Madurese, Dayaks need government mediation
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)