Fri, 28 Sep 2001

Madurese, Dayaks need government mediation

JAKARTA (JP): The government had stopped short of playing a mediatory role in efforts being made to reconcile Central Kalimantan's indigenous Dayaks and Madurese migrants, a Dayak community leader announced on Wednesday.

K.M.A. Usop said the government could have played a better role to deal with the ethnic conflict, which has displaced thousands of Madurese families from Central Kalimantan.

The two ethnic groups were engaged in bloody clashes in February in Palangkaraya, the capital of Central Kalimantan and the southern town of Sampit. One estimate has put the death toll at 5,000, mostly Madurese.

The ethnic conflict has been deeply rooted for decades. The Dayaks see the Madurese as migrants who do not respect local culture and glorify violent means to resolve differences.

"The two ethnic groups need the government's mediation to solve the conflict," Usop told The Jakarta Post on the sidelines of a workshop on ethno-religious conflict in Indonesia on Wednesday.

Usop, who is a lecturer at the University of Palangkaraya, said that the appointment of Vice President Hamzah Haz as mediator has yet to have any effect.

Various attempts aimed at reconciling the opposing parties had not succeeded because there was no mediator, he said.

Conflict between the Madurese and Dayaks resurfaced earlier this month when the Dayaks rejected hundreds of Madurese who were meant to return to their homes in Central Kalimantan.

The Madurese attempted a homecoming after the Central Kalimantan People's Congress set conditions in June for the return of Madurese immigrants. The conditions were that only Madurese born in Central Kalimantan, who had no criminal record and respected local culture would be welcomed.

Usop said that many Dayak people were still hostile to the re- entry of the Madurese because the natives were still "very traumatized" by the recent bloody conflict.

"They (Madurese) should not return until security is assured for both the Dayaks and Madurese," Usop said.

Usop's caution, it turned out, is in line with the policy of the Governor of Central Kalimantan, Asmawi Agani.

Asmawi said in Palangkaraya on Wednesday that the province would remain closed to Madurese until the administration had completed a bylaw that would regulate migration in the area.

The governor also asked Madurese who had been in Central Kalimantan to leave for the sake of their own security.

"No Madurese are welcome because the bylaw is being deliberated with the provincial legislative council," Asmawi said.

Chairman of the Central Kalimantan Legislative Council Hardeman K. Nyaring called on the Madurese not to insist on re- entering the province.

He was responding to reports that many of the 163 Madurese refugees stranded in Banjarmasin, South Kalimantan, want to return to Central Kalimantan. (09)