Rights group says local politics behind violence

By Yenni Kwok
CNN.com Writer

JAKARTA, Indonesia -- A report from Human Rights Watch has linked the ethnic carnage in the Indonesian town of Sampit that has killed hundreds of people with the local political struggle.

"The violence is reported to have been linked to an effort to restructure the office of bupati, or district chief, in the district of Kotawaringin Timur, Central Kalimantan," the group said in its report.

"Two local officials, who apparently believed they were going to lose their jobs in the restructuring, reportedly paid 20 million rupiah ($2,040) to two 'coordinators' to start the violence in Sampit, the largest timber port in Indonesia."

According to the district chief, Wahyudi Anwar, nobody would lose jobs in the restructuring.

One official was said to be the head of a local forestry unit while the other was a staff member of the regional planning office. Police said they have arrested the forestry official, but the other is still on the run.

Indonesia watcher and editor of Inside Indonesia quarterly Gerry van Klinken said the efforts of Jakarta to give autonomy to the provinces are bound to cause a struggle within the local government.

HRW said this is not the first time that a struggle over local posts at district level has led to major violence.

"One factor in the outbreak of communal violence in Poso, Sulawesi, in May 2000 that left close to 300 dead was the competition between two men of different faiths to be regent (bupati)," it said.

Van Klinken also links the conflicts in the Maluku islands, in eastern Indonesia, with the competition between the local politicians. "They looked for the support they needed through religions."

The group notes that the violence in Sampit started on the night of February 17 when a Dayak house was burned down. Rumor spread that an ethnic Madurese was responsible, and immediately, a band of Dayaks went into a Madurese neighborhood and began burning houses.

HRW also attributes two other causes of the violence: the economic disputes between the Dayaks and the Madurese migrants who come from an island northeast of Java and two earlier small conflicts around Sampit.

President Abdurrahman Wahid is keen to devolve more power to local governments to appease the resource-rich areas. They complain they receive little from the income they generate.

However, the human-rights group urges the central government to impose a complete moratorium on any administrative boundary or local administration restructuring until a credible law and order presence is in place and the situation in Jakarta becomes more stable.

The official death toll has reached over 400, while around 24,000 Madurese have lost their homes.

Indonesian police shoot Kalimantan rioters
Dayaks broaden violent campaign in Borneo
Indonesians hacked to death in ethnic riots

Human Rights Watch
Inside Indonesia
Indonesia Government

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