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)