Banjarmasin residents clean up, bury their dead

By Johannes Simbolon

BANJARMASIN, South Kalimantan (JP): A procession of hospital morgue cars entered the Karang Peci cemetery, some 30 kilometers outside of Banjarmasin, and halted near a huge grave.

One by one, the unrecognized bodies of 120 people burned alive during the May 23 riots, were laid to rest in the 20 x 3 meter plot. An official from the Banjarmasin office for religious affairs said a prayer in the simple ceremony that took place last Saturday.

Groups of people, who claimed to have lost relatives during the riot, huddled together near the grave.

Among them was 58-year-old Sami'an. He lost his 16-year-old son Jaiz. Jaiz was a member of his high school's marching band which was scheduled to entertain during Golkar's campaign on that fateful day.

"I searched for him in vain at hospitals and police stations. I don't know if he has died or is still alive. If he is among the corpses, I want him to know that his father is attending his funeral," Sami'an said, tears streaming down his face.

A sad conclusion to the struggle for political power in this beautiful town. The excitement and festivity during the month- long campaign, which started on April 27, ended in tears and pain.

The riot, considered to be the worst political violence in the New Order era, erupted during the last round of Golkar's campaign. It started with a clash between its supporters and those of the Moslem-based United Development Party (PPP).

Thousands of people wearing PPP's green attributes burned cars and hundreds of buildings, including churches, cinemas, shopping centers, hotels, and houses.

Carrying sharp weapons like sickles, machetes and mandau (Kalimantan's traditional swords), they hunted for everyone in Golkar's yellow uniforms and stripped them.

The security personnel were only able to contain the unrest around midnight after reinforcements arrived from Jakarta. One hundred and twenty-three charred bodies were found inside the burned Mitra Plaza shopping center. Only three bodies were recognizable and claimed by their families. Most of the dead were looters, police said.

Loss

A week after the riot, Banjarmasin, dubbed "the town of one thousand rivers" because it is crisscrossed by many tributaries, had yet to recover from the shock.

Curfew had been lifted but people were still afraid to venture out of their homes at night. Police and troops were posted, while men took turns to guard their own houses at night.

"People have become so traumatized that even a small fire can cause panic," said Aswady Syukur, head of the South Kalimantan chapter of the Indonesian Council of Ulemas.

Tanjungpura military commander Maj. Gen. Namuri Anoem S. said that shock and fear was mostly felt by women.

Hundreds of women campaigning for Golkar rushed home half naked after they were forced to take off their yellow Golkar uniforms by a mob carrying sickles and swords in the riot.

Modern amenities were also damaged.

"Before the riot, life was good enough here. We had the '21' cinema, Hero supermarket and the Mitra Plaza shopping center. They are all gone now," said a Bank Indonesia employee.

"Now the only entertainment for families is television," he said.

Aswady estimated the town had suffered hundreds of millions of rupiah in property losses from the riot and that it would take years to restore the town to its former condition.

The riot left about 4,000 people jobless. Local authorities have repeatedly called on the owners of the tens of shops burned during the riot not to sack their employees. But by last week, only one to two shop proprietors had promised to abide by the call.

An official said racism might increase after the riot because the public thought most of the rioters were Madurese.

"Now, people refrain from riding on becak (three-wheeled bicycle taxi) since most of the drivers are Madurese," he said.

Lesson

No party has been held responsible for the riot.

The local papers said Golkar enraged PPP supporters by campaigning before Friday's prayers and roaming noisily near a mosque during the prayers. But Golkar denied the report.

"Golkar's members and supporters were well organized. All of them followed my instruction to campaign after Friday's prayers," said Soenarso of the local Golkar chapter.

Syafriansyah, the head of the South Kalimantan's PPP office, said none of the party's members were among the rioters. He cited a government regulation which said that the party campaigning on a particular day was responsible for security on that day.

Observers said the riot was triggered by escalating campaigning competition, but its real cause was discontentment over social, political and economic injustice.

Although several churches were burned and pelted with stones during the riot, Christians believe they were not the main target.

"Their prime targets were government buildings. Only about 30 people were involved in burning our church," said S.M. Sihombing, a minister's assistant at a Batak church burned down in the riot.

The rioters set fire to Golkar's office around 2 p.m. They were about to set fire to the next door building belonging to state electricity company PLN, but changed their minds. Someone shouted, "Don't burn it. There is a soccer broadcast on TV tonight," recalled Unting, a local reporter who had watched the mob.

Banjarmasin people are famous soccer fanatics.

After that, the mob reportedly moved to attack the governor's residence but were prevented by security personnel. Instead, they ransacked the adjacent building belonging to the Ministry of Social Services.

Wahyu, the head of the Center for Sociocultural Research at Banjarmasin Lambung Mangkurat University, said the mob, mostly poor people, had ransacked and burned shopping centers because they belonged to rich Chinese people and burned churches because they were associated with Chinese.

Aswady said the violence could not be attributed to street rallies because in earlier campaigning, no riots had happened despite the street rallies.

"What happened is that people are now more aware. They see corruption, collusion. They see people become billionaires by doing nothing, while those who work 24 hours (a day) remain poor," said Aswady.