Rumors of fresh riots persist in Pontianak

JAKARTA (JP): The West Kalimantan capital of Pontianak was tense but calm yesterday as rumors of fresh ethnic violence in other areas persisted, residents said yesterday.

Local sources contacted by The Jakarta Post by phone said that it was impossible to obtain information on what was going on in the West Kalimantan hinterland.

"All military and government officials are tight-lipped. Even officials of the newly established Alert Command Center won't talk to journalists here," the source said.

The source said the curfew imposed Feb. 2 is still in force, though not that tightly, with mobile brigade troops called in from Jakarta patrolling the streets and selectively body- searching people for weapons.

According to the source, the latest sporadic clashes happened after migrants from Madura broke the oath of peace they had made with native Dayak tribespeople following the Jan. 30 clash in Sanggau Ledo.

The Sanggau Ledo unrest occurred after two Dayak tribesmen were stabbed by migrants from Madura. The fast-spreading conflict stopped when leaders of the two disputing ethnic groups agreed to make peace.

However late last month a dormitory housing 32 Dayaks was attacked by masked men. It prompted another wave of clashes in West Kalimantan, the source said.

AFP reported yesterday that Malaysian border officials in Sarawak have allowed several hundred Indonesians to cross a technically closed border with West Kalimantan despite ethnic violence on the Indonesian side.

"We have allowed more than 300 Indonesians to pass through over the past eight days but it was at their own risk," John Reva, senior immigration officer at the Tebudu crossing post told AFP by telephone.

The temporary closure of the border was ordered by Kuala Lumpur on Feb. 2.

"The morning after the closure we found more than 80 Indonesians on our side of the border," he said.

The police presence on the border has been reinforced while the Indonesians concerned were referred to their consulate. Many of the Indonesians who returned to West Kalimantan had been stranded after the closure, as they had been working in Malaysia.

Although the main gates have been closed, the border post has continued to operate and people holding valid travel documents have been allowed to go through if they insisted, Reva said.

Local policemen are still guarding the post against any spillover of the trouble from the other side but the situation seemed to be calm at the moment, Reva said.

"We are still awaiting approval from the authorities to officially reopen the border, " he added.

The Tebudu crossing, about 90 kilometers (55 miles) from Kuching, is the major entry point between Sarawak and Kalimantan. It is also the most popular border crossing among the 12 in Sarawak.

The National Security Council had said it would only reopen the Tebudu border post once the situation is declared safe by the Indonesian authorities.

It had also beefed up security at the Tebudu post as a precautionary measure to ensure the safety of immigration officers there.

Political analysts reckoned the racial riots would not spill over into Malaysia, but warned that "sympathetic feelings" could provoke Dayaks in Sarawak to act with their "brothers" in Kalimantan.

They also criticized Indonesia's transmigration policy, saying it encroached on the livelihood of the Dayaks, who number some four million people, calling for action by Jakarta to improve the lot of the indigenous people. (08)