Refugees still want to go home to Sampit
Refugees still want to go home to Sampit
Yogita Tahilramani and Edith Hartanto, The Jakarta Post, Sampang,
Madura
Sixty-year-old refugee Wafir, a neighborhood unit head in
Sampit and a teacher, said that he spent his days wondering how
things went so horribly wrong.
"One day, we were told the Dayaks were coming to attack us,
and we were informed by the security forces to take refuge at the
local administration's office. The next thing we knew, our houses
were burned down.
"Whether it was done by Dayaks or the security forces, we do
not know, because we were immediately evacuated," Wafir said.
"As soon as things started to erupt, ships were prepared and
readied to carry us off to Sampang. How those ships were prepared
so quickly to carry us off, we don't know."
Grandmother Sa'anah's old glittering eyes tell people that she
has seen too much horror in her life.
"I was born in Sampit during the Dutch colonial era. I also
survived the Japanese occupation. We have six generations living
in Kalimantan and I have 16 great grandchildren. But God, living
in Sampang is too much even for a woman like me to bear," Saanah
said.
In contrast to the dry land and tiny housing unit she has
right now, back at her hometown in Kampung Tampiangang in Batuah
village, Central Kalimantan, Sa'anah and her extensive family
have large plots of land with various crops to be managed and
cultivated.
"I want to go home to Sampit because that's where we belong.
Even though we have Madurese blood, we were born in Sampit. We
are aliens to the Madurese here," Sa'anah said, her eyes close to
tears.
"Why does the government keep on giving us false hope?
"They should have sent us home. One of my (Madurese) nephews
has just returned from Sampit and he said that actually the
situation is quite secure. We certainly have a lot of work to do
once we get home and have placed my grandchildren in school," she
said.
Saanah, along with her family, witnessed the worst episode of
bloody ethnic conflict between the Madurese and the Dayaks in
Central Kalimantan about two years ago. Painful memories of their
lost loved ones, horrendous scenes of slaughtered women and
children, headless corpses and mutilated remains of
Madurese are likely to haunt them for the rest of their
lives.
Her grandson Sudarno said that Madurese refugees at his camp
were relatively enlightened in terms of political matters and
were not easily fooled.
"Many local party executives from the United Development Party
(PPP) and the National Awakening Party (PKB) tried to win our
support. We are not fools though.
They said that if you join PPP, you'll be guaranteed a place
in heaven. What we want is a decent job and better earnings. We
don't care about politics," Sudarno said.