Lessons from Kalimantan

For several decades, Indonesia has prided itself on its ability to forge unity among its people from diverse ethnic, cultural and religious backgrounds. Pluralism, far from dividing the country, has been the nation's strength. But the escalating ethnic violence in West Kalimantan in the past few weeks, between the local Dayak people and migrants from Madura Island, requires us to take another look at some of the assumptions we have held about our ability to live together as a nation.

Enmity has existed between the two ethnic groups for a long time. But that they have harbored such deep-seated hatred, shown by the way they have been killing one another, has taken many people, even the authorities, by surprise. It shows our failure to detect the potential for violent conflict in that part of the archipelago. And it also shows that we have been taking our unity for granted for too long.

The West Kalimantan conflict is different from other ethnic clashes our country has seen in recent months, or years. The sporadic violence between the indigenous people and the minority ethnic Chinese in a number of towns in the past few years has been attributed to social rather than cultural or religious gaps, due to a wealth disparity between the two groups. The solution is clear: narrow the income disparity, which is exactly what the government's national development program has been attempting to do.

In the case of Kalimantan, such an approach will not work because both the Dayaks and the migrants from Madura are among poor and deprived groups in society. The conflict between them was likely the result of a clash of two cultures, more than any other factor. Unfortunately, there are no simple or shortcut solutions. In the context of nation building, forging harmony between different ethnic and cultural groups is a long and arduous process.

We praise the military and the authorities for their attempt to restore order and mediate between the two conflicting groups in West Kalimantan. They now have the unenviable task of mediating between two apparently very bitter adversaries. The peace pledge the Dayak and Madurese tribal leaders made, along with other ethnic groups in West Kalimantan, on Feb. 18 in front of local government and military leaders, was broken on the same day. This shows either their lack of commitment to peace, or their inability to influence their people. Either way, the result has been disastrous because the killing has continued. At some stage, we believe the military, which has maintained neutrality in the conflict and was deployed chiefly to keep the two groups separate, must take firm action to end the senseless carnage.

Although we are guilty of taking unity for granted, some officials have continued to make precisely the same error. Their pronouncements that the conflict had been resolved and that peace had been restored, even as the killings were taking place, is not helping the situation. That action amounts to sweeping the problem under the carpet -- something we have been doing these past few decades -- hoping that it will resolve itself eventually.

If there is one important lesson that the Dayak-Madura conflict in West Kalimantan has taught us, it is that we should acknowledge the problem first and foremost, and then work out a solution. Dismissing it simply keeps the problem under a tight lid, which could explode later with more devastation.

The West Kalimantan affair has shown that 52 years since our founding fathers pronounced our independence, we still have plenty of work to do when it comes to character and nation building. We need to work harder to achieve our ideals as stated in the state motto "Unity in Diversity". Forging unity is a long and difficult process, but if we keep taking it for granted, we risk the possibility of new conflicts elsewhere in the country.