Unresolved and chronic problems led to Sampit riot

Unresolved and chronic problems led to Sampit riot

More than 400 people have been killed and over 50,000
displaced in the armed conflict between native Dayaks and migrant
Madurese settlers in Central Kalimantan's cities of Sampit and
Palangkaraya. Enraged Madurese community leaders are calling the
expulsion "ethnic cleansing". The following is an interview with
sociologist Setia Budhi at Lambung Mangkurat University in the
South Kalimantan capital of Banjarmasin. He is studying the
cultural characteristics of Madurese in South and Central
Kalimantan provinces. Setia is also a local coordinator of the
Center for Research on Intergroup Relations and Conflict
Resolution.

Question: What is happening in Sampit and Palangkaraya?

Answer: This is something that has been going on and on for
years, and not only in Sampit. It is predominately caused by a
clash of cultures -- which almost always is behind any ethnic
conflict. Especially conflicts that involve the Madurese people.
This is an accumulation of long-standing conflicts that have
never been settled thoroughly.

There has never been complete resolution to the conflicts,
including those that occurred earlier in Pangkalan Bun, the one
that flared up over the Kareng Pangi gold mine.

Or the conflict between two villages of Madurese and Dayaks.
Conflicts become paramount when the cultural characteristics of
the two sides fail to "melt" in normal social interaction. The
migrant Madurese fail to adapt to the native Dayaks.

Take the problem of language, for instance. The Madurese in
Central Kalimantan, for instance, are so different from the
Minang people (who migrated from West Sumatra) or the Javanese
who can master the local dialect within a short period.

Second, the Madurese are known to be "tough" ... For instance,
when someone disembarks at the Sampit port he will find himself
jostled by ethnic Madurese becak (pedicab) drivers.

He has to choose one pedicab and ride in it, otherwise the
Madurese will yell at him. The Madurese are not in their native
land ... yet they have maintained this characteristic.

Why isn't there conflict between (the Dayaks) and the
Javanese, or the Chinese community there? I think this is again
the question of a clash of cultures.

Q: What happened to non-Madurese migrant communities during the
recent unrest?

A: They have not been purged or (harmed) in "sweepings"
(conducted by the Dayaks). Certainly they felt unsafe despite not
being the main target. That's why many Javanese or people of
Chinese descent fled the conflict areas as well.

The Dayaks wanted the cities of Sampit and Palangkaraya
cleansed of migrants.

Q: Will unrest recur?

A: It will happen again because the government seems to ignore
(the problem) and fails to anticipate such situations. It has
also failed to thoroughly settle earlier conflicts in other areas
such as Ambon, Aceh, West Kalimantan, Batam and some parts of
Sulawesi. There has never been any significant resolution to
those conflicts.

Q: What do you think can be done to help prevent further
conflicts, at least in the case of the Dayaks and the Madurese?

A: The Madurese appear to be more responsive to leaders of their
native land such as Kyai Alawi (from Sampang regency on Madura
island). They seem to have been ignoring calls for reconciliation
made by local leaders, be they ulema, officials or national
figures. (They have ignored) such calls for reconciliation by
national leaders in Jakarta.

There has yet to be peace there. In order to settle problems
concerning the Madurese people, there should be cooperation
between the Central Kalimantan and East Java administrations,
especially the Madurese leaders.

Q: Do the Dayaks have any wish for reconciliation with the
Madurese?

A: Traditionally the Dayaks have a conflict resolution mechanism
known as the pakat which is a means to settle disputes or
conflicts among their own, or with other tribes, based on some
traditional belief.

These people respect their own traditions regardless of their
domicile because the Dayaks do not recognize administrative or
territorial borders.

The borders to their living environment are the rivers -- so
the territories of the Dayaks are all areas alongside the rivers
of Kalimantan's four provinces.

This is why the current conflict has spread -- because the
Dayaks do not recognize territorial or spatial borders. Members
of a tribe from any area will immediately jump in and show their
solidarity if anything happens to any other members. Even the
Dayaks from the hinterland.

How should we deal with this problem in the future?

The government should consider providing settlers with enough
knowledge about the social makeup and the culture of destination
areas. We can learn from the Minang people.

Where in Indonesia is there a place without a Padang
restaurant (of the Minang people)? We rarely hear about conflicts
involving local people with Minang migrants despite even
religious differences. That's because the Minang people, as new
settlers, know how to behave among local people.

Q: There have been reports that agents provocateurs are behind
the unrest...

A: When the unrest first erupted in Sampit on Feb. 18, the
security authorities placed the blame on what they called two
provocateurs -- namely the head of a local ministry office and
another official of the education ministry.

The next day, the security authorities retracted their
statement and said one of the provocateurs was not the head of
the ministry office but only a staff member. Now, those two are
missing. They have escaped.

So, when they first named the so-called provocateurs, the
police failed to detain them. The authorities then retracted
their statement. I think the authorities named the alleged
provocateurs simply because they wanted to quickly expose the
reason for the unrest.

But the root of the problem is an accumulation of unresolved
conflicts that the government has ignored.

I don't think there's a provocateur in this case. (The unrest
erupted) because of some incidents (including reports of the
killing of a Madurese family -- Ed.) which deteriorated into a
full-scale riot.

Q: Many have urged that President Abdurrahman Wahid cancel or cut
short his overseas trip. But Vice President Megawati
Soekarnoputri and Coordinating Minister for Political Affairs,
Welfare and Security Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono told the President
to continue with his jaunt because they said they could cope with
the domestic situation. Your comment?

A: Minister Susilo has in fact delegated (the task of solving the
conflict) to the provincial government -- but the local
government has been too slow. Many people have begun to suspect
that there is an unexplained grand design -- because efforts to
solve the conflict have been so slow, while officials are making
excuses about some obstructions to peace.

Actually, it would have been easy for the authorities to
contain the violence. The unrest has been taking place in small
and scattered areas -- it would have been easy to isolate. Unlike
in Java where there is no empty space at all, in Kalimantan great
distances divide one area from another ... But the authorities
have failed to do this. (Ali Said Damanik)