Visiting Jakarta Gov. Sutiyoso on Tuesday stressed that order has been fully restored to the Indonesian capital following President Suharto's resignation last week.
At a news conference in Tokyo, the governor urged Japanese investors to help Jakarta reconstruct following the riots that brought on Suharto's fall from power. Sutiyoso is in Tokyo to attend an international conference on urban area issues.
"The security of Jakarta has completely recovered, and the lives of citizens are returning to normal," he said. The governor cited two examples of signs of the city's return to business as usual -- traffic jams on the roads and the return of Japanese to the golf courses. "If anything (serious) had happened , I could not have been here before you now," he said at the Tokyo International Forum hall, where he came to attend a discussion session of the U.N.-sponsored conference Eco-Partnership Tokyo.
Apparently fearing that the flight of foreign capital from the city may impede efforts to recover from the current economic crisis, the governor repeatedly asked Japanese investors to aid the city's reconstruction. He said Japan is the largest foreign investor in the capital. "But it will be a long way to reconstruct the city, as many buildings, lives and assets were lost during the rioting," he said.
Sutiyoso said the city is now urging the people to return things looted during the confusion, particularly items taken from rich Chinese residents.