Kalimantan rejects Madurese migrants<\/p>\n
Yuliansyah, The Jakarta Post, Banjarmasin, South Kalimantan<\/p>\n
Traumatized by past ethnic killings, indigenous Dayak residents
\nin Kalimantan provinces have rejected the resettlement of
\nMadurese people in Kalimantan under the government's
\ntransmigration program this year, officials have said.<\/p>\n
The Dayak people, particularly those living in Central
\nKalimantan, have agreed to accept migrants from all ethnic groups
\nin the country except people from East Java's Madura island.<\/p>\n
Head of the South Kalimantan manpower and transmigration
\noffice H.A. Munasib confirmed on Wednesday that people in his
\nprovince, in particular residents in areas that border Central
\nKalimantan, wanted to exclude Madurese migrants from the
\nresettlement program.<\/p>\n
"Those who have set conditions for the government not to
\naccept a certain ethnic (Madura) group are the people from
\nBelawang subdistrict in the regency of Barito Kuala and
\nsurrounding (border) areas, where new migrants will be sent this
\nyear," he told The Jakarta Post.<\/p>\n
Munasib revealed that the rejection was due to the Dayak'
\ntrauma over the 1999 deadly battles between them and the Madurese
\nin the towns of Sambas and Sampit in Central Kalimantan.<\/p>\n
Hundreds of people, mostly Madurese were killed and thousands
\nof others fled to Java when the Dayak people took revenge on the
\nminority migrant group in March 1999.<\/p>\n
Similar riots broke out earlier in 1996 in West and Central
\nKalimantan between the Dayak community and the Madurese, leaving
\nhundreds of people dead and thousands of others homeless after
\nthey were expelled from the provinces.<\/p>\n
Thousands of Madurese refugees, who fled the ethnic unrest in
\n1999, are still languishing in camps in East Java. Many of them
\nhave said they want to return home to Kalimantan to start a new
\nlife with their brothers there.<\/p>\n
Munasib said Kotabaru Regent Sjachrani Mataja had submitted a
\nrequest to the South Kalimantan governor not to include Madurese
\npeople in the migrants due for resettlement in his district.<\/p>\n
In his letter, Sjachrani requested that West Java migrants be
\nsent to the Kotabaru town of Hampang for resettlement.<\/p>\n
"I don't know what has prompted the regent to make such a
\nproposal," Munasib said.<\/p>\n
He said the provincial administration would gather inputs from
\nthe common people to determine their response to this year's
\ntransmigration program in South Kalimantan, especially concerning
\ntheir readiness to accept participants from Java.<\/p>\n
"We will later deliver this information to the central
\ngovernment for discussion," he added.<\/p>\n
Munasib said that if the government was not able to avoid
\nexcluding Madurese among this year's migrants to Kalimantan
\nprovinces, it should at least reduce their number so as to
\nrespect the Dayak people's wishes.<\/p>\n
He said around 400 families, half of them from Java, would be
\nresettled in Hampang in South Kalimantan and the adjacent area of
\nBarito Kuala in Central Kalimantan in 2003.<\/p>\n
The remaining 50 percent of the settlers would be local poor
\nindigenous people, he added.<\/p>\n
It is hoped that local people joining the migration program
\nwould be able to better their life as they would receive houses
\nand one year life insurance.<\/p>\n
Last year, South and Central Kalimantan received around 800
\nfamilies who migrated from Java and other provinces, Munasib
\nsaid, adding there were no Dayak among them.<\/p>\n
He said the central government has allocated around Rp 20
\nbillion from the state budget to finance this year's
\ntransmigration program. The money is the same amount as the funds
\nused to support the 2002 program.<\/p>\n
Most of the funds would be used to finance the development of
\nfacilities in the resettlement areas, he argued.<\/p>\n
"We don't want this program to fail. Therefore, the government
\nwill pay serious attention to the welfare of the migrants
\nincluding improving facilities in their resettlement areas,"
\nMunasib said.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/kalimantan-rejects-madurese-migrants-1447893297",
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