Minor clashes continue in Sambas regency

Minor clashes continue in Sambas regency

JAKARTA (JP): Sporadic attacks continue against Madurese
migrants in the West Kalimantan regency of Sambas, provincial
police chief Col. Chaerul Rasjid said on Thursday.

Chaerul was quoted as saying by Antara that security personnel
were in general maintaining order and preventing clashes from
escalating.

His statement came after an overnight incident in which an
ethnic Malay man was killed and a troop was wounded in
Sungaikeran hamlet. Both were hit by gunshots.

A command post officer of the Sambas Police, Maj. Husaini
Najiri, told The Jakarta Post on Thursday that the 50-year-old
civilian, identified as Saleh, died at a local military hospital.
A bullet from a makeshift rifle also grazed the chin of Private
Marwan Harifah, but he was discharged from the hospital after
receiving treatment.

Security troops nabbed two alleged rioters, one of them a 15-
year-old male, and seized three homemade rifles, 56 bullets and
gunpowder.

Husaini said security personnel opened fire on a group of
Malays and Dayaks from neighboring Sungai Rukmajaya village who
fought Madurese settlers and torched six of their houses.

Hundreds of Madurese fled during the peak of the ethnic riots
in the province last month.

About 100 reinforcements from the provincial military and
police have been dispatched to Sungaikeran, according to Husaini.

Local legislator Bong Cin Nen said a peacekeeping team from
the National Police was mediating talks with community leaders.
The team includes two sociologists.

Col. Chaerul said that although calm returned to previously
riot-hit areas, tension rose to an alarming level in Darit,
Mandor and Sungairaya districts.

"Youth mental development programs we conducted in those three
areas have been unsuccessful," Chaerul said, adding that more
reinforcements were deployed to anticipate possible clashes.

Clashes pitting the Madurese community against Malays and
Dayaks erupted in mid-January, claiming at least 200 lives and
driving 29,000 Madurese settlers from their homes.

Calm

Calm also is gradually returning to riot-torn Southeast Maluku
regency although fears of fresh clashes remain.

Antara reported local people resumed their daily activities,
but were not leaving their villages.

Businesses and the public transportation system have yet to
fully resume operations. As most shops and markets are still
closed, people cannot buy essential food, particularly rice, palm
oil and noodles.

Activity was observed at state bank BRI and private bank
Danamon in the regency capital of Tual on Thursday as employees
disbursed their salaries. Military troops were alert around the
banks.

Suspicion between conflicting groups persists and leaflets
encouraging resumption of hostilities are easy to find.

Security troops have cleared barricades from streets in Kei
Besar and Kei Kecil districts, the areas most affected by
communal clashes.

A riot reinforcement battalion from the Army Strategic
Reserves Command based in Purwakarta, West Java, has arrived in
the regency. They are disarming the conflicting groups and
helping in repairs to homes, mosques, churches and other
buildings.

Communal clashes between Muslim and Christian groups broke out
late in March and spread across the regency. With 64 more bodies
found on Wednesday, the death toll from religious conflict moved
closer to 200. Another 200 were killed in sectarian clashes in
the provincial capital of Ambon.

In Jakarta, President B.J. Habibie urged settlers in other
parts of the country and their host communities to learn each
other's cultures in a bid to avoid fresh communal clashes.

"Each transmigration program should provide complete
information to both sides, both to the prospective migrants and
to the local community," Habibie said when opening a two-day
seminar on the transmigration program.

"The local culture should become the main focus of the
organizers and should also be known by the migrants to be
resettled, so that harmony and synergy in neighborly life can
take place," he added.

He admitted there were flaws in the 50-year-old government
program which has moved millions of people from the overpopulated
islands of Java, Madura and Bali, but pledged to make
improvements.

"The target for the development of each location for
transmigration should be clear so the utilization of the natural
resources could be maximized by all in a harmonious cooperation."
He added that new settlements should not become isolated
enclaves. (amd)