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)