What causes ethnic violence?

What causes ethnic violence?

The foreign media and the Indonesian government seem to have
the same misconceptions about the causes of recent ethnic
violence in Ambon, Maluku, and several other islands.

The International Herald Tribune, quoting European and
American wire services, has reported on "religious riots", and
the Indonesian government has sent in additional troops.
Religious leaders have called for calm.

The Jakarta Post has been more accurate and more responsible
in describing the conflicts as being "between indigenous
Christians and migrant Muslims." If the conflict is seen as
between indigenous people and migrants, it can be solved.

The Indonesian government should not send people into the
areas where they are likely to get killed. The transmigration
program, which lures poor people away from their homes in Java,
Madura, and Southeast Sulawesi with the promise of vacant land,
should be abandoned.

There is no island in Indonesia where local people want their
culture to be overwhelmed by hordes of desperately poor,
unemployed migrants from elsewhere. Violence against migrants has
occurred on many islands, including Timor, Kalimantan and Irian
Jaya. In many cases, the Javanese-led Indonesian army is seen as
aiding the migrants and protecting foreign companies engaged in
removing valuable mineral deposits and polluting local rivers.

If Indonesia succeeds in conducting a fair election in June,
and the representatives chosen then elect a president supported
by the majority of people, their most urgent task will be to
reduce the conflicts between the majority of people, who live on
Java, and the important regional minorities elsewhere. Every
province needs an elected governor and a legislature with the
power to negotiate on behalf of their constituents with the
central government, on crucial economic issues like migration,
taxation, and licensing of foreign businesses.

CHRISTY LANZL

Jakarta