Bagansiapiapi looks like a dead city. Streets, shops, and even the harbor, usually the busiest part of this fishing port on the Malacca Straits, are all quite deserted. The rhythm of life seems to exist only in traditional markets and on some street corners where soldiers are on guard. The situation looks frightening. Outsiders find it uncomfortable to roam the streets of this, the capital city of Rokan Hilir Regency, Riau.

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