'Death toll in ethnic clashes less than 300'

Wed, 19 Feb 1997, 00:00 WIB | Source: JP

BANDUNG (JP): Army Chief Gen. Hartono said yesterday the death
toll in the ethnic conflict in West Kalimantan was less than 300.

"No. It's wrong. The death toll is not that high," he said
when asked to comment on one of his aides' accounts that the
number of fatalities in the violence involving local Dayaks and
migrants from Madura had exceeded 300.

Hartono was clarifying a statement by his assistant on
security affairs Maj. Gen. Zacky Anwar Makarim quoted yesterday
by the Media Indonesia and Kompas dailies.

Zacky also disclosed that the Army had identified four
suspects for allegedly inciting the second wave of ethnic clashes
in West Kalimantan.

Chairman of the National Commission on Human Rights Munawir
Sjadzali said yesterday there were no final figures on the number
of fatalities.

The commission sent a fact-finding mission to the province
following the first wave of riots in the Sanggau Ledo district
that began on Dec. 30. Munawir said the commission was also
collecting data on the aftermath of the latest clashes that broke
out late last month.

"It is too premature to release figures," he told reporters
after meeting senior officials under Coordinating Minister for
Political Affairs and Security Soesilo Soedarman.

Soesilo also voiced the same skepticism, saying that as the
situation had not entirely returned to normal, it would be near
impossible to find and count all the victims across the vast
forested province.

The first clashes, that affected the Sanggau Ledo district
late December, were triggered by a minor dispute over a woman.
Five people were killed and 21 went missing following the unrest.

The second wave of clashes began in the West Kalimantan
capital of Pontianak and surrounding areas on Jan. 29, less than
a month after the two groups had agreed to a cease-fire.

Local residents said the latest unrest erupted following
reports of an attack by 40 masked men, believed to be Madurese
migrants, on a foundation that manages Catholic schools in the
Siantan Tengah district. The attackers wounded two women living
nearby, damaged school buildings and burned two motorcycles and a
truck inside the foundation compound.

Both Munawir and Soesilo said the ethnic clashes in West
Kalimantan were proving to be difficult to handle because the
roots of the problem were complex.

But Soesilo said he was optimistic the trouble would
eventually be resolved.

Riots

Speaking about the religious riots which rocked the Java towns
of Situbondo, Tasikmalaya and Rengasdengklok, Munawir said the
commission had found similar patterns in all of them.

"After all the riots broke out they quickly spread to
surrounding areas," he said. "We also believe the motives behind
the violence were connected.

Refusing to go into detail, Munawir said there was an
indication the riots in Tasikmalaya and Rengasdengklok were also
politically motivated.

Scores of shops, houses, churches, Buddhist temples, factories
and government buildings were burned or damaged in the riots in
the three towns.

Commission deputy chairman Marzuki Darusman, though insisting
the commission would not conclude a third party was involved
without firm evidence, said it was possible the riots had been
instigated to achieve a political goal.

He said however the commission was currently focusing on
reducing tension in West Kalimantan.

Suggesting a thorough investigation to seek the fundamental
causes of the unrest, Marzuki called on the disputing parties to
seek a solution to the unrest. (ahy/imn/01)