Madurese refugees devastated but not without hope<\/p>\n
By Chandra H.N. Ichwani<\/p>\n
SURABAYA (Antara): When asked if she wanted to return to
\nSambas one day, the weary woman looked into the distance blankly.<\/p>\n
\"I will go back there only if the government guarantees my
\nsafety. I have lost everything there... I am only a peasant,\"
\nsaid Naroh, a woman from Bangkalan on Madura Island, East Java.<\/p>\n
She was replying to a question from members of the East Java
\nFamily Welfare Movement at Katol Barat village, Bangkalan, which
\nhas accommodated Madurese since people fled ethnic violence in
\nSambas, West Kalimantan. The clashes claimed more than 200 lives,
\nmostly Madurese.<\/p>\n
The visiting delegation was led by the movement's chairwoman,
\nAnik Imam Utumo, wife of East Java Governor Imam Utomo.<\/p>\n
Naroh, 60, is one of an estimated 10,000 Madurese who returned
\nto their ancestral island in the wake of clashes pitting Madurese
\nmigrants against an alliance of \"indigenous\" Malays and Dayaks.<\/p>\n
She said she had left behind five cows in Sambas. \"My husband
\ncould do nothing because he was here (in Madura) two months
\nbefore the rioting took place.\"<\/p>\n
Like many other refugees, Naroh now has nothing but the
\nclothes she was wearing when she fled her Sambas home fearing for
\nher life.<\/p>\n
Naroh, whose Madurese accent remains thick even though she
\nlived in Sambas for 13 years, begged Anik Imam Utomo to buy a
\nferry ticket for her son, who was stranded at a refugee center in
\nPontianak, the capital of West Kalimantan.<\/p>\n
\"Please, I have nothing left. Just give him a ticket so that
\nhe can return and be reunited with us,\" she said tearfully.<\/p>\n
Anik Imam Utomo promised to grant Naroh's request.<\/p>\n
Another refugee, Abdul Latif, a peasant who was born in
\nBangkalan 34 years ago and moved to Sambas when he was 10, swore
\nhe would never return to West Kalimantan. All five of his
\nchildren were born in Sambas.<\/p>\n
Unlike Naroh and Latif, Kacong has never extinguished a dream
\nto return to Sambas, once normalcy has returned. The three anti-
\nMadurese riots he experienced in West Kalimantan fail to
\ndiscourage him.<\/p>\n
Kacong, 47, resettled in Sambas in the 1970s. Living in Gudang
\nDarmasari village, he used to be a model of the Madurese migrant
\nsuccess story.<\/p>\n
He said he owned six hectares of rubber plantations and
\nanother four hectares of rice fields. Thanks to his success, he
\nwas able to send for 15 of his Bangkalan relatives.<\/p>\n
The dark skinned man said he did not know what had happened to
\nhis wealth in Sambas in the wake of the unrest, because he
\nclaimed he had a lot of money in the bank. Thanks to his savings
\nthough, his family and the 15 relatives were able to afford to
\nbuy tickets and return safely to Madura.<\/p>\n
\"I will come back (to Sambas) once the situation has returned
\nto normal and the authorities guarantee our safety,\" he said.<\/p>\n
He adamantly refused the West Kalimantan government's offer of
\nrelocation elsewhere in the province.<\/p>\n
\"No matter what, I want to return to my home village in Sambas
\nand cultivate my rubber plantations that earn me Rp 70,000 (US$9)
\na day. I earned more than that if my income from the farm was
\nadded.\"<\/p>\n
The East Java government has treated the refugees as poor
\nfamilies and has paid for their living costs for two months. It
\nis also planning to create crash programs that can employ them
\nand is seeking money from the social safety net scheme in
\nJakarta.<\/p>\n
Recently, President B.J. Habibie summoned the East Java and
\nWest Kalimantan governors, as well as related Cabinet ministers
\nto his office, to discuss the possibility of relocating the
\nMadurese community in Sambas and those taking refuge in Madura.<\/p>\n
Problems have become even more complicated after Malay and
\nDayak leaders openly rejected the presence of Madurese, whom they
\naccuse of disrespecting their culture.<\/p>\n
The government has identified an island just off Pontianak as
\nthe best resettlement site for the Madurese. The government has
\nsaid it would build 9,000 houses and would guarantee their
\nsafety.<\/p>\n
But in a meeting with Madurese community and religious leaders
\nin Surabaya on May 2, Minister of Defense and Security\/Indonesian
\nMilitary Commander (TNI) Gen. Wiranto flatly rejected the
\nproposal, on the grounds that relocation would only create a new
\nproblem.<\/p>\n
Madurese community leaders demanded the government send the
\nrefugees back to Sambas, as well as guarantee their security.
\nThey also demanded the authorities take action against
\nperpetrators of the bloody ethnic clashes.<\/p>\n
The government is yet to issue a clear-cut plan about the
\nrefugees.<\/p>\n
Wiranto said there was no reason for one ethnic group to evict
\nanother. All ethnic groups should be free to live anywhere within
\nthe Indonesian territory, he said.<\/p>\n
\"If an ethnic group evicts another, then what we can expect is
\ndestruction,\" he said.<\/p>",
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
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