Sampit revisited
Sampit revisited
More than a week after a wave of violence and anarchy began to
sweep the Central Kalimantan heartland, in the township of
Sampit, there is still no sign that the ethnic turmoil that is
threatening to tear apart this nation's unity is about to end.
In fact, rather the opposite is true. As of yesterday, the
authorities in Sampit seem to have the situation more or less
under control. However, elsewhere in the province the bloody
conflict involving the local Dayak population and settlers from
Madura Island off the East Java coast is spreading and has now
reached the provincial capital Palangkaraya itself.
Over the past weekend, bands of Dayaks armed with spears and
machetes roamed the streets of Palangkaraya, hunting down and
killing any Madurese settlers they could find and setting their
homes on fire.
No precise count of the casualties from the killing spree was
immediately available, but media reports have put the total count
of people killed in Central Kalimantan during the past week of
violence at more than 250 as of yesterday. Unofficial reports,
however, say the death toll could run as high as 400 or more as
many decomposing bodies have yet to be removed from the jungle
and other remote areas. Hundreds of houses have been reduced to
ashes, their contents looted, and the number of Madurese who have
fled into the jungle is estimated to have reached about 5,000.
In several areas in the city, police personnel stood helpless
as they watched the rioting. This and the fact that the outbreak
of trouble in Palangkaraya occurred on the very day that National
Police Chief Gen. (Pol.) Surojo Bimantoro and Military (TNI)
Chief Adm. Widodo A.S. arrived on the spot -- accompanied by the
Minister of Health and Social Welfare Achmad Sujudi and military
intelligence chief Vice Marshal Ian Santoso Perdanakusumah --
only illustrates the low esteem and the lack of authority which
the government suffers at the moment.
Indonesians, it is true, have of late heard some rather strong
and welcoming statements from Minister Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono,
the Coordinating Minister of Political and Social Affairs and
Security. In the latest such statement made on Sunday in Sampit,
for example, Susilo said all those guilty of killing, looting or
committing arson must be arrested and brought to justice.
The government, he said, would take immediate steps to see to
it that the turmoil in Central Kalimantan is put to an end,
placing first priority on protecting human lives against acts of
violence including killings, torture and arson. The second
priority would be restoring peace and order, including providing
humanitarian assistance to refugees and other members of the
populace suffering from the aftermath of the violence.
In enforcing the law in the area, proper emphasis would be
given to persuasive means. "However, if necessary, repressive
means should not be considered impossible," he added. President
Abdurrahman Wahid's statement, which he made in Cairo on Sunday,
that he would order special troops to be dispatched to Central
Kalimantan could further strengthen the impression that the
government, at last, is prepared to take firm measures to stop
the anarchy that has been plaguing a number of areas in
Indonesia.
Pressured from all sides to start acting decisively in order
to save the country from disintegrating -- and his own government
from collapsing -- President Abdurrahman Wahid may finally have
been persuaded to act with some measure of resolution. The
problem is whether the state apparatus is ready to follow.
So far the National Police and Military authorities are both
inclined to use the human rights argument to refrain from taking
firm action even when firm action is clearly mandated to protect
the rights of others. Until this hurdle is passed little hope
exists for peace and order anywhere in this archipelago.
But passing this hurdle will be only the first step towards
finding a lasting solution to stopping the inherent centrifugal
forces that are threatening to pull this nation apart. The next
and much more difficult step to take is to try to bring the
diverse ethnic groups of Indonesia closer together -- especially
in the so-called resettlement areas -- by eliminating economic
disparities between groups and by a more cultural approach in
order to sow the seeds of mutual appreciation among Indonesia's
hugely diverse population.