Tension remains in violence-hit Sampit

JAKARTA (JP): Clashes continued in Sampit, East Kotawaringin regency, Central Kalimantan, on Friday, with the death toll from the ethnic violence rising to over 100.

Military and police reinforcements continue to be deployed in the regency, while thousands of Madurese refugees prepare to leave the area for East Java aboard Navy ships.

National Police chief Gen. Surojo Bimantoro, who was in Makassar, South Sulawesi, on Friday to inaugurate members of the Narcotics Bureau, conceded that "generally, the violence is still raging in Sampit".

Surojo said a 10 p.m. to 6 a.m. curfew had been imposed and urged residents to obey the curfew.

The Navy decided on Friday to send a second ship to the area. The KRI Teku Ende-517 was deployed from Surabaya, East Java, and will join the KRI Teluk Sampit-515 in evacuating refugees.

The two ships are expected to arrive in Samuda, about 40 kilometers south of Sampit, on Friday evening.

Estimates on the number of refugees in Sampit vary, with Antara putting the figure at 12,000 sheltering at the local council office and police and military headquarters.

As of Friday no less than 80 people were being detained by police on charges of arson and vandalism, while 38 were being held on suspicion of murder, Surojo said.

"The suspects came from both warring camps (of Dayaks and Madurese)," Surojo said.

Sampit Police chief Adj. Sr. Comr. Petrus Hardono said the latest death toll stood at 91, however, he added that this figure could go much higher "since dozens of bodies have still not been removed from the streets".

"The death toll may reach over 100 as we are still trying to locate more victims and remove them," Petrus said.

The violence in the small Central Kalimantan city erupted on Sunday morning and spread to surrounding areas in the following days.

Kalimantan has seen recurrent episodes of ethnic violence in recent years. Thousands are believed to have died in 1997 during ethnic clashes in Sambas regency, West Kalimantan.

The latest episode was in December, when at least four died in several days of fighting between Dayaks and Madurese in Central Kalimantan, while 11 people were killed in similar clashes in the West Kalimantan capital of Pontianak in October.

The current violence in Sampit again pits migrant Madurese against local Dayaks.

East Kotawaringin Regent Wahyudi K. Anwar urged on Friday local Dayak tribal leaders to end the violence. "These atrocities must stop; no more deaths."

Local journalists said dozens of headless corpses were discovered along Jl. S. Parman, which is located directly behind the regent's official residence.

"(The situation) became tenser in the afternoon and those bodies have not yet been removed," a local journalist said as quoted by Antara.

Based on their records, hospital officials have put the death toll at 134.

At last count no fewer than 168 houses have been damaged and 76 gutted by mobs since Sunday.

In Jakarta, the head of the National Police's General Information Service, Sr. Comr. Timbul Sianturi, said police have arrested three men, identified only as Fd, Lw and In, who is an official of the local forestry office, who are believed to be masterminds of the riot.

The three men are reported to have paid Rp 20 million to six men to provoke the clashes in a bid to retain their civil service posts.

In Surabaya, House of Representatives Speaker Akbar Tandjung urged Vice President Megawati Soekarnoputri to help resolve the violence in Sampit.

"The Sampit case must be the top priority for Megawati, and since President Abdurrahman Wahid is already away on a foreign trip she will be assisted by law enforcers. I believe she can do the job well," Akbar said as quoted by Antara.

Akbar warned that "if the Sampit case is not resolved, it will have a negative impact on prospective foreign investors who wish to conduct business in Kalimantan".

"Footage of people getting their heads chopped off will scare people away," he said. (27/edt/jun)