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Kalimantan
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The conflicts in Kalimantan have been influenced by the indigenous population of Dayak, the Madurese immigrants, the military forces as well as the government.
Dayak:
Dayak is the name used to describe the over 200 tribal groups, , each with its own language, customs and culture, that make up the indigenous population of Kalimantan. The Dayak traditionally inhabited the interior forests of Kalimantan, where local tribes lived in communal longhouses known as Lamin or Umaq Daru. Today, the Dayak number about 2 million in Kalimantan. They make up almost half of the population of 1.8 million in Central Kalimantan, and 40% of the population in West Kalimantan but are a minority in South Kalimantan. Many Dayak have converted to Christianity but some groups are Muslim. In West Kalimantan most Dayak are Christian, however in Central Kalimantan, approximately 70% are Muslim.
Dayak traditionally lived in isolated villages in the interior forests of Kalimantan, where they grew rice by shifting or slash-and-burn agriculture, moving through the forests in a ten-year pattern. To supplement their incomes, the Dayak also hunt, fish, gather forest products and grow fruit crops in community forests. The Indonesian government has not recognized the Dayak system of land registration and considers these areas to be state land. The Suharto government’s policy of commercial development of the forests along with transmigration has threatened the Dayak way of life and has already made them come close to becoming a minority in their land.
While most Dayak have converted to either Christianity or Islam, most religious groups still maintain many indigenous beliefs and practices, including traditional conflict resolution measures. In the Dayak tradition, if the blood of a Dayak is shed in fighting, the entire clan is obliged to declare war on the attacker and the group to which he belongs. Beheading the enemy was also seen as the way of killing off the spirit of the person that has been killed. Although it was abandoned by the 1930s, it has been revived in the recent ethnic conflict, along with cannibalism.
Madurese:
The Madurese are strict Muslims who originate from the small island of Madura off the northeast coast of Java. Immigrants from Madura began arriving in Kalimantan in the 1930s and their numbers sharply increased in the 1970s. While not the largest ethnic group in Kalimantan, the Madurese were predominant in some of the major cities of Central and West Kalimantan. Today, many Madurese in Kalimantan are third generation. They were born in Kalimantan and have few contacts with their land of origin.
While most Madurese were poor, they were better off economically than the Dayak, controlling much of the lower rung of the economy. They occupied positions in small business, and work as trishaw drivers, merchants, porters at the harbors, as well as logging workers. In Sampit, Central Kalimantan, prior to the conflict, they made up an estimated 60 percent of the population and controlled much of commerce and the timber industry. However, they comprised only around 6-7 percent of the total provincial population. In West Kalimantan, Madurese made up only 3% of the provincial population.
Madurese are stereotypically viewed as people who resort quickly to violence to settle disputes. Some Dayak observers see the Madurese as uninterested in integration with the rest of the population, as they choose to live in separate communities. They are often blamed for land disputes, rapes, thefts and the proliferation of petty crime.
Role of the Security Forces:
The police and military have been heavily criticized in the conflict in Kalimantan for failing to prevent the outbreak and spread of violence. There are many complaints that police officers stood by while Dayak attacked the Madurese and looted and burned their homes. Lacking the appropriate intelligence sources, security forces failed to anticipate the violence and have been unable to ensure the safety of the Madurese communities.
One source of the problem according to analysts was the small size of the police force in Sampit. The Dayak, who came from the hinterland, quickly overwhelmed the police force and reinforcements were not readily available. When two battalions of soldiers were finally brought to Sampit a week after the fighting broke out, it made little difference. Further, police have lacked the supplies necessary to control crowds effectively.
Another source of the problem was the lack of coordination between police and military forces. Previously, the military was entrusted with issues of security, but in 1999, police were re-assigned the task of internal security while the army and other branches of the military became responsible for defense. Because the transfer was so recent, the police seemed to lack experience to deal with emergency situations.
When the violence broke out, the police called upon the military for assistance. It took considerable time for the military to respond. Some police forces felt that the military was intentionally slow to respond in order to highlight the failure of the police to handle the conflict. Tensions between the two forces mounted and they were confined to different locations in Sampit to minimize the potential for hostilities. Eventually, the situation between the two groups worsened to the point where they engaged in a six-hour armed battle. Two people were killed and 10 were wounded, including the directorate head of Sampit’s police.
As a result of their failures, police were relegated to guarding refugees, which proved problematic. Reports claim that many members of the police force used this as an opportunity to take advantage of the Madurese and to extort money. In the worst case, police were unable to protect refugees and 118 Madurese who had fled to take refuge in the forest were massacred.
Each side in this conflict blames the police for discrimination. The Dayak accuse police of aiding the Madurese. The Madurese blame the police forces for subjecting refugees to extortion, making them pay to leave refugee camps and to enter harbor areas. Some reports have claimed that the police forces also committed gross human rights violations including extra judicial executions of members of Dayak attack parties by soldiers, reportedly when they were attempting to surrender. Further, there is evidence that the police, in a misguided attempt to stop the violence, made arbitrary arrests of both Dayak and Madurese under an emergency regulation dating back to 1951 that banned the possession of sharp weapons. As most males in the region carry a traditional knife, police were able to use the regulation as a pretext to make arrests widely. Many of those arrested were not involved in the conflict. Despite their failures, however, security forces are credited with protecting the lives of as many as 100,000 fleeing refugees.
Reaction of Government:
The government of Indonesia has also been criticized for failing to intervene in the conflict and to control the previous outbreaks. When the latest round of violence broke out in March 2001, former President Wahid was on a visit to the Middle East and did not return to the region. Then-Vice-President Megawati visited Palangkaray on March 1, 2001, but this trip did not lay the groundwork for any new initiatives. President Wahid eventually met with both Dayak in Central Kalimantan and Madurese refugees in Madura, however, his visit was brief and largely unproductive. President Megawati assigned Vice-President Hamza Haz as mediator to the conflict in August 2001, although, he has yet to have any significant effect.
The government is also heavily criticized for failing to investigate the crimes committed in Central Kalimantan and to bring the perpetrators to justice. After the outbreak of violence in 1996-1997, human rights observers insisted that the government should have taken steps to investigate the conflict and answer questions raised about the performance of military and police. For more information, see the Human Rights Watch Report at: http://www.hrw.org/reports/1997/wkali/Brneo97d-01.htm
On March 2, 2001 as the conflict spread, the provincial government decided that all Madurese in the province should be evacuated. The central government had little choice but to endorse the provincial government’s policy. Neither the president nor the vice- president questioned the policy publicly although it was rejected by many Indonesians who regarded it as a form of “ethnic cleansing.” While it was the provincial government’s initiative to evacuate, they failed to provide adequate and sufficient aid to the Madurese refugees.
Most Madurese are afraid to return to their homes because of the security situation and the government has not intervened to assure their safety. On March 10, Former President Wahid visited the refugees on Madura Island and promised to guarantee the safety of those who returned to Kalimantan. The president’s assessment of the situation in Central Kalimantan was widely regarded as improbable.
It seems unlikely that any Madurese will want to go back to West and Central Kalimantan, considering that the threat of widespread violence and further killings is still looming. Therefore, the government must consider the option of resettling the refugees. There are many government officials however who fear that resettling the refugees would only send a message to other ethnic groups that ethnic cleansing in their regions is acceptable. Further, the government is reluctant to provide any resettlement aid to returning refugees due to fear that any financial incentive or land grants will trigger renewed violence from the Dayak, who resent the relative wealth and privilege of the Madurese.
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