Madurese refugees get relief from WVI
Madurese refugees get relief from WVI
JAKARTA (JP): Humanitarian relief has started to flow to over
30,000 Madurese refugees in West Kalimantan's capital of
Pontianak and its surroundings, Antara reported on Tuesday.
Meanwhile, Governor Aspar Aswin said the local administration
was considering where to relocate the refugees.
Officials from Jakarta -- including National Police chief Gen.
Roesmanhadi, Coordinating Minister for People's Welfare and
Poverty Eradication Haryono Suyono -- and a team of the House of
Representatives visited the area to learn about the recent
unrest.
The news agency said the internationally linked World Vision
Indonesia (WVI) humanitarian organization provided refugees with
a number of essential daily needs and medical support.
"I've consulted with the provincial health office on kinds of
medicines needed by refugees," WVI representative in Pontianak
Sudarmo Tandijono was quoted as saying on Monday.
Another foreign country which has pledged to send humanitarian
relief for the refugees -- mostly women and children -- is
Germany, the news agency reported.
The refugees are victims of recent unrest that pit Madurese in
Sambas against local Malays, who were later joined by indigenous
Dayak tribespeople and supported by migrant Bugis and local
Chinese-Indonesians.
At least 200 were killed in the clashes that broke out over
two weeks ago in the regency, which lies 250 kilometers north of
Pontianak.
Antara reported that the provincial administration's notion to
relocate the refugees to Ketapang regency -- over 350 kilometers
south of Pontianak -- had been rejected by locals.
Governor Aspar Aswin said the relocation of Madurese would be
carefully planned so as not to invoke new problems for other
locals in the province.
In a meeting with Roesmanhadi in Pontianak, Madurese community
figure Hambali said he objected to Madurese in West Kalimantan
being called migrants who had to be returned to their hometowns
on Madura, an island off the coast of East Java.
"We are West Kalimantan Madurese, we've been here for
generations. We're not Bangkalan Madurese. I was born here," he
said. Bangkalan is a town in Madura.
In the meeting, Bugis community figure Preslandi also
suggested that the Madurese be resettled in other areas, but
maintained that they should not be removed from the province as
it would set a bad precedent.
Dayak elder Rachmat Sahudin blamed the few Madurese who did
not assimilate and were less willing to blend in with other
residents.
"But this is not a fault of one certain ethnic group, but the
responsibility of us all," he said.
Sociologist Syarif Ibrahim Alqadrie of the University of
Tanjungpura suggested that the police should act immediately to
settle individuals' disputes before they turned into ethnic
violence.
Meanwhile, the situation in Pontianak on Tuesday was calm
after claims that the town was tense following rumors that
Madurese planned retaliation attacks in Pontianak.
"No night curfew is needed, but I agree that to stop Sambas
riots from spreading, the police need to launch an operation
against people carrying weapons," Roesmanhadi was quoted as
saying.
In its visit on Tuesday, the House of Representatives' team
led by House Deputy Speaker Fatimah Achmad told Governor Aspar
not to be hasty in deciding on the relocation of the refugees.
"We suggest the local government be wise in deciding on new
places for the refugees," she said as quoted by Antara.
In Yogyakarta, Madurese grouped in Yogyakarta Forum of
Scholars and Families of Madura protested "hurtful" coverage of
TVRI regarding the clashes.
The report said riots happened because of the arrogance of
Madurese in Kalimantan, forum chairman Malik Madani said.
They demanded that TVRI apologize or else they would sue the
state-run station. Forum secretary M. Mahfud said that in future
the government should pay more attention to interethnic
relations, and that the forum's protest reflected concern over
other sites of carnage involving ethnic and religious friction.
(aan/44)