Clouds of unrest still hang over West Kalimantan

West Kalimantan has drawn national attention twice this year. In May, a significant number of Chinese-Indonesians fleeing Jakarta's May turmoil sought shelter in the province, known to be traditionally accepting of them despite tensions between other dominant ethnic groups there. Then in early September, widespread rice pillaging broke out. The Jakarta Post reporter Sugianto Tandra visited West Kalimantan's capital, Pontianak, from Sept. 15 to Sept. 19 and compiled these reports and pictures.

PONTIANAK, West Kalimantan (JP): Condition critical!

Again, like anywhere in the country, it's about rice. Looting began here in towns outside of Pontianak on Sept. 7 before reaching the capital. Hundreds of metric tons of rice were plundered over a three-day period.

Various parties were blamed; traders, mostly Chinese- Indonesians, for high prices; the government, for lack of security which had made the lootings possible; and the common enemy: the monetary crisis, which has led to frustrations over scarcity and skyrocketing prices of basic commodities.

As the lootings began, residents became gripped by a fear that the province would see a repeat of last year's bloodletting.

A virtual state of war between native Dayaks and Madurese immigrants last year resulted in hundreds of deaths and the burning down of residential areas.

The turmoil began in December 1996, when a rumor spread that two Dayaks who had been stabbed in a brawl had been killed. Vendetta killings, rioting and arson followed and continued through early last year. Ethnic leaders negotiated peace pacts, only to have them repeatedly broken.

The province has now barely enjoyed a year of peace-like conditions. But the crisis, mainly through food shortages, threatens to retrigger the violence.

It was a relief to know that after the lootings began, a mixture of groups offered to guard shops and warehouses: native Dayaks, Madurese, Chinese-Indonesians and others.

But to local residents, the sight of Dayaks -- and on the next day Madurese -- wielding traditional sharp weapons and guns on the streets elicited feelings far from security. Luckily, no violence has erupted.

One resident, Ivan, 27, said: "It was so scary. It was like they were ready to go to war against each other again."

Given their role in the distribution of rice throughout the province, Chinese-Indonesians who have called West Kalimantan home no longer feeling safe -- though this is in stark contrast to the aftermath of the May riots when Chinese-Indonesians poured into the province from Jakarta and elsewhere to seek shelter.

Residents, traders and observers are saying that nothing short of solving the rice logistical problems will ease tensions and prevent a repetition of the violence.

Food scarcity and high prices have been amplified by the fact that the State Logistics Agency (Bulog) has failed to deliver enough rice to the province. Opinions vary as to who deserves the most blame for the distribution problems: the provincial logistics agency (Dolog) or the province's traders themselves.

"Dolog must do its best to solve the rice crisis," said businessman H.M. Sulaiman, who also chairs the Pontianak Chamber of Commerce.

But Dolog director Meirizal Salim said the agency should not be entirely blamed since Dolog only manages 30 percent of the rice being brought to market. He said Dolog was only responsible for providing rice to civil servants, Armed Forces members and employees of the social service agency, transmigration agency and state-owned plantation companies.

Private rice traders control the rest of the rice market.

Sulaiman, a Madurese businessman, blamed "ill-behaved traders" who hoarded rice to sell to Malaysia at increased prices. "Punish them!" he demanded.

Whoever is to blame, Meirizal said, the problem now was that traders no longer felt safe doing business. This has been made worse by the impression that the security apparatus did little to stop the looting. Police have only said they were overwhelmed.

Many traders say they would have gone out of business altogether if it had not been for the native Dayaks who took the initiative to secure many of the city's markets after the looting broke out.

Dayak leaders say the move was taken to prevent food shortages, particularly for Dayak communities in the hinterland. A Dayak elder here, Rachmat Sahudin, 69, said: "We are not Chinese guard dogs, we're the guard dogs of our own stomachs."

Even poor Chinese-Indonesians were seen among the looters, though reports indicate that most of the looters were migrants.

A.B. Tandililing, a sociologist at Tanjungpura University in Pontianak, said many Madurese felt that when the Dayak community offered to secure markets against "troublemakers", they were referring to the Madurese community as the likely culprits.

But ethnic resentments here cloud over several social-economic factors. Chronic land problems in which Dayak rights were never recognized by the government has been a chief reason leading to the scapegoating of the Madurese for many of the province's problems, according to observers.

Many fear that such feelings could reignite ethnic violence if the rice problem is not taken care of.

The current situation, however, is unlike that in August, when Dolog held only 3,500 tons of rice in stock -- only enough for the province's civil servant agencies.

Now, Meirizal said, Dolog has 20,000 tons of rice, enough for the whole province for a month; but hardly anybody is selling it.

Many vendors and distribution agents have stopped doing business for now. A Chinese-Indonesian trader in Kapuas Besar said many merchants were planning to sell their remaining stock and stop business for a while.

"There's no point in doing business at this point. Just think, every time you unload some rice to sell, people come and accuse you of hoarding it and force you to sell it at a cheap price," the trader, requesting anonymity, said.

Others have complained of a possible conspiracy aimed at driving Chinese-Indonesians out of the rice distribution business through looting and burning.

"It could be a part of a bigger scheme," the trader in Kapuas Besar said. "If they want to die, let's die together then," she said, without elaborating who she meant by "they".

Pontianak's new military chief, Col. Encip Kadarusman, and Pontianak Police chief Col. Darsono have promised traders that they would be safe from looting and that past incidents were being investigated.

"We will take stern action against troublemakers," said Encip as quoted by the local daily Akcaya Pontianak Post. He suspected that the lootings were engineered by parties wanting to disrupt security. Sociologist Tangdililing urged the government to bring community leaders together in an attempt to increase cooperation in efforts to prevent possible future unrest.

"The government must remain the initiator of problem-solving by involving all components of society," he suggested.

Government initiatives reportedly did not work last year. A local social worker claimed that only public figures had come to agreements to end last year's violence and that community members did not necessarily agree with the peace pacts.

If the government fails this time, Tangdililing said, more social unrest or even a tribal war could occur again.

"If both parties cannot practice self-restraint, clashes between the ethnic groups could erupt again," said Tangdililing, who is from Toraja, South Sulawesi.