By Keith B. Richburg
Washington Post Foreign Service
Sunday, November 15, 1998; Page A41

JAKARTA, Indonesia, Nov. 14—Metal grates were ripped from storefronts, cars set ablaze and plumes of thick black smoke again could be seen over the capital today as a massive student-led "people power" movement at the gates of parliament gave way to scattered rioting and looting in other parts of the city.

Indonesia's embattled President B.J. Habibie held an emergency meeting with his armed forces commander, Gen. Wiranto, and later said he had ordered the military to end the lawlessness. Habibie warned that the student movement, which is pushing for more democratization and sweeping political reform, was being infiltrated by other elements bent on toppling his fragile six-month-old government.

Although somewhat smaller in scale, today's rioting was similar to the violent Jakarta-wide upheaval on May 14 that left more than 1,000 people dead. Even the spark that set off the unrest seemed eerily familiar -- last time, it was the military's shooting deaths of four students at Trisakti University, and this time it was the killing of at least five students and two other demonstrators at Atma Jaya University during a harsh crackdown on democracy demonstrations Friday night.

And today, as with the May violence, the ethnic Chinese community was the main target, with shops in the Chinatown district looted and set ablaze.

A mob dragged an ethnic Chinese merchant from his shop and threw him into the muddy waters of a nearby canal; he was rescued by troops. A Chinese-owned bank was set afire and gutted, and thousands of looters pulled metal grates off storefronts and were seen hauling away automobile parts, clothing, food and even motorcycles.

Troops stationed at intersections in Chinatown made periodic sweeps down the side streets, but made no obvious attempt to stop the looting. Some Chinese shopkeepers were seen standing in front of their stores with sharpened metal poles to fend off looters.

Away from Chinatown, a shopping center near the prestigious Borobudur Hotel was looted and set on fire; a police station was attacked by a stone-throwing mob, and police fired rubber bullets in response. An unconfirmed report said one policeman was beaten to death. An army truck and some cars and motorcycles were set on fire, and a mob torched military tents near the presidential palace.

The main road between the city and the international airport was closed, and some cars were reportedly attacked by stone-throwing youths.

Even as Habibie took a stern posture with the rioters, it was clear that Indonesia's unfinished May revolution, which brought down the 32-year regime of President Suharto, now risked sweeping away the former leader's handpicked successor. It was chaos in the streets last May that prompted the military and other longtime loyalists to break ranks and tell Suharto to go. And now many are openly questioning whether Habibie, who lacks a firm power base, can hold on until next year's elections.

Some opposition figures are already calling for Habibie to announce that he will be a transitional leader, and not a candidate for a five-year presidential term, as one way of defusing the growing violence. Some think he should broaden his cabinet, which now includes several holdovers from the Suharto government, and bring in some popular opposition leaders.

"No one can control the situation," said Subagio Anam, an aide to opposition leader Megawati Sukarnoputri. "We can't solve the problem until we have a dialogue. We want a compromise where Habibie will remain the president, but he has to reshuffle the cabinet."

But at the gates of parliament, where tens of thousands of anti-government protesters converged, it was clear that the students who have been leading the democratization drive and setting the agenda for reform see Habibie as part of the old order, who must be removed for their revolution to be complete.

"The people don't accept Habibie," said Adam, a a 20-year-old senior at a government accounting school. "Indonesian people say Habibie is the godchild of Suharto."

"We want Habibie to go," said Nina, 19, a freshman at the University of Indonesia, who showed up wearing her bright yellow school blazer, sunglasses and a towel around her head to ward off the scorching sun. Asked who should occupy the presidency if Habibie were to resign, she replied: "It has to be empty first -- but only for a little while." She said new elections should choose a president acceptable to the people.

But while there was broad agreement among the students that Habibie step aside immediately, there was little consensus on who should replace him. Some mentioned Emil Salim, a respected former cabinet member who became a critic of Suharto. Others mentioned Amien Rais, the Muslim academic who moved to the forefront of the student movement last spring. A few people in the crowd sported T-shirts for Sukarnoputri, the daughter of Indonesia's first president, Sukarno.

Adam, from the accounting school, said, "I like Megawati, but in Indonesia, we have a culture where the leader should be a man."

Others said they oppose Sukarnoputri. "I don't like Megawati," said Arry, a freshman at the University of Indonesia. "She rose up when the reform movement was already completed. She didn't do anything."

The students swarmed to the parliament today at the head of a massive "people power" movement that seemed to encompass not just students but middle-class office workers and the swelling ranks of the urban unemployed. The students tried to maintain order in their demonstration, but were at times overwhelmed by the unemployed young people more intent on picking pockets and stealing mobile telephones from journalists than advocating political reform.

Police and soldiers, who throughout the week fought pitched battles against the students to keep them from reaching the parliament while a special meeting on democratization was underway, today offered no resistance as the throng marched to the parliament gates. The assembly session ended late Friday, and the grounds were deserted, so the protest was largely symbolic.

A contingent of marines in their distinctive red berets led the largest group of marchers down the wide boulevard to their destination. Unlike other elements of the armed forces -- the riot police and the army -- the marines are widely respected, and have a reputation for never having turned their weapons on civilians. They led today's marchers with their automatic weapons slung across their backs and were greeted with chants of "Long live the marines!"

Some observers said the presence of the marines at the front of an anti-government march presaged a possible split in the armed forces ranks. A similar fissure appeared in May, when marines led marchers through the streets and stood between demonstrators and riot police. That apparent split was one factor that analysts said may have persuaded the armed forces leadership to break with Suharto as a way to preserve military unity.

One who has come under sharp criticism, from students, opposition leaders and others, is Wiranto, the armed forces commander who also serves as defense minister. Once viewed as a reformer, he is now widely reviled after his troops shot and killed at least seven people and wounded more than 100 in Friday's bloodshed.

At the emotionally charged funeral today of one student, young mourners shouted "Hang Wiranto!" Also today, Rais and an ad hoc group of intellectuals and journalists called on Wiranto to resign or be replaced.

And in the western port city of Medan, about 5,000 students occupied the airport for several hours, demanding to be flown to Jakarta to join the protests. The siege ended peacefully.