Trauma haunts West Kalimantan, governor says

JAKARTA (JP): Life is slowly returning to normal in the towns and villages of West Kalimantan which were rocked by ethnic riots early this year, provincial governor Aspar Aswin said yesterday.

But Aspar said people were still haunted by the trauma of the riots.

"We have not yet fully eliminated their apprehensions, concerns and fears that they (the riots) will recur," he said after meeting President Soeharto at Bina Graha, Jakarta.

On March 21, some 14,000 people, or about 4,000 families, were still living in temporary shelters. They could not return to their homes because of fear, or because their homes had been reduced to ash in the riots, he said.

The riots, between indigenous Dayak tribespeople and migrants from Madura, East Java, from Dec. 29 until early March had left 200 dead on both sides, he said. "That's a provisional figure.

"We're still making an inventory. There were victims who were not reported and were buried by their friends," he said.

The West Kalimantan provincial administration had asked the National Commission on Human Rights to help assess casualties from the riots, he said. "We want to do everything in the open, without hiding anything," he said.

There had been 11 clashes between the two groups within three months, including five major ones, the governor said.

Almost 2,500 houses were razed, 93 others were damaged. The first riot caused Rp 13.5 billion (US$5.8 million) in material damage, he said.

"It was encouraging to see that not a single house of worship was touched.

"One school had caught fire, it was not set on fire," he said.

President Soeharto, Aspar said, had ordered that efforts to restore normalcy continue. "He told me that the provincial administration must be impartial and treat the Dayaks and Madurese equally."

Aspar rejected the notion that deteriorating relations between the two ethnic groups had caused the riots.

"Overall, that's not true. If we look at their daily lives, there are no problems between the Dayaks and Madurese.

"On the contrary, during the riots, Dayak people protected the Madurese when they were attacked, and Madurese people did likewise when the Dayaks were attacked.

"So relations have been good, they are assimilating, there are camaraderie and brotherhood," Aspar said.

The riots, he said, had been started by people with personal motives.

He dismissed the idea that economic disparity sowed envy and hatred between the two communities. "The economic welfare of the Dayaks and Madurese are not all that different."

The authorities were holding 174 people, including 158 Dayaks and 23 Madurese, for questioning over the riots, he said.

On the likelihood of the riots recurring, Aspar said all the tribal and community leaders in West Kalimantan had met on March 15 to pledge to avoid a repetition.

"This is a relief for me, and we're holding onto this (pledge)," he said. (emb)