurred”, arguing that such facts cannot be categorised as rumours because they were confirmed by a report from an authoritative party.

“The report was done by a joint fact-finding task force consisting of various ministries, including the Defence Ministry, Justice Affairs Ministry and the attorney-general’s office that was formed by then President Habibie,” Mr Usman said, referring to the Tim Gabungan Pencari Fakta task force.

The task force recorded 52 cases of rape, 14 cases of rape and assault, 10 cases of attacks and sexual assault, and nine cases of sexual abuse.

But it stressed that this does not represent the full number of actual victims because the report was based on the testimonies of victims who were willing to come forward between May and July 3, 1998.

“The majority of the rape cases were gang rapes... And most of the rapes were done while other people were watching,” the report said.

Former national police chief Oegroseno, whose name has only one word, also condemned the minister.

“Fadli Zon, if you don’t know the situation on the ground in 1998, you shouldn’t talk too much. The people who were victims feel hurt by your statement,” the retired three-star police general wrote in an Instagram post on June 17.

In his 1998, speech that cited the report, Mr Habibie said: “The looting and burning of shopping centres and residential homes were even accompanied by acts of violence and sexual abuse against women, particularly those from the ethnic Chinese community.”

“All of these irresponsible criminal acts are very shameful and have tarnished our reputation as a civilised and religious nation; we condemn such barbarity,” he added.

Mr Fadli was a noted student activist who opposed Mr Suharto’s authoritarianism and played a key role in organising street rallies at the time.

Scores of Mr Prabowo’s inner circle – those who supported his presidential campaigns and are currently serving in the Cabinet – were among the 1998 pro-reform student leaders who boldly went against Mr Suharto.

Political analysts Burhanuddin Muhtadi and Adi Prayitno, quoted by local media, have considered Mr Prabowo’s recruitment of pro-reform activists as a political strategy to try to convince voters that he has reformed and to expand his constituency base.

Other 1998 pro-reform activists include Mr Budiman Sudjatmiko, who is head of the poverty eradication agency; Mr Immanuel Ebenezer Gerungan, who is Deputy Manpower Minister; and Mr Nezar Patria, who is Deputy Communication and Digital Affairs Minister. Mr Nezar was reported to be among the abductees who managed to return home in 1998.

Responding to the mounting criticism, Mr Fadli said on June 16: “Various criminal acts occurred amid the May 13 and 14, 1998 riots, including acts of sexual violence. However, with regard to mass rapes, caution is needed as data on the incident has never been conclusive.”

He said he does not interfere in the rewriting of Indonesian history, stressing that he has left it entirely to the historians to do this and to complete the rewriting project.

Indonesian Chinese descendant Pauline Irawati, 55, a retiree, sees Mr Fadli’s motive as an attempted cover-up for Mr Prabowo.

“What Fadli Zon said is otherwise incomprehensible,” she told The Straits Times.

Mr Prabowo’s alleged role in human rights violations in 1998, East Timor and elsewhere has dogged his political career. He was once banned by the US for rights violations.

Ms Pauline remembers the violent gangs that hunted the Chinese in 1998. She managed to evade the mobs on May 14 as she took a 2½-hour journey from her colleague’s home in Karawaci, a Jakarta satellite town, to her home in Cengkareng, West Jakarta.

Her office sent staff home early the day before and being the only Chinese in the office, she decided to spend the night at a colleague’s home near the office before making the trip home in a public minivan.

“On the way home, we were stopped a few times by mobs who asked, ‘Are there Chinese on board?’ I was the only Chinese there. I kept my head down to avoid being noticed,” Ms Pauline recalled, adding that other passengers protected her by always saying there were no Chinese on board.

While Mr Fadli has promised that he will not interfere in the work of historians revising the nation’s history, Mr Bambang Wuryanto, an MP from the opposition Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle, is not so sure.

He said in Parliament on June 17 that subjectivity in the history rewriting project initiated by Mr Fadli, a senior politician of the ruling party Gerindra, would definitely play a part in the process.

Parliament’s education and culture committee member Bonnie Triyana said on June 18 that Parliament will invite Mr Fadli to a House hearing to explain the history rewriting project.

“Don’t rewrite history using a power-driven approach, and don’t be selective and partial based on political interest. If that’s so, It’s better to stop the programme altogether,” he said.