Central Kalimantan restricts reentry of Madurese

JAKARTA (JP): The Central Kalimantan government has proposed a bylaw which restricts Madurese displaced by recent ethnic conflicts from reentering the province.

If passed by the provincial legislative council, Central Kalimantan will formally close its doors to Madurese who have been involved in criminal acts.

The ruling is contained in a new bylaw that governor Asmawi Agani presented to the legislative council on Thursday for approval.

Tens of thousands of Madurese were displaced in an ethnic clash between them and the indigenous Dayak early this year. The Dayak have claimed that the immigrant Madurese acted like colonizers toward the natives. One estimate put the death toll in the conflict up to 5,000, mostly Madurese.

Last week, the Central Kalimantan natives rejected hundreds of Madurese who arrived from East Java. Now, they are being accommodated in the South Kalimantan capital of Banjarmasin.

In a recent Central Kalimantan People's Congress, the Dayak and other ethnic groups had set a host of conditions to limit the return of Madurese. For example, they will accept only Madurese who were born and grew up in Central Kalimantan and are of good character.

The bill requires that the returning Madurese should respect local culture and customary laws would be imposed on them as well. Under customary law, the perpetrator may be expelled from Central Kalimantan.

Henry L. Binti, secretary of the team drafting the bylaw, said that the restrictions were necessary because in the past, social conflicts were usually started by Madurese thugs.

"Those who have a criminal record should give up their dream of returning to Central Kalimantan. We don't want the ethnic conflicts to break out again," Henry said as quoted by Antara.