Hot Time for Tanaka in Indonesia

Jakarta, the sprawling capital of Indonesia, looked at times like a battlefield last week. Fires burned all night as angry mobs attacked stores, businesses, hotels and nightclubs, smashing and gutting hundreds of automobiles as they surged through the stricken city. It was the worst rioting that Jakarta had seen since the anti-Communist disturbances of 1967. The occasion for the violence this time, ironically enough, was neither the threat of externally supported subversion nor the advent of civil war; rather, it was the good-will visit of a friendly foreign leader, Japanese Premier Kakuei Tanaka.

By the time he reached Jakarta on the last stop of his five-nation, eleven-day good-will mission to Southeast Asia, Tanaka had already encountered an embarrassing amount of hostility. His effigy had been burned in Bangkok (TIME, Jan. 21), and on the day of his departure from placid Kuala Lumpur, a handful of activists at the University of Malaysia had staged an auto-da-fe of a puppet labeled Tanaka. But the stop last week at Indonesia was the worst of all.

Ugly Scene. One reason that Tanaka's arrival was delayed 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 by hundreds of tough commando troops and armored cars.

The violence started with the burning of every Japanese automobile within reach of the roaming crowd--100,000 strong at times--and quickly mushroomed into the sacking and setting afire of stores and businesses that sold Japanese products, especially those owned by overseas Chinese. As night fell on the first full day of rioting, the city shook with the crashing of rocks through shop windows, the crackling of flames, the jeering of looting mobs, and the occasional bursts of gunfire as police and troops shot over the heads of the crowds.

Sometimes the violence began almost playfully, as when the mob swarmed over Japanese-made automobiles and deflated their tires. But then the cars were set aflame. A special target was the Astra Toyota agency, where the entire stock of new cars went up in flames, their fuel tanks exploding with an occasional thud.

Perhaps the 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."

The crowd found another target in the President Hotel, operated by Japan Air Lines. Watching from their windows, Japanese guests were understandably shaken as security forces hurled back wave after wave of rioters. On one occasion, an enormous crowd advanced toward the nearby square but was finally dispersed by troops in scout cars.

One young rioter told a Western journalist: "Don't worry, this is not against you. It's against the Japanese." In the opinion of many Indonesians, however, it was not so much an anti-Japanese demonstration as an outpouring of Indonesian grievances. "The Tanaka visit," observed a leading Jakarta editor, "was merely the detonator."

Among the feelings it detonated were outrage over the corruption of government officials and the ostentatious life-style of the rich generals. The students resent the special privileges held by the Chinese residents, who work harder and live better than most native Indonesians. They are also angry that the nation's new-found wealth (derived from oil, which during the past year has jumped in price from $4 per bbl. to $10.80) has not bettered the lives of the Indonesian masses, whose per capita income is only $95 per year. In addition, the rioting obviously reflected a general dislike of the country's growing number of Japanese businessmen, who often strike Indonesians as ruthless, arrogant and aloof. "Is it really necessary," asks one official mildly, "for them to have Japanese barbershops here?"

More Mixing. While riots raged around them, Premier Tanaka and President Suharto went through the motions of a formal meeting, assuring each other of their intention to "further strengthen the friendship and cooperation between the two countries." More specifically, they discussed their $2 billion-per-year trade. When Suharto asked for a firm commitment of 500,000 tons of artificial fertilizer, Tanaka hinted that this would depend on how much Indonesian oil Japan could expect (out of the 1.4 million bbl. that Indonesia currently produces per day). Such trade is essential to both countries, and details of the barter were left up to experts to settle.

Suharto assured Tanaka that his government continued to welcome Japanese investment. But he gently implied that the Japanese would do well to try to mix a little more with the local people, work a little less hard and maintain a somewhat lower profile; Tanaka agreed. For his part, Tanaka gave his blessing to two huge Japanese enterprises planned in Indonesia: a $700 million natural-gas project in East Kalimantan and North Sumatra, and the $500 million Asahan hydroelectric power and aluminum smelter development. He emphasized that Japan would continue to provide Indonesia with one-third of the $600 million in aid supplied by a consortium composed of Japan, the U.S. and Western Europe.

Perfect Harmony. While riots 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."

Taking no chances on the final day of the visit the Indonesians prudently whisked their honored guest to the airport by helicopter. Back home in Tokyo, Tanaka told a press conference that the Japanese must try "to erase the causes for such demonstrations," adding: "My greatest impression was that there was a need for a much greater cooperative effort by these countries."

"The exercise may not have generated much good will," concluded TIME Correspondent Herman Nickel, "but at least it has focused attention on Japan's problems with the rest of Asia. If it gets the Japanese public to thinking of Southeast Asia in terms of more than just exports and resources, the whole bumpy ride may have been worth it."

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