The Sampit violence
The Sampit violence
As the latest wave of violence and killings was spreading
across parts of Kalimantan on Thursday, reports of scenes
grizzlier than can be imagined by any civilized person have begun
to come trickling into Jakarta through the news media.
On Thursday alone, rescue workers in Sampit, a township about
241 kilometers west of Central Kalimantan's provincial capital of
Palangka Raya, were reported to have collected the headless
bodies of at least 20 victims who had been killed the night
before when bands of people roamed the streets, parading the
severed heads of their victims, still dripping with blood.
Agency reports estimate the number of people killed in these
latest clashes to be at least 100. The Indonesian news agency
Antara, however, estimates the number of dead victims to run into
the hundreds. Local residents reported that by daybreak bodies
were still lying in the streets.
As thousands of terrified people, mostly older people, women
and children, continue to flee to nearby towns and cities to seek
refuge, aid workers report that the specter of hunger and disease
is beginning to materialize.
This flare-up of communal violence that began on Sunday is but
the latest to hit Kalimantan pitting groups of the local Dayak
population against settlers from Madura island off the East Java
coast.
In 1999, widespread riots hit Sambas regency in West
Kalimantan, leaving hundreds of people dead, while dozens of
others were gruesomely murdered in clashes between the two ethnic
groups in 1997.
The big question is, what are the reasons behind these
recurring clashes between the two ethnic groups, between locals
and settlers, who for decades, at least on the surface, appeared
to have been able to live together in peace?
One possible answer is given by M. Usop, presidium head of the
Central Kalimantan Region and Dayak Community Consultation
League, who said, "Generally speaking the Dayak community in
Central Kalimantan is open to anyone, from whichever ethnic
group. However, if the migrants (settlers) cannot adjust to local
values, then it is better that they voluntarily leave."
Certainly, different cultural backgrounds do account for at
least some of the friction that from time to time occurs between
Indonesia's diverse population groups. Certainly, too, cultural
differences seem to better explain the violence that erupted this
week in Central Kalimantan than the reason given by the police.
Police officials in Jakarta said on Wednesday that they had
captured one of two suspected "masterminds" behind Sunday's
Sampit riots. The two were identified as "local officials" whose
motives for inciting the riots were to be reappointed to jobs
from which they had been dismissed.
It remains to be seen whether the police are able to back up
their case with tangible proof this time. In Jakarta, meanwhile,
it is difficult to avoid the speculation that these latest
troubles in Kalimantan are somehow related to those of the
Soeharto clan.
It must be said that there are some grounds for such
speculation. After all, why is it that every time a member of the
Soeharto family gets into difficulties with the authorities,
trouble breaks out in some region in Indonesia.
Whether such reasoning is, in reality, well-grounded remains
to be seen. Whatever the case, the important thing for the
authorities to do under the circumstances is to seriously look
into every possibility in order to prevent any recurrence.
In the final analysis, and as far as the public is concerned,
it makes little difference what the actual reason is. It could
well be a combination of several of the reasons suggested. The
important thing is for the authorities to find out where the
problem lies and to act on it, with wisdom and in a professional
manner. For the people in the affected areas it is much more than
a matter of making the right assumptions. It is a matter of life
and death.