ABSTRACT
I was staying in a rented room in a private home near Nusa Dua, one of the tourist magnets of southern Bali abounding with luxury hotels, when on the 20th October 1999, people kindly asked me to stay inside my room and not go anywhere, due to a sudden outbreak of rioting. By the end of the following day I was able to leave my room, and went on one of the many public mini-buses heading for Denpasar. As I was looking out the bus window I quickly sensed that something had changed dramatically: all the trees in a long, beautiful avenue, running from the tourist area and several kilometres towards Denpasar were gone. As part of what was to become known as the ‘Mass Amuk’, business interests of the Suharto family (one of his sons owned at least two of the biggest hotels around Nusa Dua) were attacked in a burst of public outrage. This was sparked by Megawati Sukarnoputra, who had family relations in Bali and was the daughter of the former president Sukarno, and who had failed (that time) to be elected president.
