Communal clashes in Sampit spread

JAKARTA (JP): Communal clashes in Sampit, Central Kalimantan, which have already claimed hundreds of lives, spread to the capital of Palangkaraya on Sunday.

Groups of men armed with traditional mandau swords and wearing red headbands -- said to be Dayaks -- ransacked and looted houses in several parts of Palangkaraya before setting them on fire.

"Several burning buildings were to be seen on Jl. Diponegoro, Jl. Dr. Murjani and Jl. Sisingamangaraja. Abandoned houses and shops were also looted," a local journalist said as quoted by Antara.

No immediate casualties were reported in this latest outbreak of violence. Palangkaraya lies some 220 kilometers east of Sampit, the site of a bloody pogrom perpetrated mostly by indigenous Dayak people against migrant Madurese settlers. Some 5,000 migrants have fled their homes in the town due to fears of an escalation in the violence and have headed for coastal Banjarmasin in neighboring South Kalimantan province.

The renewed violence came amid a visit by top security officials, led by Coordinating Minister for Social, Political and Security Affairs Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, to Sampit on Sunday afternoon. He was accompanied by Indonesian Military (TNI) chief Adm. Widodo A.S., Minister of Health and Social Welfare Achmad Sujudi and the military intelligence chief Vice Marshall Ian Santoso Perdanakusumah.

The visit came on the heels of a week of bloody clashes in the riverside town of Sampit which have thus far left some 270 people dead, and forced some 24,000 Madurese settlers to flee the area to East Java in a chaotic evacuation.

Unofficial estimates, however, say that the death toll could reach up to 400 as decomposing bodies have yet to be removed from the jungle and other remote sites.

The delegation called on both sides to end violence and ordered the security forces to stop the riots from recurring and maintain their impartiality in carrying out their duties.

"The law must be upheld. Let's put an end to this humanitarian tragedy. The maximum punishments must be imposed on the perpetrators," Susilo said as quoted by the news agency.

Earlier, delegation members had held a closed-door meeting with Central Kalimantan Police chief Brig. Gen. Bambang Pranoto and Deputy Governor Nahson Taway at Tjilik Riwut airport.

The group was slated to hold meetings in Palangkaraya later on Sunday night.

President Abdurrahman Wahid during the opening of the third summit of Eight Developing (D-8) countries in Cairo, Egypt on Sunday said the government would dispatch Army Special Forces (Kopassus) troops to Sampit to help restore order.

"The serious nature of the feud between the Madurese and the Dayak people make it necessary for us to send the Special Forces there," he said.

Also speaking in Cairo, defense minister Mahfud M.D. said the government was "closely following the situation in Sampit" and that President Abdurrahman had called on the police to immediately seek assistance from the military.

"I will also call on the TNI chief to request immediate action without him having to wait for a formal request from the police," Mahfud told reporters on the sidelines of the summit.

Abdurrahman, who is on a two-week trip to the Middle East and North African countries, has been under mounting criticism back home for leaving behind the ethnic violence in Sampit.

There are no indications, however, as to whether the President will cut short his trip due to the continuing violence in Central Kalimantan.

Tension has been rising in Sampit and Palangkaraya as security reinforcements continued to pour in and a curfew from 10 p.m. to six a.m. is still being enforced in Sampit.

"In reality, the victims of these disturbances are not only Madurese but also Dayaks. Most of the victims were decapitated, so we can't assume that they were all Madurese," East Kotawaringin regent Wahyudi K. Anwar said by phone from Sampit on Sunday, adding that eyewitnesses had testified that Dayaks were also slain during the week-long killing spree.

"This tragedy has caused suffering in both camps. It's clear that the dispute has nothing to do with religion. In the past there have been disputes between locals and migrants but this time is different. I cannot say what it is but I think the ethnic issue is just a cover," he said.

Sources said there were also reports of missing Dayak corpses.

"First we saw piles of bodies believed to be Dayaks but after we tried to evacuate them ... they were gone," one source said.

On Sunday it was reported that some 163 bodies were still lying in Murjani General Hospital in Sampit waiting for mass burial by humanitarian activists from Palangkaraya.

Meanwhile, thousands of refugees were frantically trying to board the naval ships that will evacuate them to East Java. The first 4,100 people fleeing the turmoil arrived in Tanjung Perak port in Surabaya on Sunday evening.

In Yogyakarta, People's Consultative Assembly Speaker Amien Rais said on Saturday that a state of civil emergency should be imposed in Sampit to quickly restore order in the area.

The call was echoed by the chairman of the Muhammadiyah Muslim organization Syafii Ma'arif and Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI Perjuangan) legislator Soetardjo Soerjogoeritno.

"A shoot-on-site order should be issued to quell the rioting," Soetardjo said.

Amien criticized President Abdurrahman over his foreign trip, saying that the President should return home immediately to handle the disturbances.

He suggested that troops be deployed to Central Kalimantan to back up the police.

Amien also suggested that the government stop evacuating the Madurese from Kalimantan because the evacuation would only serve to dramatize the situation and could incite revenge attacks on Dayaks and other ethnic groups associated with the Dayaks. (edt/byg/44)