Tired, Sutiyoso calls in experts to stop brawls

Tired, Sutiyoso calls in experts to stop brawls

JAKARTA (JP): Governor Sutiyoso, who has tried repeatedly to
halt the brawls between the feuding neighborhoods of Manggarai
and Matraman in East Jakarta, now plans to form a team of experts
to help his administration resolve the prolonged dispute which
frequently erupts in violence.

Speaking to reporters on Thursday, the governor said the team
would be assigned to conduct a thorough study of the longstanding
dispute so as to ascertain the roots of the problem.

Sutiyoso did not identify the team members or their
backgrounds and areas of expertise, but said that the team would
consist of a small group of people.

"I'll give the team some time to really look into the
situation on the ground," the former Jakarta Military commander
said.

Life in the capital, particularly business life in the two
areas, has for years been disturbed by the seemingly never-ending
brawls.

The city administration has made some efforts, such as
arranging meetings between the feuding groups, holding sports
events and erecting fences between the two areas, so as to
facilitate a truce between the neighbors, but all such attempts
failed as fresh violent clashes erupted shortly afterwards.

Some big businesses have left the area since the brawls
started getting worse with the locals now regularly arming
themselves with molotov cocktails, air rifles, machetes and
stones. In some cases, they have also attacked and burned
buildings.

Local residents, who run small businesses, such as photo-copy
shops, warungs (food stalls) and other shops, have also closed
down their businesses.

On Wednesday afternoon, the Manggarai area was rocked by an
outbreak of fresh fighting between the residents of RW (community
unit) 2 on Jl. Gelatik and their neighbors from RW3 in Kebon
Sayur. The violence left one Gelatik resident dead and eight
houses burned in the area.

According to Sutiyoso, he would arrange another meeting soon
between his staff and local leaders in the disputing
neighborhoods of Gelatik and Kebon Sayur, aimed at halting the
violence once and for all.

"As local leaders, they should have some kind of moral
responsibility, so I will gave them a sort of assignment to
influence their people (to stop the clashes)," he said.

The governor admitted that he and his staff, including the
local authorities, were tired trying to resolve the dispute.

"We cannot move them (the feuding residents) from the area
because the consequences would be too risky.

"We do not know what to do as the residents seem eager to
start fighting," he remarked.

Last year, street brawls in Manggarai claimed three lives and
damaged a number of homes, forcing hundreds of residents to flee
the area.

In an attempt to end the feud, Governor Sutiyoso suggested
residents join the government's transmigration program to move
out of Java. But the proposal was strongly opposed by the
residents.

The brawls in Matraman usually take place along the busy Jl.
Matraman Raya.

The local government has erected a two-meter-high steel
barrier along the median strip on Jl. Matraman Raya. The
administration has also donated sports equipment to encourage
residents to channel their energy in more positive ways.

To date, however, all such efforts have failed.

"We have never really ascertained what caused the feud. I'll
keep on replacing local officials whenever a new clash flares up
in their areas, although I am aware that sometimes these
officials may have been given very little time to prove their
abilities," Sutiyoso said.

He suspected that provocateurs were involved in inciting the
brawls.

"Our mistake is that we have never really caught the people
that start the fights, and residents never report anything to the
authorities if some people provoke them to start a fight," the
governor said. (dja)