Action needed to ease tension in W. Kalimantan<\/p>\n
At least 12 Madurese were killed in a week of sporadic clashes
\nthat erupted on Feb. 21 between Madurese and Malays in villages
\nin Sambas regency, West Kalimantan. Earlier, three Malays were
\nkilled in an attack by the Madurese. The resentment between the
\nso-called \"migrant\" Madurese and the \"indigenous\" Malays, Dayaks
\nand Chinese, is long standing. The Jakarta Post reporter Sugianto
\nTandra visited these areas early March.<\/p>\n
SAMBAS, West Kalimantan (JP): Prengki, a 27-year-old Malay
\nfisherman, is confident his father died as a martyr when a group
\nof Madurese attacked their village of Parit Setia in Jawai
\nsubdistrict.<\/p>\n
As a Muslim, he believes the reward for a martyr is heaven.<\/p>\n
Wasli died on Jan. 19, which coincided with the first day of
\nthe Muslim holiday of Idul Fitri, celebrated after a month of
\nfasting. Two other Malay villagers died with Wasli in the attack
\nthat lasted for less than 20 minutes.<\/p>\n
Most of the around 200 attackers were from the predominantly
\nMadurese Rambaian village in Tebas subdistrict, some 20
\nkilometers away.<\/p>\n
Prengki said his family were having their Idul Fitri meals
\nwhen they were told the machete-wielding Madurese had descended
\nupon their village. Wasli and his friends were killed when they
\ntried to stop the attackers from advancing.<\/p>\n
Prengki, who has only an elementary school education, is now
\nalone in earning a living for his 42-year-old mother and three
\nyounger brothers. But he said he held no grudge against those who
\nkilled his father.<\/p>\n
\"But this should be enough. No more blood should be shed,\" he
\navers.<\/p>\n
Police explained the Rambaian villagers went on a rampage to
\nParit Setia after they found out that three of their own had been
\nbeaten up by Malays for attempted robbery.<\/p>\n
After the death of Wasli and his fellow villagers, villagers
\nin Rambaian offered to make peace, which the Parit Setia people
\naccepted.<\/p>\n
Tension, however, remained. Clashes broke out intermittently
\nin the subdistricts of Tebas, Jawai and Pemangkas on Feb. 21
\nafter a Madurese stabbed and seriously wounded a Malay public
\ntransportation driver.<\/p>\n
Rumor has it that the Madurese refused to pay for the service.
\nBut when the Malay glowered at him, he unsheathed his dagger and
\nstabbed the driver.<\/p>\n
With injuries to his abdomen, the driver returned home. Fellow
\nMalays then waged attacks on any Madurese they encountered in the
\nsurrounding area.<\/p>\n
Police found the bodies of 12 Madurese over the week, some
\ndecapitated and with their hands chopped off, in the three
\nsubdistricts.<\/p>\n
At least 65 houses, including some belonging to Malays, were
\ntorched. Over 100 Madurese -- mostly children and women -- fled
\nto the Sambas police precinct for shelter.<\/p>\n
Over 100 police mobile brigade personnel with troopers backing
\nthem secured Rambaian. Inhabited by over 3,000 Madurese, the
\nvillage is the biggest Madurese enclave in Sambas.<\/p>\n
Madurese, however, are a minority in Sambas which has a
\npopulation of 800,000 people, with Dayaks and Malays being the
\ndominant ethnic groups and Chinese-Indonesians the third largest
\nwith 19 percent of the total population.<\/p>\n
West Kalimantan Police chief Col. Chaerul Rasjidi conceded the
\nunsolved murders in Parit Setia added fuel to ethnic tensions.
\nLocal leaders have expressed concern that it would take the
\ncommunity a long time to bind their wounds.<\/p>\n
Muslim<\/p>\n
Many local leaders were baffled why there was so much tension
\nas both ethnic groups are Muslim.<\/p>\n
\"Why? We are of the same Aqidah (faith),\" said Muslimin, a
\nlocal Madurese councilor in the Sambas legislature.<\/p>\n
In the early 1997, Madurese also clashed with the native
\nDayaks. At least 300 Madurese were killed and thousands forced to
\nreturn to their original island of Madura off the coast of East
\nJava.<\/p>\n
Prejudice is certainly always present in ethnic tensions. The
\nChinese, the Dayaks, and the Malays all complained the Madurese
\nwere hot-blooded and quick to resort to violence to settle petty
\nproblems.<\/p>\n
Sambas Dayak elder I. Libertus Ahie said in Singkawang there
\nwas a saying among non-Madurese people that \"our livestock are
\nours when they are young, but theirs (Madurese) when mature.\"<\/p>\n
Malay driver Hermansyah, 35, in Singkawang repeated the
\nsentiment. A Chinese Li Cun Li, 43, of Bakau village in Jawai
\nsaid the Madurese there would just abuse them without reason.<\/p>\n
However, Madurese Kasim, 52, of Matang Terap village in Jawai,
\nsaid: \"... no, we are just ordinary people. We also want peace.\"<\/p>\n
Kasim is considered to be an influential community leader.
\nMadurese youths hang out at his house.<\/p>\n
When asked about the stereotyping, Muslimin and Zaenal Abidin,
\nwho is also a United Development Party (PPP) member in the Sambas
\nregency legislature, agreed there were Madurese groups who like
\nto make trouble.<\/p>\n
Zaenal described how there was also a saying \"the Chinese may
\nhave the lemon trees, but it's the Madurese who own the sacks.\"<\/p>\n
\"But that shouldn't be generalized,\" said Zaenal, who is a
\nMadurese born in West Kalimantan.<\/p>\n
\"There are two groups within the Madurese community here, one
\nled by bad guys who gamble and like cock fighting, and those
\nunder the good guys led by kyai or Muslim clerics,\" said
\nMuslimin, who was born in Madura.<\/p>\n
Muslimin suggested the government establish Muslim boarding
\nschools, called Pesantren, to educate youths of both groups so
\nthey may grow up in Islamic ways and be closer to one another.<\/p>\n
Separately interviewed in Pontianak, the capital of West
\nKalimantan, sociologist A.B. Tangdililing of the Tanjungpura
\nUniversity shared the opinion.<\/p>\n
According to Tangdililing -- a Bugis from South Sulawesi --
\ntensions arose because many of the Madurese failed to adjust to
\nthe local culture and retained their carok custom, in which one
\ndefends one's honor with a duel to the death using the
\ntraditional clurit or crescent machete.<\/p>\n
Besides, unlike the Madurese in East Java, there were not
\nenough role models for the community in West Kalimantan, he said.
\nAnother important factor, of course, was the economic crisis
\nwhich has caused people to be angered more easily, he said.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/action-needed-to-ease-tension-in-w-kalimantan-1447893297",
"image": ""
},
"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
"sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
}