Refugees hamper sports development in Pontianak

By Ivy Susanti

PONTIANAK, West Kalimantan (JP): Ethnic clashes across Indonesia over the past two years have not only claimed numerous lives, but also have permanently wounded the hearts of many. As the clashes raged, many people found themselves refugees.

Here, the refugees -- mostly from Madura's Sambas regency -- have had to occupy the city's prestigious Sultan Syarif Abdurrahman soccer stadium since February.

Rows of small shacks with wooden walls and roofs made of leaves are set up some 30 centimeters above the ground. They are scattered along Jl. Jend. Ahmad Yani, the city's main boulevard, to Jl. Sultan Syarif Abdurrahman, where the 20-hectare stadium is located.

During a visit by The Jakarta Post early this month, children in school uniforms were seen walking to the stadium complex while women bathed, washed clothes and did housework.

Drying clothes hung under the scorching sun, and piles of wood and cardboard lay beside the shacks.

Some of the refugees were sheltered in the stadium's building complex, next to the office of the West Kalimantan chapter of the Soccer Association of Indonesia (PSSI).

The chapter's secretary, Harry Aladin, said the provincial authorities could no longer support the refugees.

"The authorities have limited capability. Moreover, the authorities were too slow relocating them," he said.

He said two months before the refugees arrived, the 30,000- seat stadium had been renovated. "You see the condition of the stadium now. The latest renovation cost us Rp 96 million (US$11,000)."

Harry said he did not have the heart to tell the refugees to leave, but he also turned down an offer to move his office.

"I have to keep the secretariat here. If I left, the refugees would take over the building. But I have tried to be good to them for the sake of humanity. And they have responded to the efforts warmly. In this way, we have not lost any of our office property."

Another official said the West Kalimantan soccer team was unable to train properly for the 2000 National Games in June due to the presence of the refugees.

Pontianak has another soccer field, Khatulistiwa stadium, for training and competitions but it can only accommodate 5,000 spectators.

Different look

Refugees from Sambas came in droves to Pontianak and other large cities in the province, fleeing clashes between the migrant Madurese and majority ethnic groups, including the Malays and Dayaks, in the province last year.

According to official records, 20,782 Madurese have fled the regency since the violence erupted.

The clashes claimed at least 165 lives, including 154 Madurese and 10 Malays, and left 62 others seriously injured. Some 2,127 houses were razed in the month-long clashes.

These official numbers are lower than the figures cited by the press, which say more than 200 people were killed in the violence.

The presence of the refugees at the stadium has given a different look to the sports facility. The grass has grown higher and turned yellow. The wind brings with it the odor of damp shacks and human beings living on top of each other, mixed with the smell of the animals that roam the area.

Yet the Madurese will not leave, remembering the horror that forced them to flee their homes.

A Madurese who acts as a mediator with PSSI, Sudirman, said as many as 5,326 people were living in the complex. "Many couples have had children since they arrived here last year."

He also said it was difficult to encourage the refugees to return to their homeland of Madura, East Java, as the families of many of them have lived in Sambas since 1927.

"But there is also no guarantee of safety if they return to Sambas, because hatred toward us still fills the atmosphere. This is no longer a personal dispute, but tribal warfare. A daughter of a marriage between a Madurese and a Malay or Dayak can visit her grandparents, but there is no pardon for a son," the 24-year- old said.

Sudirman said refugees made a living by collecting cardboard boxes, selling newspapers or working as construction workers. He also said the authorities had offered them a site at nearby Tebang Kacang village which could accommodate 500 families, but they turned down the offer.

Forty-year-old Raba'i, who fled his home in Sebenua village in Sambas with his wife and three children, said the site offered by the authorities was peatland which could not support small-scale farmers.

"Tebang Kacang village is mostly peatland. Some people visited this area and concluded that the site was not suitable for agriculture. Moreover, the small houses provided by the government were made of cheap wood that broke easily," he said.

He expressed hope he and his family could leave the stadium and return to Sambas, but he also asked the government to guarantee their safety.

"I don't dare return to Sambas now; it's not safe there. We might lose our heads," he said.