Avoiding the mistakes of Ambon<\/p>\n
By George J. Aditjondro<\/p>\n
NEWCASTLE, Australia (JP): Indonesia has again been plunged
\ninto a new spate of ethnic violence. Since the first Dayak attack
\non Madurese settlers in the town of Sampit, Central Kalimantan,
\non Feb. 18, at least 400 people have been killed -- mostly
\nMadurese.<\/p>\n
Jakarta's response has, however, been deplorable. After first
\nallowing the police and military to be passive onlookers, with
\nonly the Navy helping tens of thousands of Madurese migrants flee
\nto East Java, Vice President Megawati Soekarnoputri has deployed
\n1,200 officers and soldiers from the 650 Battalion of the
\nStrategic Reserve Command (KOSTRAD) to the troubled province.<\/p>\n
Heavily outnumbered, they have not been able to stop the
\ncarnage, while Dayak vigilantes have occupied the province's
\ncapital, Palangkaraya, in their campaign to cleanse the province
\nof all Madurese migrants.<\/p>\n
Jakarta's uneasiness in dealing with this recent ethnic
\nuprising indicates several points.<\/p>\n
First, it shows how unprepared the National Police is in
\ntaking over the role of maintaining civilian peace and order from
\nthe military, after 30 years of living in its shadow.<\/p>\n
Apart from Jakarta, where the Police's Special Brigade
\n(Brimob) has enough water cannons and tear gas to deal with a
\nmassive uprising, in the outer islands -- especially in Aceh and
\nWest Papua -- Brimob troops have responded with the same brutal
\ntactics as their military counterparts: shoot all troublemakers
\non sight.<\/p>\n
That is, if they are not outnumbered by the troublemakers.<\/p>\n
Second, the military commanders in Jakarta have not learned
\nthe bitter lessons from Ambon in Maluku.<\/p>\n
Sending in Kostrad troops did not help to extinguish the
\nethnic flames in Maluku, but had instead fanned the flames, due
\nto the military doctrine of treating all social unrest as treason
\nand all troublemakers as enemies of the state -- to be
\nexterminated.<\/p>\n
Kostrad troops from Makassar, South Sulawesi, had proven to be
\nnot impartial in the interethnic and interreligious riots in
\nAmbon, and openly sided with the Muslim locals and migrants.<\/p>\n
Third, the central government has not realized the extent of
\nbitterness which the Dayak people, the indigenous people of
\nKalimantan, feel toward those successive governments in
\nmarginalizing them on all fronts.<\/p>\n
Certainly, the massive opening up of Kalimantan to foreign and
\nnational mining, forestry and plantation companies, as well as to
\nplanned and spontaneous migrants from Java and other islands, the
\npoor, traders and laborers, have not benefited the indigenous
\npeople, who have been systematically evicted and alienated from
\ntheir customary lands.<\/p>\n
Then, all existing political parties have not seriously
\naddressed Dayak concerns or included Dayak intellectuals in their
\nnational boards.<\/p>\n
In fact, the political party law that determines that all
\npolitical parties have to have branches in 13 provinces closes
\nthe door for the emergence of a Kalimantan-wide party, since
\nthere are only four provinces in this Indonesian part of the
\nisland of Kalimantan, or Borneo.<\/p>\n
This is especially ironic, considering the fact that the
\nCentral Kalimantan province was created by the late president
\nSukarno in 1957 in response to aspirations expressed by the Pro
\nPanca Sila Cutlass and Shield Movement (Gerakan Mandau Talawang
\nPro Panca Sila [GMTPS]).<\/p>\n
This Ngaju-Dayak insurrection demanded a separate province for
\nthe Ngaju-Dayak people, separate from the existing province of
\nSouth Kalimantan.<\/p>\n
It broke out on Nov. 10, 1956, with an attack on the police
\nstation in Pahandut, the village that later became Palangkaraya,
\nCentral Kalimantan's newly created capital.<\/p>\n
This movement was partly triggered in reaction to the rising
\nmovement to create an Islamic state, Darul Islam, which was
\nwidely supported by Ibnu Hajar in South Kalimantan.<\/p>\n
Apart from upholding the state philosophy of Panca Sila, GMTPS
\nalso supported a federative structure for Indonesia, rather than
\nthe unitarian structure that has been upheld with the military's
\niron fist for nearly five decades.<\/p>\n
So, if Jakarta wants to find a fundamental solution to the
\nDayak rebellion in Central Kalimantan, and prevent it from
\nspreading to the other Kalimantan provinces, and turn it into an
\nisland-wide movement for Dayak self-determination, Megawati and
\nher military supporters had better fly over and start talking to
\nthe Dayak leaders, rather than simply using the Wild West style
\nof \"sending in the cavalry\".<\/p>\n
Dr. George J. Aditjondro teaches at the Department of
\nSociology and Anthropology at the University of Newcastle,
\nAustralia.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/avoiding-the-mistakes-of-ambon-1447893297",
"image": ""
},
"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
"sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
}