All groups must work for peace in W. Kalimantan

All groups must work for peace in W. Kalimantan

Bambang Bider, Kalimantan Review, Pontianak, West Kalimantan

Following ethnic conflict in West Kalimantan over the past
three years, several groups are now campaigning for peace through
various activities, mainly humanitarian and solidarity programs
for victims of riots, mostly of Madurese descent. Seminars are
also being held involving other ethnicities other than the Dayak
and Madurese, namely the Chinese, Bugis and Javanese.

The once hostile groups have become wiser in dealing with
different emerging issues. When a fight between members of these
groups breaks out, they try to settle it amicably or turn the
case over to the authorities.

Peace is a luxury. It takes courage to express this idea, let
alone among those who were until recently gripped by vengeance
and animosity. As of last year official reports estimated the
death toll of at least 400 -- excluding the many decomposing
bodies in the jungles and remote areas.

Yet the fact remains, there is no place to live comfortably
unless people have mutual respect for each other regardless of
diversity.

We are all the same -- those of the Dayak, Madura, Ambon,
Java, Bugis, Papua or Sundanese. We should return to our human
basic desire for peace, free of narrow views of diverse
ethnicity, religion, or political views. We should all be
convinced that gooodness is the basic teaching of all religions
and faiths.

Reconciliation, the restoration of good relations, is the
means we should all be yearning for. Reconciliation implies that
those involved in conflict realize their respective misdeeds and
their futile acts. Communal disintegration has resulted from
their own behavior rather than that of outsiders -- regardless of
accusations against "provocateurs".

A number of issues still lie in the path of reconciliation,
the main one being that of victims. Among victims in West
Kalimantan, refugees have refused to take up the offer of
relocation to Tebang Kacang district.

The refugees have demanded that the allocation of Rp 15
million per family promised in 1999 should be soon distributed.
This is because most have secured jobs in Pontianak and their
children are attending local schools, which may not be the case
if they were relocated.

According to the West Kalimantan Information Agency, most
refugees in Pontianak camps have, however, left following the
death of Fery Firmansyah with the resulting Malay-Madura clash in
Pontianak and the wounding of a Dayak, Kayetanus, last year. Some
of them have returned to their places of origin like Bengkayang
regency, where they still possess land.

Those already relocated to Tebang Kacang will be provided with
inland water transportation facilities, linking their new homes
to Pontianak.

The best solution for those still remaining in refugee camps
is to let them decide for themselves, whether to settle on
Pontianak's outskirts, with government facilitation and funding.
Peaceful reconciliation should be sought between refugees and the
regional administration as well as between refugees and
surrounding communities -- if Kalimantan is to truly become an
amiable place shared by citizens of diverse origins and
ancestries.

Victims have fallen from not only the Madurese group but also
among the Dayaks and Malays, while the psychological burden has
to be borne by their fellow citizens, namely the Chinese, Bugis
and Batak people in the community. A peaceful atmosphere is what
everybody wants.