Health hazards threatening Madurese refugees
JAKARTA (JP): Since a massive evacuation which began almost two weeks ago, 41 out of at least 25,000 refugees in the West Kalimantan capital of Pontianak and its surroundings have died of illnesses, a report on Saturday said.
Quoting a local health official, the Suara Pembaruan afternoon daily said health hazards were imminent, threatening almost 4,000 children, including 760 babies. A few women have given birth in refugee centers.
On Sunday there were 27,783 refugees, Antara reported quoting an assistant to the governor's secretary, Ibrahim Salim.
The head of the provincial health agency, H.M. Torisz, said Saturday in Pontianak that the latest 41 fatalities were recorded over the past week.
The daily said the fatalities in the province brought the total dead to 260. Most were slaughtered by local Malays and Dayaks in Sambas regency, about 250 kilometers north of the capital. Torisz raised concerns that the province's medical provisions were only enough for one month.
Illnesses include diarrhea, with 264 people afflicted (including 95 children under five and 169 children aged five to nine), respiratory problems afflicting 172 and malaria affecting one, Torisz said. Fourteen pregnant women are also reportedly in danger of having miscarriages.
Of the pregnant women who were losing blood, Torisz said, "it's mainly due to stress and exhaustion" in centers, including 11 refugee centers in Pontianak.
Elderly refugees seem particularly vulnerable to conditions in refugee centers. At a military dormitory in Sambas, where refugees are taken before being transported by truck to Pontianak, most refugees live in tents due to lack of indoor shelter.
Meanwhile, members of the National Commission on Human Rights have reportedly arrived in West Kalimantan. They have been accused of acting too slow by a group of young Madurese in Jakarta who urged the government to reconcile conflicting parties.
The daily reported that as of Saturday there were 13,000 refugees in Pontianak, over 9,000 in Sambas and over 2,000 others in various places around Pontianak.
Pity
The ethnic clashes were triggered by trivial quarrels -- the refusal of a passenger to pay his fare to a Madurese bus driver and a similar tiff between a Madurese passenger and a local driver -- but Dayaks, Malays and Chinese cite longtime resentment toward the Madurese.
A Dayak resident told The Jakarta Post that he and his family felt pity when watching the images of the elderly and infants among Madurese refugees on television. "It's the young men among them that cause all the trouble, so eventually they're all affected."
Young Madurese refugees said they did not know why they were attacked, saying they were either tilling their land or doing something else when attackers approached.
Many Madurese have lost family members in the killings. Body parts were reportedly strewn on roads before they were buried in shallow graves along roadsides.
On Sunday, Minister of Transmigration Hendropriyono was reported as saying that the government was seeking alternative sites to resettle the Madurese. Community leaders told visiting Minister of Defense and Security/Armed Forces Commander Gen. Wiranto that they no longer could live with the Madurese, citing "incompatible" cultures.
Over 30,000 Madurese are believed to be unwilling to leave forested areas and their residential areas.
A refugee in Sambas said he regretted leaving his eight cows behind when he was forced to abandon his home by the approach of attackers.
As of Sunday, tension was still palpable, with fears of a clash in Pontianak where thousands of Madurese had arrived, and on the outskirts where Madurese were still defending their homes.
Roadblocks were still in place on the tightly guarded road leading to the military dormitory grounds housing refugees.
In Sambas, there were originally some 64,000 Madurese -- or 8 percent of the total 800,000 population.
Of West Kalimantan's four million population, 2 percent were Madurese, making the Sambas regency the biggest region with Madurese settlements -- followed by Siantan subdistrict of Pontianak mayoralty.
Meanwhile in Sambas, the latest outbreak of violence involving Malays and Madurese was reported in Sejangkung subdistrict.
About 180 Madurese homes were set on fire on Friday, Media Indonesia newspaper reported on Saturday. About 15 people were killed. No security personnel were seen in the area, it said.
As many as 4,000 troops have been deployed to the region, but they are outnumbered by Dayak and Malay warriors, who have been using spears, swords and homemade guns in attacks on Madurese villages. Last week, thousands of these traditional weapons were surrendered to the Sambas Police.
The recent clash was the first that pit the Madurese against local Malays. In the eight other previous clashes recorded since the 1960s, the Madurese clashed with tribal Dayaks. In the 1997 clash, the government said at least 300 were killed. (aan/leo)