Over 100 dead bodies left untransported

SAMPIT, Central Kalimantan (JP): Over 100 dead bodies were found in separate spots in the Sampit area, Central Kalimantan, on Monday, while fresh troops and aid for the prolonged communal conflicts arrived by air.

Comr. Tato Suharto, chief of Central Kalimantan Police Control Unit (Sabara) said the number of dead bodies found on Monday totaled 118. All of the corpses were dumped and untransported at the front yard of the Parenggean district head's office located on the main road connecting Sampit and Palangkaraya.

Authorities speculated that all the dead bodies were of Madurese men, who had sought ways to leave Sampit.

The finding of the dead bodies made the conflict areas more tense. Transportation from Sampit to Palangkaraya -- four hours by car -- was practically halted. No public transport vehicles, including taxis, had the courage to operate.

Meanwhile, fourteen tons of food, medicines and blankets arrived aboard a military Hercules plane for thousands of victims of the Dayak-Madura ethnic violence that by official count has left at least 300 dead over the last week.

Two Hercules military transport planes dropped off 650 Army Strategic Reserves Command (Kostrad) crack troops at the city's airport, to be deployed in Palangkaraya and the coastal city of Pangkalan Bun, 440 kilometers west of Sampit.

Two more military battalions have been deployed to Sampit to assist existing police and military troops there.

President Abdurrahman Wahid said, "I have already consulted (Coordinating Minister for Political, Social and Security Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and National Police Chief Bimantoro) whether I should return to Indonesia, but they both said that I should continue my overseas trip."

He said the two were consulted after he got calls from home calling on him to cut short his trip.

Susilo told a media briefing at Tjilik Riwut airport in Palangkaraya on Monday that the deployment of the troops was to anticipate the situation in that city (Pangkalan Bun), "because there is a greater chance of potential violence there."

No violence has so far been reported in Pangkalan Bun.

"We will focus the protection towards refugees and non- refugees that are facing a life-threatening situation," he said.

Reports from the South Kalimantan capital of Banjarmasin said that trucks loaded with refugees from Palangkaraya kept entering the city until Monday evening.

Husein, one of the refugees, said he and his family left Palangkaraya on Monday after rumors had it that Madurese people living in Palangkaraya would also be cleansed.

The existing refugees in Sampit as of Monday numbered at around 10,000 as thousands of others have fled by navy ships to East Java; they have been living in squalid conditions and been hit by water and food shortages.

Meanwhile, thousands of Madurese migrants arrived at the Surabaya seaport of Tanjung Perak from Sampit on Monday.

The Navy warship Teluk Ende carrying a total of 3,296 people arrived at the port at 6 a.m. on Monday, while another vessel Tilieng Kabilah with 200 people arrived at noon, making a total of Madurese refugees entering Surabaya to more than 10,000 since Saturday. Another 14 thousands were still in Sampit.

East Java Deputy Governor for people's welfare Imam Supardi said that the refugees needed mental rehabilitation. "They have been too terrified."

Medical officials, however, said that lots of casualties have been thrown into the river. "So actually we'll never be able to know the real number of victims," Minister Achmad Sujudi said.

Sujudi also revealed that an emergency post has been set up and one could dial (0536) 30665 - 30688 and fax 24153.

Chairman of the Indonesian Medical association (IDI) Achmad Djojosugito also expressed IDI readiness of paramedic and doctors to cope with post riot situation.

In Sampit and Palangkaraya, however, truckloads of thousands of armed Dayaks roamed on Monday through the city, torching, smashing and looting Madurese shops and houses.

The East Kalimantan Dayaks' Association Martinus F. Tennes and traditional tribesmen leader Ladeng Mering dismissed allegations that their groups had sent armed Dayaks to Central Kalimantan.

Jakarta

Soon after arriving in Jakarta, Minister Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono said on Monday that the central government had asked the local authority, -- the governor, the local police chief, and the local military commander, to estimate within three days whether they needed to settle the emergency status in the troubled area in Central Kalimantan.

A similar call was also made by the Speaker of the House of Representatives (DPR), Akbar Tandjung.

"The government will support every effort taken by the local authority, including the imposition of a civil emergency, in order to restore security there and to avoid a further conflict.

Also in Jakarta, National Police chief of detectives Insp. Gen. Engkesman Hillep said on Monday that police were still interrogating three suspects arrested over the Sampit clashes, and were positive that these three men had taken part in the "careful planning" of the clashes.

Sr. Comr. Timbul Sianturi, head of the National Police's General Information service, had earlier said that the three suspects, one of whom is an official of the local forestry office, had reportedly paid Rp 20 million to six men, to provoke the clashes in a bid to retain their civil service posts. (team)