PPP denies members' involvement in ethnic riot

JAKARTA (JP): The United Development Party (PPP) denied an Army claim yesterday that two of its politicians had incited the latest wave of ethnic violence in West Kalimantan.

PPP chairman Ismail Hasan Metareum said Amin Imron had not visited the troubled province as the army had alleged while Abdullah Schal visited from Jan. 9 to Jan. 16 on a peace mission initiated by senior Islamic preachers from Madura.

The Moslem-oriented PPP sent a fact-finding team to West Kalimantan from Jan. 11 through Jan. 14 following the first clash, in Sanggau Ledo, between indigenous Dayaks and migrants from Madura.

The team, according to Metareum, consisted of Bachtiar Chamsyah, Koensholehoeddin and Nadhier Muhammad, all House of Representatives members.

Amin and Abdullah, who both hail from Madura, were among the four people army leaders publicly identified as instigators of the latest wave of unrest in West Kalimantan.

Maj. Gen. Zacky Anwar Makarim, Assistant to the Army Chief for Security Affairs, said Monday the four had been questioned by the police but more evidence was needed before they could be arrested.

Army Chief of Staff Gen. R. Hartono said Monday the second wave of violence, which newspapers have said claimed 300 lives, was instigated by a group of East Java people who went to West Kalimantan to fan fresh unrest.

The second wave of clashes started on Jan. 29, less than a month after the Dayaks and Madurese reached a peace agreement.

Residents of West Kalimantan have said the latest unrest erupted following reports that 40 masked men, believed to be migrants from Madura, attacked a foundation that manages Catholic schools in the Siantan Tengah district.

The Dayaks accused the Madurese migrants of breaking the oath of peace they had made following an earlier clash in the Sanggau Ledo district triggered by a minor dispute over a woman. Five people were killed and 21 went missing following the first incident, officials reported.

When pressed about Hartono's remarks that the Army had plenty of evidence of the two PPP members' presence in West Kalimantan, Ismail said the PPP would consider questioning the two.

When confronted with the army's claim that Amin and Abdullah had circulated provocative leaflets with their pictures printed on them, Ismail said the allegation was not true.

"The leaflets were part of the party's fund-raising drive to finance the upcoming general election campaign," he said.

Meanwhile, PPP deputy chairman Hamzah Haz said the leaflets were probably taken to West Kalimantan by santri (students of Islamic boarding schools).

Moslem leaders in Madura said yesterday they were certain Hartono had not meant to accuse the local Ulemas' Board of Communication when he was said "people from East Java" incited the second wave of unrest.

"I'm sure Pak (Mr.) Hartono did not target the board simply because four of our members visited West Kalimantan," board secretary Nurudin A. Rahman told Antara yesterday.

Nurudin said the visit of the four members, including Abdullah, to West Kalimantan from Jan. 9 to Jan. 16 was simply motivated by a desire to help calm the situation there.

"We tried to help restore peace there and called on Madura migrants not to be easily provoked by rumors that could lead to fresh riots," he said.

Moreover, he said, "We also tried to cheer them up and told them not take any revenge." (imn)