Four suspected in Kalimantan unrest
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)