VP calls for end to Kalimantan strife

VP calls for end to Kalimantan strife

JAKARTA (JP): Vice President Megawati Soekarnoputri called on
Thursday for an end to communal clashes between Dayaks and
Madurese settlers in Central Kalimantan towns, which have left
more than 400 dead in the past month.

"Enough is enough and the violence that has victimized too
many people in the regions must not continue," Megawati said at
the end of one-day peace talks here between representatives of
the Dayak and Madurese communities in Kalimantan.

"As a vice president and individual, I hope that these talks
will be followed by concrete actions on the ground," she added.

The governors of the four provinces in Kalimantan and the
governor of East Java, of which Madura is a part, were present
along with some 130 people claiming to be representatives of the
two warring communities.

At the end of the meeting, a five-page statement was issued
pledging that Dayaks and Madurese were committed to seeking a
comprehensive solution to the communal clashes.

The meeting, which was facilitated by the home affairs
ministry and largely symbolic, took place while fresh violence
erupted early Thursday in the Central Kalimantan town of
Kualakapuas.

Meanwhile, several people grouped in the Association of the
Madurese Community (IKAMA) in Sampit said here earlier in the day
that participants of the peace talks were "not the true
representatives" of the Madurese community in Kalimantan.

"We feel that no one was ever appointed to represent us in the
peace talks ... so any agreement coming out of the meeting is
without our knowledge and therefore we cannot accept it," IKAMA
chairman Marlinggi KK said in a two-page statement.

The clashes between Dayaks and Madurese have been blamed on
cultural differences between the two communities and the
dominance of the Madurese in the local economy.

Fresh clash

While efforts to stop the sectarian conflict was made in
Jakarta, eight people were reportedly killed in a fresh attack on
Madurese migrants in Sungai Pasah village, Kapuas regency, at
dawn on Thursday.

Kapuas Police chief Adj. Sr. Comr. Syaiful Maltha, who arrived
at site hours after the commotion started, confirmed the
incident, but said that only four people had been killed.

However, Kapuas Regent Burhanudin Ali told Antara that 10
people had been killed, including two people whose dead bodies
were found on Wednesday. Five of the victims were residents of
Palang Pisau, he said.

Two survivors are being treated for serious wounds at Kapuas
Hospital.

Syaiful said he and his men arrived hours after the clash
erupted.

"The fierce clash did not involve hundreds of people. There
were only 17 Dayak people who attacked the village."

He said he had to shoot the Dayaks, who started the commotion,
after Central Kalimantan Police chief Brig. Pranoto's issued a
shoot-on-sight order aimed at troublemakers.

"I was surprised that I always missed. I was trained to shoot
in the United States. But we managed to arrest five of them," he
told The Jakarta Post, adding that he shot at the attackers from
a 20-meter distance.

"The five were arrested when they laid facedown to avoid
police bullets," he said, refusing to identify them.

The conflict scared Madurese migrants, after recent violence
in the neighboring area of Sampit killed at least 400 Madurese
people.

The situation forced some 200 Madurese to seek refuge. Police
officers and Army troops deployed in the area rushed them to the
local sports hall.

The refugees were then transported -- under tight security --
to Trisakti Port in Banjarmasin, South Kalimantan, to be
transported to Surabaya. The port is located about 40 kilometers
from the incident site.

As soon as the migrants left their houses, locals burned them
down. The burning continued until evening in Sungai Pasah
village. Many of the houses were totally destroyed.

The burning spread to Anyir district, which borders Central
and South Kalimantan, which caused concern among South Kalimantan
residents.

Local Dayaks earlier set a March 20 deadline for Madurese
migrants to leave Kapuas.

A refugee, who did not want to be identified, said the
ultimatum was taken seriously. "But we did not know where to go.
The village is our home. We've been living in the village for
decades," said the man.

The raid on the Madurese migrants' village was a shock to both
residents and security personnel. The regency of Kapuas had been
considered safe despite the clashes in neighboring Sampit. This
seemingly made local security personnel lax in watching the
situation.

Thursday's violence affected traffic. Access from Banjarmasin
to Kapuas and Palangkaraya, via the southern ring of the Trans
Kalimantan highway, was cut off for hours.

Groups of locals roamed the streets into the afternoon and
stopped motorists to check their IDs, searching for Madurese.
(byg/rms/32/sur)