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Sunday February 25 9:39 PM ET
Violence Spreads in Indonesia
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AP Photo
By DANIEL COONEY, Associated Press Writer
PALANGKARAYA, Indonesia (AP) - Ethnic violence that has killed at least 270 people on Borneo island spread Monday to the capital of Indonesia's Central Kalimantan province, where armed gangs of indigenous men burned the homes of settlers from another part of the country.
Native Dayaks set up road blocks throughout Palangkaraya, burning tires and threatening motorists with homemade weapons as they searched passing vehicles for Madurese settlers.
The gangs burned dozens of homes and business belonging to Madurese, many of whom sought shelter at a police station. Indonesian security forces made no apparent effort to stem the violence in Palangkaraya.
Elsewhere in the province, Dayak men armed with spears and machetes and chanting ``War, War!'' hunted for Madurese hiding in forests. Others besieged about 15,000 refugees sheltering in squalid camps and waiting for the government to evacuate them.
Many Madurese fled by road to the city of Banjarmasin in the neighboring Southern Kalimantan province, hoping that the bloodshed would not spread there.
``Any Madurese who stay in this province will be killed,'' said Azan Tein, a Dayak fighter in Central Kalimantan. ``We have had enough of them. They rape our women. They do not respect our culture. Either they leave or die.''
Government officials said 270 people were confirmed dead in eight days of violence, but added that the death toll could be as high as 1,000 as uncounted bodies lay rotting in houses and fields.
Indonesia's top security minister, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, said the killings would stop within ``a few days.''
On Sunday, Yudhoyono said security forces were doing their best to stop the violence and pledged to enforce the law, but the government has been criticized for failing to restore order.
Over 100,000 Madurese were moved to the Indonesian part of Borneo island in a resettlement program that lasted from the 1960s until last year. Its purpose was to relieve overcrowding on Madura.
The program sparked widespread condemnation, and the government was accused of ignoring local cultures.
The Dayaks claim the immigrants pushed them off their traditional lands and stole their jobs in the island's gold, tin and copper mines. They also say they receive inferior education.
The Madurese are strict Muslims, and many resent the Dayak habits of eating pork and keeping dogs. Some also consider the indigenous people to be lazy and backward.
Meanwhile, Dayaks accuse Madurese of intolerance and violence.
Most Dayaks are Christians, but many still practice ancient animist beliefs.
Before Indonesia's former Dutch colonial rulers outlawed headhunting in the late 19th century, the Dayaks were widely known as cannibals. In traditional Dayak belief, consuming the flesh of an enemy endows the eater with the victim's strength.
About 3,000 people were killed in 1997 in the first major outbreak of ethnic violence on Borneo, which is (cont)
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