Photo By: Watchdoc Team
On May 13, 2023, the 25th anniversary of the May 1998 Tragedy was held, which is located at Pondok Ranggon Public Cemetery, East Jakarta. The agenda for sowing flowers was carried out to commemorate the victims of the May 1998 tragedy. Pondok Ranggon Public Cemetery is the location where 1,217 bodies of victims of the May 1998 tragedy were buried. Most of the victims were victims of the Yogya Klender Mall fire, where the victim’s bodies could no longer be identified. There is no name on the victim’s tombstone, and it only says “Victims of the May 13-15 1998 Tragedy”.
Maria Sanu is the mother of Stefanus Sanu. Stevanus Sanu was one of the victims of the May 1998 riots. At that time, Stevanus Sanu was 16 years old and died as a victim in the tragedy of mass looting and the Yogya Klender Mall fire. Maria Sanu suspects her child was one of the victims who died in the looting and fire at the Yogya Klender mall and was buried in Pondok Ranggon along with other unknown victims. For this reason, Maria Sanu commemorated her child by praying and scattering flowers at the mass burial of the May 1998 Tragedy victims at Pondok Ranggon public cemetery.
The May 1998 tragedy escalated conflict after the shooting of 4 Trisakti students. Mass looting and arson occurred on 13-15 May 1998. Up to May 15, 1,217 people died in the May 1998 tragedy. Four hundred forty-eight of them were victims of the Klender Mall fire.
The May 1998 tragedy was one of the 12 past gross human rights violations acknowledged by the Jokowi administration. However, the settlement that was carried out was only limited to a non-judicial settlement. Until now, there has been no judicial settlement of the case where the perpetrators of gross human rights violations cannot be held accountable. Justice for the victims and the victims’ families is one of the points that the victims’ families continue to voice until now through the Kamisan action. The Kamisan action is carried out by the victims and families of victims of human rights violations which have been routinely carried out for the last 16 years in front of the state palace.