Flow of refugees continues in Sambas
JAKARTA (JP): Refugees fleeing days of ethnic clashes in the West Kalimantan regency of Sambas continued to flow into makeshift shelters and military installations in the area on Saturday, local officials and legislators said.
Nasrun Nasution, head of the regency's information office, told The Jakarta Post by phone from the central command post in the Sambas capital of Singkawang that hundreds of Madurese had come to the post in groups since Saturday morning.
At least 15,000 Madurese have fled Sambas regency by boat and truck for the West Kalimantan provincial capital of Pontianak, 145 kilometers from Singkawang.
Clashes between Madurese settlers and the local Malays and Dayaks in a number of subdistricts in the regency have killed more than 60 people since the renewed violence broke out on Monday.
Private television station SCTV reported that by evening nine more people had died, bringing to 73 the deaths counted since the violence erupted in eight subdistricts.
"We will transfer the refugees to a military installation in Pasir Panjang," Nasrun said, adding that most of the refugees came from Selakau, Pemangkat, Tebas and Jawai subdistricts.
A telephone operator working for state-owned PT Telkom told the Post from Pemangkat that the area was still tense on Saturday where hundreds of machete-wielding Dayaks and Malays could still be seen on the streets.
"This morning, I saw a group of Dayaks and Malays parading a severed head through the streets," the telephone operator, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said.
AFP reported that Dayaks and Malays were also seen waving freshly severed heads in the streets of Tebas.
Meanwhile, the Suara Pembaruan afternoon daily said West Kalimantan police chief Col. Chaerul Rasyidi had issued a shoot- on-sight order in an effort to stop the bloodshed.
Zaenal Abidin, a local legislator from the Muslim-based United Development Party (PPP), said he feared more fatalities because at least 400 Madurese in Samalantan and Selakau subdistricts were surrounded by agitated locals.
"They are still trapped in a Samalantan forest and cannot escape as the area has been surrounded by Malays and Dayaks," Zaenal said.
He also said that mobs of Malays and Dayaks set dozens of empty Madurese houses on fire in Sanggauledo and Pemangkat on Saturday.
"Most of the houses were empty as the owners and their families have been evacuated to the nearby air force base," Zaenal said. At least 1,000 houses have been burned down.
Police said the violence erupted after a group of men, believed to be Madurese, attacked a truck loaded with Dayaks in Parapakan village, leaving one dead, on Monday.
The unrest in West Kalimantan was the worst since similar battles between Dayaks and Madurese that left 300 dead in early 1997.
Ambon
Meanwhile, Ambon, still licking its wounds following weeks of bloodshed, woke up to another peaceful day on Saturday while military troops continued their weapons searches.
Head of the special military task force, Maj. Gen. Suaidy Marasabessy, was quoted by Antara as saying that weapons search operations had also been carried out at seaports in South Sulawesi and Southeast Sulawesi on passengers bound for Ambon.
Security personnel have been carrying out a massive weapons search to put a stop to the clashes between migrant Muslims and indigenous Christians in the province which have killed almost 200 people since mid-January.
In the South Sulawesi capital of Ujungpandang, a rally to protest the Ambon riots at the Hasanuddin University turned violent on Friday night after the student protesters and a group of unidentified people attacked a nearby Christian community hall.
Hundreds of troops and police were rushed to the area and fired several warning shots to disperse the students. (byg/30)