The tragedy of the Sampit anarchy

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.