Indonesia sends extra police to halt ethnic violence in Borneo

Idonesian security forces carry a sack with a head, belonging to a man decapitated during fighting between ethnic Malays and Madurese settlers in Pontianak, Kalimantan province, on Friday

October 28, 2000
Web posted at: 6:55 AM HKT (2255 GMT)

JAKARTA, Indonesia (Reuters) -- Indonesia sent hundreds of extra police to west Borneo on Friday as they struggled to quell bloody ethnic fighting that has killed several people.

The violence, underlining the communal tensions gripping this multi-ethnic country, has so far killed seven -- all hacked or burnt to death, police said.

"The killings still continue and most of them were quite horrific...one person was burnt alive," a policeman told Reuters from Pontianak, 750 km (465 miles) north of Jakarta.

INTERACTIVE MAP Fragile Archipelago -- a look at conflict areas in Indonesia and environs

One victim was taken from a police post and hacked and stabbed to death over several minutes as police stood by.

At one stage, he tried to get into a police van for protection, but was pushed away from the vehicle by police.

Gangs wielding machetes and sickles guarded neighborhoods around the riverside town.

Residents said rampaging mobs were still torching shops and other buildings owned by rival sides. Business has largely ground to a halt as people shelter in their homes.

The fighting in Pontianak is between local Malays and migrants from the island of Madura, off Java. Most of the dead so far are Madurese.

Ethnic Malays, armed with swords, overturn pedicabs belonging to Madurese settlers to block the road after clashes in Pontianak

Indonesian police chief General Suroyo Bimantoro said one battalion of extra police had been sent to the town from Jakarta.

But he insisted the situation had improved after a curfew was imposed. A battalion normally consists of 600 to 700 men.

The police have largely appeared powerless to stop the fighting which serves as a reminder of the ongoing security problems facing embattled President Abdurrahman Wahid.

Pontianak, a sultry town lying on the edge of Borneo's jungles, is mainly Malay. It is ringed by refugee camps where thousands of Madurese are still sheltering after ethnic tension boiled over into bloodshed last year.

Scores were killed in those clashes, fuelled by resentment over the success of Madurese in business.

Witnesses said the fighting began on Wednesday after a minor accident in which a bus driven by a Madurese clipped a Malay motorcyclist. Like much of Indonesia's recent violence, it quickly spiraled into blood-letting and demands for revenge.

Much of the violence in Kalimantan and other parts of Indonesia stems from anger at an influx of immigrants under a discredited policy of resettling people from overcrowded areas, such as Madura and the main island of Java.

Thousands have also died in a religious war in the eastern Moluccas islands and in separatist violence in the restive provinces of Aceh and Irian Jaya in recent years.

Wahid's government, weighed down by political battles in Jakarta and grappling to cement economic recovery, has struggled to put an end to the killing.

Indonesia's tarnished security forces have also been stretched by the unrest, and in some places accused of actually stirring up trouble.

Copyright 2000 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

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