The May 1998 riots of Indonesia (), also known in Indonesia as the 1998 tragedy (Tragedi 1998) or simply the 1998 event (Peristiwa 1998), were incidents of mass violence, anti-government demonstrations, and civil unrest in Indonesia in May 1998. The events were mainly in the cities of Medan, Jakarta and Surakarta and also in the province of Central Java. The riots were triggered by corruption, economic problems, including food shortages and mass unemployment. It eventually led to the resignation of President Suharto and the fall of the New Order government, which had been in power for 32 years. The main targets of the violence were ethnic Chinese Indonesians, but most of the casualties were caused by a massive fire and occurred among looters. It was estimated that more than a thousand people died in the riots. At least 168 cases of rape were reported, and material damage was valued at more than Rp3.1 trillion (US$260 million). As of 2010, legal proceedings regarding the riots were stalled and not completed. Background Tension between Chinese Indonesians and Native Indonesians 1997 legislative election On 27 July 1996, soldiers, police, and civilians attacked the headquarters of the Indonesian Democratic Party (, PDI) in Central Jakarta, which was occupied by supporters of party leader Megawati Sukarnoputri, daughter of former President Sukarno. Megawati had been selected as party leader in general congress in December 1993. Her selection, however, was seen as a threat by the New Order government, which suppressed free speech during its 30 years in power. Popular support of Megawati and the PDI was growing leading up to the 1997 legislative election and threatened the dominance of the ruling Golkar party. The government declared Megawati's appointment invalid and organised a new congress in June 1996, during which a new party leader was selected. The attackers said they were acting on behalf of the rightful party leadership. The incident evolved into two days of rioting in Jakarta that the government blamed on the illegal People's Democratic Party (, PRD). Violence continued up to the election on 29 May 1997, which was won by Golkar with 74% of the votes. The divided PDI received only 3% of the votes, while the mostly Muslim United Development Party (, PPP) received 22%. The election was marred by widespread cases of vote-rigging, causing public outcry especially among supporters of the PPP, which had called on the government to follow