Health hazards threatening Madurese refugees

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)