Word: indonesians
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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...dust settle before the heads roll," counsels a Javanese proverb. For several days following the disastrous rioting in the streets of Jakarta that accompanied the visit of Japanese Premier Kakuei Tanaka (TIME, Jan. 28), the Indonesian government of General Suharto reacted hardly at all. Then, barely a week after the disturbances that had left eleven people dead, 807 automobiles gutted and 144 buildings damaged, the government retaliated. It shut down nine newspapers and arrested 775 persons, including 21 of Jakarta's most prominent intellectuals. The government's aim, declared one of the President's personal assistants, General...
...until darkness was the announced intention of student groups to give him a fiery welcome. Ten students broke through the tight cordon and were caught on the airfield just before Tanaka's arrival. A powerful array of riot police and troops in battle dress saw to it that Indonesian President Suharto and his guest arrived on time at the white Dutch-colonial guesthouse in the spacious compound of the President's official residence. At that point hardly anyone could foresee that for the duration of his stay, Tanaka would be a virtual prisoner within this compound, guarded...
...ugliest scene occurred at the Pasar Senen shopping center, where thousands of rioters looted the Chinese-owned stores and stalls and started fires. Seven of the ten known victims of the two-day riots were killed here. The number of dead would have been far greater if the Indonesian police and troops had not held their fire. "It would have been impolite," explained Foreign Minister Adam Malik, "to start shooting while our guests were here...
...flared through the city, Suharto gave a state dinner for Tanaka in the heavily guarded presidential palace. Declared the host: "This meeting and Your Excellency's presence within our midst... may facilitate Your Excellency's wish to become intimate with the current problems and issues of the Indonesian people, their feelings, their hopes." Tanaka answered by expressing his thanks for having been granted the opportunity to "witness at first hand [how] the great people of Indonesia have built a society of perfect harmony...
Such precautions can trigger a kind of terror psychosis. At Rome recently, the pilot of an inbound Indonesian air liner mistakenly signaled an emergency. As soon as the plane landed, it was surrounded by fire trucks and a dozen police Jeeps. Guns ready, police waited for skyjackers to act. Passengers and crew, meanwhile, presumed that something horrendous was happening outside, and they refused to debark. In spite of radio communications between plane and tower, nearly an hour passed before the confusion was cleared up and Fiumicino Airport returned to normal...