Five killed in unrest in Luwu, dozens injured

UJUNGPANDANG, South Sulawesi (JP): Five were killed, dozens more were injured, and around 90 houses were set alight during brawls between residents from several villages in the district of Sabbang in Luwu regency on Monday and Tuesday.

Residents and security personnel said that warring parties had armed themselves with homemade firearms and an assortment of crude weapons. The houses set alight were located in the villages of Mari-Mari, Kampung Baru and Pompaniki, around 420 kilometers north of here.

Police said that residents of Mari-Mari and Kampung Baru sided against Pompaniki villagers. The tension then spread to several other villages and quickly overwhelmed the outnumbered security forces.

There were varying accounts of the number of casualties. One version held that three people died and 87 houses were burned.

Mudjiwati, a nurse in the village of Massamba, shuddered when she described the state of two corpses brought to her clinic. "I could not stand to look at them, both bodies were badly mutilated," she said.

Monday's unrest was the latest incident in a long-standing dispute between the villages. Since last September, 12 people have been killed, 70 more have been hospitalized, and 200 houses set on fire.

Monday's unrest, according to First Lt. Sugito of the Luwu military, was triggered by "revenge and drink." He did not elaborate.

However, a spokesman for the Wirabuana Regional Military Command, Maj. Joko Warsito told The Jakarta Post that the situation in Luwu had become a complicated matter. "There are frequent outbreaks of unrest, not all of which are triggered by tribal animosity. Religion also comes into the equation. It's becoming more difficult to handle," he said.

He acknowledged the security forces had been slow to react to the situation and admitted that this had resulted in a higher number of casualties, but said that the military had to act with caution.

"We were being careful so that no innocent people were victimized," he said.

He said he believed that there would be further casualties given past precedents and the uneasy state of truce which now hangs over the area.

"We recently made them agree to a truce, but it only lasted for one week. After that, they were back at it again," he said.

Meanwhile, Antara reported on Wednesday that a brawl involving residents of Oeleu and Lour villages in Bobonaro regency in East Timor, some 138 kilometer west of provincial capital of Dili, claimed one life while three other people went missing.

Provincial police spokesman Capt. Widodo said the unrest on Monday was sparked with the reported disappearance of three Oeleu villagers after cutting grass for a month at the neighboring village of Lour.

"It all started with arguments between Oeleu villagers who were seeking the three and the Lour. Then, a brawl erupted," he said.

The unrest in Luwu and Bobonaro are the latest in a series of riots which has swept across the country. In November, riots broke out in Jakarta, Kupang in East Nusa Tenggara and West Sumba in West Nusa Tenggara.

More recently, rioting broke out in Poso, Central Sulawesi, and Jeneponto, South Sulawesi. The latter incident took place on Christmas Eve.

Unrest has also broken out in a number of towns and cities around Java.

Experts have attributed the wave of unrest to economic hardship now besetting millions of Indonesians. (37/30/27)