KILLINGS IN WEST KALIMANTAN - INDONESIA
Hundreds of people have been killed following recent ethnic unrest in
West Kalimantan, according to reports from Indonesia. Bloody clashes
between the indigenous Dayak people, migrants from Madura and the
military have been going on since early January, but little news has
reached the outside world as the whole area has been sealed off by
the Indonesian military. The present violence is merely a symptom of
discontent which has built up over many years. Land rights issues are
at the heart of this issue. Dayak communities have become dispossessed
as their traditional forest lands are appropriated by outsiders in
government-supported resettlement, development and large-scale
commercial enterprise schemes.
ACTION
As the UK-based NGO which campaigns for ecological justice in
Indonesia, Down to Earth asks for your support to put pressure on the
Indonesian authorities to allow Indonesian journalists, the
international press and international human rights monitors to carry
out independent investigations and report openly on the recent events
in West Kalimantan. Of equal importance is that the Indonesian
government should address the underlying long-term causes of the
tension between the indigenous people and settlers, rather than
deploying a knee-jerk military response to what it portrays as an
isolated conflict along religious or ethnic lines.
? Write to the following people:
The President of the Republic of Indonesia, President Suharto, Istana
Merdeka, Jakarta 10110, Indonesia
The Governor of West Kalimantan Province, H. A. Aswin, Jl. A. Yani,
Pontinanak, West Kalimantan, Indonesia Tel 0062 561 36000
The Minister for Political and Security Affairs, Soesilo Soedarman,
Jl. Merdeka Barat No. 15, Jakarta 10110 Fax 0062 21 3450918
? Pass this information to other organisations concerned with human
rights, the rights of indigenous peoples and sustainable development
so they can take action.
? Use your contacts with the press to raise international concern.
OTHER ACTIONS
? The British peer, Lord Avebury has written to UK Foreign Secretary,
Malcolm Rifkin and UN Special Rapporteur on Extra-Judicial Killings,
Bacre Wali Ndiaye, to press the Indonesian government for an
international review. Contact tapol@gn.apc.org
? Amnesty International are issuing an Action Alert. Contact
kbrogan@amnesty.org
? Look for further actions and information on apc.act.indonesia or
apc.reg.indonesia
BACKGROUND
There has been long-standing hostility between the indigenous Dayak
peoples and migrants. Many landless peasants from Java and the island
of Madura (SE of Java) moved to West Kalimantan as part of a
government resettlement programme which offers free land, housing and
food aid. Open conflict between the indigenous people and settlers
first broke out in early January. An incident in Sanggau Ledo some 100
kilometres northeast of Pontianak triggered four days of riots. Five
thousand Dayaks rampaged through the town and attacked the villages of
Merabu, Kampung Jawa and Jirak plus four transmigration sites. In
Bengkayang , three men were shot when a crowd of Dayaks surrounded a
local military post where transmigrants were sheltering. Around six
thousand people fled to the provincial capitals of Singkawang and
Pontianak several hundred kilometers away on the west coast. Many were
airlifted to a temporary refugee camp by the airforce. Meanwhile the
minority Dayak communities in the two cities sought protection as
settlers sought revenge. Over a thousand troops were moved in and a
curfew imposed. The military reported on January 6th that all was
quiet and people were returning home. The clashes caused six deaths,
an estimated 8.4 million US dollars damage and the destruction of
nearly one thousand homes.
However, by the end of January the land border between Kalimantan and
Malaysia remained closed and the province was on military alert.
Security was tightened in early February as the end of the Muslim
fasting month coincided with the Chinese New Year. The provincial
capital of Pontianak remained cut off from the interior by roadblocks
and under night curfew. The Sydey Morning Herald (6th Feb) reported
that a Catholic school and several Christian foundations linked to the
Dayaks were destroyed. This may be the same incident reported by the
Indonesian news group Pijar (10th Feb) when masked men armed with
knives attacked and burned a Catholic dormitory in the West Kalimantan
capital housing Dayak regugees who had fled violence in their areas,
and a nearby boarding house. Two Dayak women were injured while
residents said that another person was killed but the death has not
been confirmed. Military reinforcements landed overnight in West
Kalimantan on 5th February. The Indonesian military and civil
authorities were still saying the situation in West Kalimantan was
calm and "under control", although the Pijar report mentioned that
fighting had broken out again in other towns at that time.
Information from the area is confused since journalists have not been
permitted to leave Pontianak and a news blackout has been imposed on
the city. There are four documented incidents of the army opening fire
in which 72 Dayaks have been killed. On 2nd February seventeen were
killed when they tried to break through an army road block at
Anjungan. Five died and twenty one were injured near Sanggau on Feb
3rd. On the same day thirteen more Dayaks were killed near Singkawan.
The worst incident was a separate on at Anjungan in which 37 were
killed and 27 wounded when Dayaks tried to get into the military
barracks at Anjungan where Madurese were sheltering. There are no
reports of the military shooting Madurese. There are also reports of
clashes between local tribesmen and migrants from a town in Sambas
district where at least seven houses in Tebas, north of Pontianak, had
been burned by angry Dayaks. Dayak elders in northern Pontianak have
confirmed that two Dayak men have been killed in recent days,
including the victim whose return to Tebas sparked the new clashes.
BBC correspondent Jonathon Head reported (11th Feb) from an area ?that
looked like a war zone? where soldiers, including Indonesia?s elite
combat regiment, were everywhere and houses were daubed with the
ethnic origin of their owners in an attempt to prevent attack from
Dayaks or settlers.
The Guardian (13th Feb) reports that hundreds have been killed in West
Kalimantan in the past two weeks. Government sources admit that as
many as three hundred may have died, but refute reports in the
international press of thousands of killings (19th Feb). Local people
say the death toll is much higher than official figures admit and that
local hospitals are full of casualities, although access to these is
denied. Some Dayaks say this is to cover up killings by the
military.The atmosphere in the province is now very tense as curfews
are still in place in Potianak and other urban centres and there are
military patrols on the streets. Army Chief of Staff General Hartono
said on Feb 14th that the situation was secure and that hundreds of
weapons had been confiscated from the public. Members of the National
Human Rights Commission, Komnas HAM, are making their second visit to
Pontianak in the past fortnight. Komnas HAM General Secretary
Baharuddin Lopa refused to comment on reports that there had been 2000
deaths in the fighting since the New Year. Komnas HAM are also under
pressure from the local governor and military to act as a mediator
between the two communities. While community leaders are apparently
prepared to discuss peace, the disturbances were apparently spreading
eastwards (13th Feb) and there were rumours that tens of thousands of
Dayaks throughout Kalimantan and across the border in Sarawak were
preparing for confrontation (KdP 14th Feb).
Initially the Indonesian authorities tried to represent the violence
in West Kalimantan as a conflict between two hot-headed ethnic groups
in frontier country. It is normal for Madurese men (popularly believed
to be quick to take offence) to carry knives, while accounts of Dayaks
make much of their former reputation as headhunters. Reports also
played on religious differences between these communities: the
settlers from Java and Madura are largely Muslim in contrast to the
predominantly Christian Dayaks. The Indonesian press (which closely
reflects government views for fear of closure) has reported the
troubles as yet another example of the social unrest which has caused
deaths, destruction of property and the burning of churches in several
urban centres on Java. These are attributed to tensions between
Muslims and the largely Christian ethnic Chinese business community.
Local Muslim leaders in West Kalimantan issued a statement (13th Feb)
denying religious factors were the driving force behind recent events.
These simplistic explanations ignore the history of ethnic conflict in
this area and deliberately play down the transmigration angle. Waves
of immigration over the centuries, have brought Chinese, Indians, and
Malay peoples to the region attracted by the mineral wealth and
trading opportunities. This and the government?s programme to resettle
people from densely populated Java and Bali to the outer islands has
resulted in the Dayak community making up only 40% of the population
in Kalimantan. Figures given by the World Bank in a 1988 report showed
that Sambas district has by far the largest influx of transmigrants of
the West Kalimantan districts. As long ago as 1980 over 90,000 people,
or over 15% of the total population of around 600,000, were government
sponsored transmigrants. This compared to a national average in
receiving areas of 3.4%.
The underlying problems are those of the land rights of indigenous
people and the destruction of tropical rainforests. The Dayaks?
traditional lifestyle depends on the sustainable use of forests for
food, medicines and other basic needs. The rainforest is the basis of
their culture and, though nominally Christian, animist beliefs and
practices are still important to many Dayaks. The Indonesian
government includes the Dayaks, with all other indigenous tribal
people in the archipelago, as ?backward? and in need of ?development?.
As all Indonesian forests are regarded as state land, forest dwellers?
customary rights to the land and forest resources are ignored because
there is no documentation of legal ownership. With the loss of the
forest, many Dayaks now make a living as subsistance farmers. At best,
when new projects move in, token compensation is paid for crops
destroyed in land clearance and indigenous families are expected to
live with transmigrants on the sites.
All over Indonesia, indigenous people have been marginalised as the
regime parcels out Indonesia?s natural resources for
exploitation.Transmigration, logging, mining and agribusiness projects
serve powerful business and military interests close to Suharto?s
family rather than the needs of local communities. In West Kalimantan
75 forest concessions have been granted covering nearly three-quarters
of the province. The cleared land is turned over to plantations for
the paper pulp and palm-oil industries. At least three state-owned
companies have set up huge plantations and 14 private companies have
agri-business ventures in West Kalimantan. One of these is the massive
Finnanatara Intiga paper pulp factory and timber plantation in Sanggau
- a joint venture between the state-owned forestry company Inhutani
III, leading tobacco manufacturer PT Gadang Garam and Finnish forestry
giant the Enso Group.
The role of the military in recent events in West Kalimantan deserves
further examination. It would appear that they did little to stop the
initial unrest in January from getting out of hand. Similarly in the
past two weeks attacks and reprisals by Dayaks and settlers on
whichever community is in the minority in a particular locality have
continued. It is unlikely that the authorities were genuinely
unprepared. It is also unlikely that fear of public and international
outcry over another case of military repression and brutality -
particularly so close to the forthcoming elections in late May would
have restrained their actions since West Kalimantan is such a long
way from Jakarta and a virtual newsblackout had been imposed. It seems
more likely that the military are seeking to exploit the unrest in
order to strengthen their position within the Indonesian regime when
they eventually ?restore order to this lawless area?. If members of
the ethnic Chinese community are intimidated and their businesses
ruined in the conflict, as in the recent violence in other parts of
Indonesia, this will pander to the anti-Chinese sentiment prevalent in
many factions of the government.
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
Tapol Bulletin No.139 February 1997
Down to Earth No. 32 February 1997
?Ethnic Clashes kill hundreds in Borneo?, The Guardian, p15, 13th
February 1997
The Economist this week should have an article
Far East Economic Review 20th Feb ditto