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)