Our refugee problem<\/p>\n
With unrest continuing to fester in several areas in this
\ncountry -- East Timor, West Kalimantan and Maluku in particular
\ncome to mind -- the authorities seem to be having difficulty
\nkeeping track of the refugees forced to flee the troubled areas,
\nnot to mention providing adequate assistance for the victims.<\/p>\n
To mention an example, some field workers estimate the number
\nof refugees from Ambon, Maluku, who are temporarily sheltered on
\nButon island, Southeast Sulawesi, at about 40,000. This seems to
\nbe a little on the conservative side, considering that on one
\nsingle day alone at the beginning of last month thousands of
\nrefugees were reported to have landed at the island's Murhum
\nPort. A Cabinet report at about the same time put the number of
\nrefugees on Buton island at a little less than 9,000.<\/p>\n
In West Kalimantan, where vicious ethnic clashes have in past
\nweeks forced tens of thousands of settlers of Madurese ancestry
\nto flee their lands and homes, provincial authorities have made
\nplans to \"relocate\" -- apparently on a permanent basis -- some
\n7,000 Madurese families to an as yet undisclosed island off the
\nWest Kalimantan coast. These are some of the victims of the
\nethnic unrest in the province's Sambas regency, where clashes
\namong Madurese settlers and the local Dayak and Malay communities
\nare reported to be continuing sporadically to this day.<\/p>\n
Many thousands more of those unfortunate people have since
\nattempted to return to their home island of Madura, near Java's
\neastern tip. But a reliable estimate of the number of refugees
\nwho have since the beginning of the unrest fled the troubled
\nareas to find shelter elsewhere is difficult to reach. All of
\nwhich complicates the task of alleviating their suffering.<\/p>\n
Regardless, there can be little doubt that for all of those
\nuncounted thousands of people, the trauma of the past weeks is
\nsomething that few of them are likely to forget for the rest of
\ntheir lives. There is, unfortunately, nothing that can be done to
\nundo the events of the past. What can and must be done is ensure
\nthat every possible effort is made to help those who have
\nsurvived the carnage -- a formidable task, to be sure, given the
\nlimited resources available.<\/p>\n
The plight of the refugees from Ambon on Buton island provides
\na telling example. The regency, with an indigenous population of
\nless than half a million, is finding its resources stretched to
\nthe limit trying to look after the tens of thousands of refugees.
\nThough almost all of them are descended from Butonese, but have
\nlived for several generations in Maluku, little help has reached
\nthem either from the government, from the locals or from
\nhumanitarian relief organizations.<\/p>\n
In the absence of adequate assistance, most of the refugees
\nlive in tents and makeshift shelters, subsisting on whatever
\ndaily food handouts are made available. Medical care is similarly
\nin short supply. Many refugees have tried to improve their
\nsituation by doing laboring work or finding other means of self-
\nemployment -- an admirable effort that, unfortunately, further
\nstretches the already limited sustaining capability of the
\nregency's resources.<\/p>\n
The important lesson that all this teaches us is that -- aside
\nfrom the emotional suffering, the material loss and the political
\nand social impact the unrest in several areas of the country
\nbrings -- the dislocation of so many thousands of Indonesians
\nfrom what has for generations been their adopted homeland
\nconstitutes a problem that deserves to be thoroughly resolved
\nwith good judgment.<\/p>\n
In order for this to be effective, such a solution would have
\nto be the result of fair and comprehensive efforts to promote the
\nmerging of migrants into local communities. Minimizing religious
\nand ethnic rivalry appear to be essential factors in this. It is
\nto be hoped that the calamities of the past weeks will have
\ntaught us that something is quite wrong with the way we handled
\npopulation resettlement in the past.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/our-refugee-problem-1447893297",
"image": ""
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
"sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
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