“After they attacked the house, they raped, and after that they burnt the house.” In May 1998, ethnic Chinese residents in Indonesia became targets of violence. Murder, rape, looting and arson followed. A women's rights organizer described the attacks to Reuters the following month. “Burn! Burn!” Rocks crashed through Philip Lo's windows. An iron spike punched through his kitchen door. The pastor and his family hid in a locked bedroom for two hours. They survived. Their car was burned and their church ransacked. Elsewhere, a woman jumped from the fourth floor to escape a mob, severely injuring both feet. A father climbed a barbed-wire fence carrying his three-month-old daughter. His hands were torn as he fled men shouting anti-Chinese slogans. Human Rights Watch later interviewed both survivors. Indonesia's currency had collapsed and food prices were soaring. Ethnic Chinese shopkeepers were blamed for shortages and high prices. On 12 May, four students protesting against President Soeharto were shot dead. Chinese-owned shops and homes were looted and burned in the days that followed. More than a thousand people died in the riots, many trapped in burning shopping centers. The dead included Chinese and non-Chinese victims. The government's fact-finding team identified 85 cases of sexual violence, including 52 rapes. Most victims were ethnic Chinese women. Yet in August, armed forces commander Wiranto said: “It is doubtful if any rapes actually took place.” People documenting the assaults received threats against their children. A grenade was left outside the office of a group investigating the rapes. That same month, Jakarta's governor urged Chinese residents to arm themselves against further attacks. He listed “clubs, spears, sabers, scissors.” When the governor told them to find weapons, who could they still count on to protect them?