The tragedy of the Sampit anarchy

By James Van Zorge

JAKARTA (JP): The tale is one of anarchy: Decapitation, rites of cannibalism, disemboweled corpses. Unfortunately, these are the images and horrid scenes that are now synonymous with Indonesia in foreign bedrooms and boardrooms.

Meanwhile, a seemingly disinterested and callous president is seen sipping tea in foreign capitols, whose only response to the unfolding tragedy is to downplay its severity by contesting the reported number of fatalities.

Accompanying the head of state is his foreign minister, who boasts of talks about exporting Indonesian helicopters to Dubai. It all reads like a poorly written piece of pulp fiction -- pathetically, this is the reality of Indonesia's continuing political saga.

Some observers are saying that the latest violence will hurt foreign investor sentiment. These people are, for lack of a better term, 'masters of the obvious'. But the proverbial final nail in the coffin does not apply here. Instead, this is more akin to someone kicking around the dirt on top of the grave.

It's an easy guess about what happens next. President Abdurrahman Wahid will return home from his latest whirlwind junket and blame the violence on an unnamed group of agent provocateurs that are bent on undermining his administration. Of course, if there are any culprits, they will never be found.

The president's opponents in the legislature will seize the opportunity and try to exploit the Sampit imbroglio, with Madurese corpses acting as cannon fodder in the on-going impeachment debating game.

When the majority of Madurese fleeing from the terror in Sampit and its environs are finally gone, either seeking shelter in the jungles or having fled to East Java, the Dayaks will return home with their grisly war souvenirs, and the national police will declare a "victory" for having abated the violence.

Finally, political pundits will blame all sides, and then pontificate about the roots of the problem -- namely, former president Soeharto's misguided transmigration policies.

Amidst the barrage of finger pointing, opportunism, and bland platitudes, the victims of this latest outbreak of ethnic strife will remain neglected.

A responsible government would be marshaling resources for providing humanitarian aid for the refugees. Thousands of refugees are in need of medical care, food and shelter. Until now, the Madurese refugees must be content with watching a handicap's version of political football. As the elite persists in fumbling, the downtrodden will be forgotten in the scramble.

Whatever steps the government decides to take now will be far too little, and way too late. Vice President Megawati Soekarnoputri's visit to Central Kalimantan can only confirm that there is a state of emergency where, so far, the government has refused to declare one.

Any calls for national unity and civil obedience are bound to fall on deaf ears: Too much blood has already been spilt for there to be any chance of reconciliation in the near future, and the government has insufficient legitimacy to exercise any sort of moral authority over the local population.

Some military leaders and others believe that martial law must be imposed, but this offers little comfort. The police and military have displayed scant appetite for security operations -- rather, there are numerous reports that both sides have been fighting over which security force should benefit from the extortion of refugees seeking safe passage.

The tale of Sampit is not just one of misguided policies of the past, the moral ineptitudes of today, or the empty future for its victims. Rather, it is a cautionary tale of how a lack of accountability and leadership can enable festering sores to turn into the cancerous wound of anarchy.

Already we have seen the anarchy that engulfed Ambon claim other victims in other parts of the Malukus province, and momentarily spread its tentacles to northern Sulawesi.

Kalimantan might not be far behind.

The writer is a senior partner in Van Zorge Heffernan & Associates, a Jakarta-based consultancy that specializes in political risk and government relations advisory services.