Human rights body faces tough job in Kalimantan

JAKARTA (JP): The ethnic conflict in West Kalimantan is likely to tread a long and winding road before reaching settlement, National Commission on Human Rights Secretary-General Baharuddin Lopa said in Pontianak.

Lopa embarked Wednesday on an information-gathering trip with fellow commission member Bambang W. Suharto to the West Kalimantan capital and its surrounding area, which has been hit by ethnic and sectarian clashes for the past few weeks.

He quickly noticed the uphill challenges facing the commission.

"(Determining) the roots of the problem is not that simple because the unrest has involved some very basic principles of the two conflicting ethnic groups. The clashes here are very different from those that occurred in Java," Lopa told Antara after a meeting with West Kalimantan Governor Aspar Aswin Wednesday evening.

Later in the day, both Lopa and Bambang also met with Tanjungpura Military Commander Maj. Gen. Namoeri Anoem. The command oversees all four provinces in Kalimantan.

The rights body representatives ended their visit yesterday, hailing the military for its handling of the riots which broke out between native Dayaks and migrant Madurese from East Java in late December.

"The Armed Forces is in fact carrying out a humanitarian operation to (help people) cope with the ethnic rift here," Lopa said. During their two-day, fact-finding mission, Lopa and Bambang visited military barracks to which thousands of refugees had fled.

Lopa admitted that he had yet to see any ray of hope although efforts to settle the dispute began when the clashes first erupted.

"Informal leaders of the conflicting parties have already tried to settle differences between them, but their efforts no longer receive recognition from the people."

He said the peace agreement reached by the two groups a few years ago has been broken. "It's obvious that youths from the two ethnic groups swallow any information without checking its validity.

"They are vulnerable to clashes sparked by rumors," he added.

Lopa also blamed spokesmen of both ethnic groups for failing to explain the situation properly or help people in remote areas understand each other better.

Lopa declined to confirm the number of casualties, but he called for an immediate end to the unrest in the jungle. He also called for a universal effort to promote the peace pact that the Dayaks and the Madurese agreed on several years ago and a second one reached more recently.

Meanwhile, Malaysia reopened its frontier Wednesday afternoon. The border between its Sarawak state and West Kalimantan had been closed for more than a week because of the unrest.

Lopa said he feared the border closure had held up food distribution to remote areas in the province.

Head of the provincial logistics board Meirizal Salim admitted that his office's efforts to improve the supply of goods to markets, known as "market operation", might have reached only regency capitals.

"I doubt the market operation has reached people in remote districts," Meirizal said.

He added that a special operation to distribute rice to the public for free would be launched in remote areas because "people there no longer have sufficient buying power."

However, the special operation will be carried out only on the request of the governor who has to formally ask the chairman of the Logistics Board in Jakarta.

Hendro Sunoyo Sudagung, a Pontianak-based Madurese cultural expert, said yesterday Pontianak had calmed following the involvement of informal leaders in encouraging the conflicting groups to seek peace. They were briefed by the Tanjungpura military commander on how to anticipate further unrest.

Hendro said the 9 p.m. to 5 a.m. curfew remained but residents could be easily seen walking freely.

The deployment of a mobile brigade, strategic reserve command (Kostrad) units from Jambi, Riau and East Kalimantan had helped maintain order. Many of them are in security posts previously held by Dayaks and Madurese, according to Hendro.

The security posts stand along the roads leading to Sanggau and Singkawang districts. Residents are regularly checked at the posts. (01/amd)

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