Kalimantan Madurese may be resettled

JAKARTA (JP): Thousands of Madurese migrants may be moved to another province in the wake of the recent ethnic clashes in West Kalimantan, a cabinet minister said yesterday.

Minister of Transmigration Siswono Yodohusodo said the government would help resettle the migrants under the state- sponsored transmigration program.

The transmigrants from Madura island, East Java, were engaged in a series of bloody clashes with indigenous Dayaks earlier this year. Hundreds of people were believed to have been killed and thousands of houses set on fire.

After a meeting with President Soeharto at Merdeka Palace, Siswono said the government would help restore 2,000 wrecked houses belonging to the Madurese and Dayaks.

Siswono said only seven out of 264 transmigration resettlement units in West Kalimantan were affected by the riot.

"In most resettlement sites, the Dayak and the Madurese people live well," he said.

"The Dayaks who attacked the seven units came from other areas. In fact the (seven) units were also guarded by Dayak resettlers."

West Kalimantan Governor Aspar Aswin said recently that almost 2,500 houses were destroyed and 93 others damaged. This resulted in Rp 13.5 billion (US$5.8 million) in material damage.

There are currently about 20,000 homeless Madurese with no where to go, Gatra magazine reported in its April 12 edition.

"Many of them are still traumatic, some could not take it," the magazine quoted Aswin as saying. He added there are places where Dayaks could not yet welcome back Madurese.

Siswono said the transmigration program in West Kalimantan began in 1974. Since then, 264 resettlement units have been built and occupied by 85,887 families consisting of 450,000 people.

Migrants, including those from Madura, constitute 12.5 percent of West Kalimantan's 3.6 million people, according to official statistics.

Maj. Gen. Namuri Anoem, Chief of the Tanjungpura military command overseeing security in Kalimantan, said yesterday the situation in the province was under control.

"West Kalimantan is safe and ready for next month's general election," he said as quoted by Antara in Samarinda, East Kalimantan. (aan)