Four suspected in Kalimantan unrest
JAKARTA (JP): The authorities believe at least four people were behind the latest wave of ethnic conflict in West Kalimantan, a senior military officer said yesterday.
Maj. Gen. Zacky Anwar Makarim, Assistant to the Army chief for security affairs, said the authorities were collecting more hard evidence before arresting them.
"We strongly suspect they were instigators of the latest wave of violence in (the provincial capital) Pontianak and the surrounding areas," Makarim said.
He declined to name names but stressed the suspects had circulated anonymous leaflets and photographs, discrediting a certain religious and ethnic group.
The police have questioned but not yet arrested them, he said after a post-Idul Fitri gathering at Army headquarters attended by Army Chief of Staff Gen. R. Hartono.
The latest violence pitting the indigenous Dayak people and migrants from the East Java island of Madura started on Jan. 29, less than a month after they agreed to a truce.
Residents have said that the fresh unrest erupted following reports that 40 masked men, believed to be migrants from Madura, attacked a foundation that manages Catholic schools in the Siantan Tengah district. In the attack they wounded two women who lived nearby, damaged school buildings and burned two motorcycles and a truck inside the foundation compound.
The Dayaks accused the migrants from Madura of breaking the oath of peace they had made following a December clash in the Sanggau Ledo district triggered by a minor incident over a woman. In that encounter, five people were killed and 21 went missing, according to official statistics.
Hartono said the second wave of violence was fanned by a group of East Java people who went to West Kalimantan to incite unrest.
"We have plenty of evidence that several people from East Java went to West Kalimantan to incite people to return to violence," he said.
According to the Army chief of staff, the situation in the province had returned to normal and the disputing parties were respecting the truce until the perpetrators arrived.
He promised the masterminds would be prosecuted in line with prevailing laws.
"We still have to collect more evidence of their involvement before we move to arrest them," he said.
When asked about the number of victims in the two waves of rioting, the general only said: "More than one."
Foreign media, quoting unnamed sources, said the clashes had caused many casualties, with some reporting the number to have reached hundreds.
Residents in Pontianak reported yesterday the city had gradually returned to normal with people no longer being randomly searched for weapons.
"Tension is still visible today. I would say it's a fifty- fifty situation," one person told The Jakarta Post by telephone last night. "People rushed home just before 8:30 p.m."
Most shops on Jl. Tanjungpura, one of Pontianak's busiest streets, closed one hour earlier than usual, apparently because rumors of more unrest persisted, he said.
The source said the situation in Siantan, where an attack by dozens of masked men on a Dayak dormitory took place Jan. 29, was "quiet, but tense."
No additional military or police patrols were seen on the streets, he said. (imn/08)