1000s of Sampit refugee students forced to give up their studies

SURAKARTA, Central Java (JP): At least 4,000 of a total of 6,000 school-aged children who fled the conflict-torn town of Sampit, Central Kalimantan, to refugee camps in East Java, gave up their studies due to the trauma caused by the bloody mayhem, Minister of National Education Yahya Muhaimin said.

"So far, only 2,000 of the school-aged children have continued their studies at local schools," he told reporters after opening a national meeting on education supervision here.

The deadly ethnic clash in Sampit had traumatically affected most of the child refugees, he said.

The ethnic conflict between Madurese migrants and indigenous Dayaks rocked Sampit and left around 400 Madurese dead.

Tens of thousands of Madurese who survived the clamor fled the territory to East Java towns and their homeland of Madura Island to avoid attacks by Dayaks. Yahya said that his office, in cooperation with Surabaya-based Airlangga University and Malang-based Muhammadiyah University, would assist with post-trauma counselling of the children.

The minister also said that the government had provided Madurese refugees with scholarships, but he failed to go into details.

"We don't want to see the students quit their schools due to their trauma," he said. "The shocking experience during the clashes should not be allowed to traumatize them permanently."

Yahya also appealed to the teachers in Sampit and its surrounding towns to stay and continue with their duties, as their absence would cause considerable disruption to the schools.

He cited as an example that 517 teachers from various levels of school in the restive province of Aceh had left their homes, following the deteriorating security condition in the westernmost province in the country.

Meanwhile a police officer said that normality has gradually returned to the riot-torn town of Sampit, the capital of East Kotawaringin.

East Kotawaringin Police Chief Petrus Hardono said schools, offices, markets and other public activities were running normally, unlike the previous days when these were halted due to rising tensions.

Petrus also said that the newly deployed personnel of the Palangkaraya-based Mobile Brigade Police (Brimob) have started taking part in maintaining security in the town.

The troops have replaced police personnel from bases in Jakarta and Bogor. (44/32)