And Paul Lau, general manager of the Greater Blouse, Skirt and Undergarment Association, which represents 540 mainly Chinese-owned shops in the metropolitan area, agrees.

The Black Hawk Malay Secret Society undertook them by setting fires on Chinese-owned shops in Geylang afterwards.

In Jakarta, hundreds of Chinese-owned shops were ransacked and torched.

By 2004, the town had 22 Chinese-owned shops, expanding to 75 by 2006.

He said he had also seen the small painted circles and triangles that have appeared on Chinese-owned shops and homes, ostensibly marking them for arson or looting.

The army sent several thousand fresh troops to Lhokseumauwe, a medium-size industrial city in the province of Aceh, where mobs set on Chinese-owned shops on Monday and Tuesday.

By 9 A.M. the crowd had gathered in the marketplace, burning cars and vandalizing Chinese-owned shops.

But on Thursday it took center stage, as angry mobs looted and burned hundreds of Chinese-owned shops, banks, restaurants, homes and cars.

There is a small shopping centre consisting of a Spar, PEP, Ellerines, Ithala Bank and a petrol garage along with some Chinese-owned shops.

The army sent several thousand fresh troops to Lhokseumauwe, where mobs set fire to Chinese-owned shops on Monday and Tuesday.