Tens of thousands of Chinese were murdered in 1965 and 1966 and thousands more fled abroad after a failed coup was blamed on the Communist party, which was closely affiliated with mainland China. Afterwards, however, President Suharto and many of his bureaucrats and entrepreneurial military officers teamed up with Chinese cronies to set up privileged business empires. Now that excessive borrowing by these empires has sent the economy into a tailspin and the combination of rupiah depreciation and drought is driving up prices of food and other basic essentials, the Chinese fear they will be the scapegoats again. Some of the old generation remember what happened in 1966. They know how scary it was.
Some people have moved their families abroad, some hold open plane tickets.
Pogroms against the Chinese could spark an exodus of them and their funds, leaving the economy in ruins, but most intend to see it through. Her family's yacht is on standby in the harbour, ready to sail for the family's private island two hours from Jakarta. But we'll come back. Shop-owners such as Mr Budiono are more vulnerable than the rich Chinese and cannot afford to leave. The economic gap between us and the Javanese is bigger, because this is a poor town.