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【  Story that's remind us-Chinese  】原載於《牧笛》2000年6月17日
  五月十三至十五日，居住在印尼的華人被暴徒侵襲的一個真實事件的記載
My name is Vivian, and I am 18 years old. I have a little sister and brother. As a family we live in what is supposed to be a secure apartment. At 9.15 am, May 14th, 1999 a huge crowd had gathered around our apartment. They screamed, "Butcher the Chinese! Let's eat pigs! Lets have a party!" We live of the 7th floor and we got a call from a Family on the 3rd floor saying that the crowd had reached the 2nd floor. They even chased some occupants upstairs. We were all very frightened. In our fright we prayed and left everything in God's hands. Afterward we left our room and went upstairs to the top floor, as it was impossible to go downstairs and escape. We got to the 15th floor and stayed with some friends. Not long afterwards we were surprised because some of The crowd coming out of the elevators right before we entered the room. We hurried into the room and locked the door tightly.

At that time we heard them knock at the other rooms loudly and there were some screams from women and girls. Our room was filled with fear. We realized they could come to us. So we spread throughout the room hiding in the corners. We could hear girls of 10 to 12 years screaming, "Mommy, mommy... mom...mom...it hurts." That time I didn't know that these little girls were being raped.

After about half an hour the noise diminished and we had some guts to go out and check. It was indescribable. A lot, some of them young girls, were lying on the floor. Oh my God, what has happened? Seeing all of this we screamed and little sister Fenny, screamed histerically and hugged her father. Tears started coming down from my eyes. With our friends, a newly-wed couple, we started going downstairs. Reaching the 10th floor, we heard a scream for help. The scream was very clear and we decided to go down and see. But as we turned we saw a lot of people. I saw a woman in her 20s being raped by 4 men. She tried to fight back but she was held down tightly.

Realizing the danger we ran as hard as we could. But unfortunately the mob caught Fenny. We tried to rescue her, but could not do anything. There were about 60 of them. They tied us up with ripped sheets, myself, my father, my mother Fenny, Donny, Uncle Dodi and my Aunt Vera. They led us to a room. Uncle Dodi asked what they wanted, but they did not reply. They looked evil and savage. One of them grabbed Fenny roughly and dragged her to a sofa. At that time I knew she was in great danger. I screamed loudly but one of the mob slapped me in my face. My father who also screamed was hit with a piece of wood and he fainted.

My mother has fainted when Fenny was dragged to the sofa. I could only pray and pray that disaster would not befall us. Uncle Dodi kept trying to stop them by offering money. His efforts were fruitless. And in the end 5 people raped Fenny. Before beginning with the raping they always said Allahu Akbar! (an islamic phrase in arabic meaning God is great!) They were ferocius and brutal. Not long afterward, around 9 men came to the room and dragged me. I also saw them forcing and dragging my Aunt Vera. But at that time I passed out and everything blank. I became conscious at around 5 or 6pm. My head was hurting and I realized I had no clothing on my body. I cried and realized my family was still there. My father was hugging my mother and little brother Doni. I also saw uncle Dodi lying on the floor and Aunt Vera was crying over his body. I felt so weak and fainted again.

The next day I was in the Pluit hospital. My father and mother were beside me. With all the pains on my body I asked, "Mom, where is Fenny? Mom?" I felt a stinging pain as I said these words. My cheeks were swollen. My mother cried again and couldnt speak any words, while my father, holding back his tears, managed to smile at me. After 4 days in treatment, my condition has improved. With a sad look, my father told me then what had happened. After I fainted 7 people raped me. At that time my father still couldn't see well after being hit with a piece of wood. They raped me repeatedly. Then my father said "Vivian, Fenny is gone..."I was confused and cried out, "Why Dad?" My father couldn't answer. He told me to rest and went out of the room. I cried over and over again, feeling that my life had no meaning any more.

A week ago, after I was released from the hospital I was told Everything that had happened. When Fenny was raped she kept on fighting and so she was repeatedly slapped by her rapists. The last time she fought Fenny spitted on one of them. Offended, the man grabbed a knife and stabbed Fenny's stomach over and over again. Finally she died with blood over her whole body. My father told me that uncle Dodi had the same fate watched by Aunt Vera who was also raped. My aunt Vera now stays with her parents. She is in shock. Her face is blank and refuses to eat.

Almost every hour my mother and I cry over all these happenings. I can never forget. These mobs of people are uncivilized monsters. The scariest part about all these is that most of the girls and women were raped by soldiers, whose jobs were to control the chaos. Some were raped by commoners, the rest by demonstraters (most of whom are university students).

Most of the victims were raped by a minimum of 3 men. The victims ages ranged from 10 to 55. Most of the victims were raped in front of friends or family. Some were thrown into burning buildings after being raped (these were often witnessed by family and friends). Most them committed suicide. The rest of the surviving victims are divided into these sections, admitted into mental institutions, fear of public places, fear of anyone male, did not report to authorities. The list goes on and on.

Please forward this Yellow Ribbon to all friends around the world to show our soladirity and sympathy for the victims of the riots and chaos in Indonesia last May 13-15. Let us all remember them in our prayers. Because of their race, many Chinese Indonesian were abused, tortured and killed. Their houses and stores were looted and burnt.

Hundreds of Chinese Indonesian girls/women(aged 10-55) were sexually harassed and gang raped brutally. Some victims were even raped in front of their family members or in front of inhuman cheering crowd. Some of them were even thrown into the fire and burnt to death after being raped. Yet, not many actions seem to have been taken to investigate all this or to help the victims. And not every many people seem to know or care about what happened. Please pass this ribbon around as the symbol of campaign agai.
A reflection to respond to: the Story that's remind us-Chinese    《Francis & Rosita》

This is indeed a touching ribbon of the history of mankind.... Our brothers did abuse their rights. But then who is strong and who is weak? Who can sleep well after these happenings? Newton gave us his answer. His 3rd law tells us there is always an action and reaction. The law of universe applies. The Lord and the Church have also defined those die for the sake of justice would inherit the Kingdom of God and become martyrs in the history of the Church, named or unnamed. While the bad images will certainly leave with all victims of rapes, I do not see how the rapers can live in peace for the rest of their lives. The time when they get married and have sex again for the good cause. The shadow and the confusion of minds will definitely ruin their sex lives every time they do it again. This is human. And when he has his loved ones, i.e. daughters or daughter-in-laws, he will always have the fear and guilt in his hearts that his loved ones will run into similar fate as the victims that he created in history.

Unless he asks for forgiveness and repent, his conscience will remind him of being also a victim of human weakness. So, who is strong and who is weak? Only love can make us strong. If we hate, the scar will only go deeper and hurt more instead of feeling comforted. That's the power of God; and the power of love. God is love. Love will make us forgive -- as exemplified by Jesus Himself on the Cross. He was crucified and died for us. But He overcome death -- the result of human weaknesses.

And He gives us strength from the Holy Spirit residing in us. The Holy Spirit is the source of all holiness and love. God has loved us unconditionally and He patiently waits for our response. God has never forced anyone to do everything. He only loves and guides us. That's the mystery and wonder of God. He is love. In love, we become united and in communion with God and with all others in Him. He never counts our weaknesses and mistakes.

Like the father of the prodigal son, He keeps waiting to cloth us with the best and celebrate our return. Nothing can hurt Him more than not allowing Him to love us. This is what is told by Jesus as the greatest sin against the Holy Spirit, i.e. to refuse to accept and deny the love of God. There are many mishaps in the world -- injustice, unfairness, dishonesty, indulgence, .... But then, the Holy Spirit as St Paul tells us bestows just the opposite with justice, fairness, honesty, and above all love.

Love does make the world prettier. Love is without time and space constraints. Love will create lives--passing on the best genes under the laws of nature as told by people like See (biologist, genetic experts, ...). Science tells us only good things are passed on. The missing of some genes is what some social scientists tell us as the influence to criminal behaviours. Yet, nobody can confirm and deny free will. These criminal behaviours are not destined. That is why and what the behavioral scientists are working on -- to correct and influence them to behave normally.

Notice the effort is to become normal. That is what creation is all about. Creation is meant to be normal. In Genesis, each day when God has finished something. He looks at it and tells Himself Good! Creation is meant to be beautiful and good. That's our hope and that's our salvation. Only love can change things better and definitely not otherwise. Life is worth-living as its root scientifically is proved to be evolving toward the better -- the Omega point... God! That's how God reveals Himself to us in modern time. All knowledge is from God. The only purpose of living is to let Him love us and return His love and above all things!
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