JAKARTA was on fire on January 15, 1974. Eleven people were killed, 300 wounded, and 775 arrested. Hundreds of buildings and cars were torched. It was the worst rioting since the fall of Sukarno.

The New Order government charged former leaders of the outlawed Indonesian Socialist Party (PSI) with instigating the rioting. A conspiracy theory was hatched by OPSUS, an intelligence agency headed by Ali Moertopo.

Several PSI or PSI-linked personalit