Restraint urged over Indonesian refugees

At least 500 were killed last year in violence in Central Kalimantan

JAKARTA, Indonesia -- Indonesia's local government in West Kalimantan province has called for restraint on the eve of a deadline imposed by ethnic Malay youths for thousands of Madurese refugees to leave the area.

An ethnic Malay youth group had warned of bloodshed if the refugees did not leave the local capital Pontianak by Sunday.

Ethnic clashes erupted earlier this week in Pontianak that left at least three people dead.

Officials fear a repeat of blood-letting that has hit West and neighbouring Central Kalimantan province in recent years, much of it aimed at Madurese immigrants from an island off East Java because of their dominance in regional commerce.

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"We appeal to our Malay colleagues to restrain themselves. Hopefully they will realise we need some time to settle this issue," Tatang Isya Iskandar, a local government spokesman, told Reuters from Pontianak, 750 kilometers (470 miles) northeast of Jakarta.

Iskandar said talks on Friday night with local leaders had focused on efforts to relocate the refugees, but that this process would take time. He said 50-100 of the some 12,000 Madurese in the city might be relocated later on Saturday.

The local government has provided around 1,800 houses in an area a two-hour river journey away from Pontianak, where the Madurese are still sheltering after ethnic tension boiled over into bloodshed in 1999.

But many prefer to remain in the river city.

The Madurese, most of them sent to West Kalimantan under a now discredited policy of spreading the country's huge population more evenly, have been targeted by dominant ethnic Malays and indigenous Dayak groups.

At least 500 people were killed in Central Kalimantan province earlier this year during clashes between Dayaks and migrants from Madura. Most of the victims were Madurese, many of whom were beheaded.

Reuters contributed to this report.