INDONESIA: THOUSANDS OF MAINLY MADURESE REFUGEES FLEE TO ESCAPE MOBS ROAMING FREELY

Record ID: 275375

  • Title: INDONESIA: THOUSANDS OF MAINLY MADURESE REFUGEES FLEE TO ESCAPE MOBS ROAMING FREELY
  • Date: 23rd February 2001
  • Summary: SAMPIT, CENTRAL KALIMANTAN (FEBRUARY 24, 2001) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL) 1. PAN MADURESE REFUGEES CLIMBING ONTO TRUCKS 0.08 2. CU OF ELDERLY WOMAN BEHIND TRUCK 0.11 3. SLV CROWDED TRUCK 0.17 4. SV PEOPLE RUSHING TO BOARD TRUCKS 0.23 5. SLV/SV REFUGEES CLIMBING ONTO TRUCK (2 SHOTS) 0.38 6. CU OF WOMAN CRYING 0.41 7. SV MORE OF REFUGEES CLIMBING ONTO TRUCKS (3 SHOTS) 0.56 8. MCU BOY COMFORTING GRANDMOTHER 0.59 9. SLV MORE REFUGEES CLIMBING TRUCK 1.05 10. CU OF GIRLS INSIDE MILITARY TRUCK 1.09 11. SLV VARIOUS OF TRUCKS LEAVING FOR PORT (4 SHOTS) 1.43 12. SV OF NAVY SHIP ON DOCK 1.48 13. LV/SV OF REFUGEES GETTING ONTO SHIP (4 SHOTS) 2.10 14. SV OF WOMAN WATCHING 2.18 15. SLV REFUGEES ON THE SHIP 2.25 16. TV MORE OF REFUGEES CARRYING BELONGING 2.31 17. SV/CU OF GIRL (2 SHOTS) 2.42 SAMPIT, CENTRAL KALIMANTAN (FEBRUARY 23, 2001) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL) 18. LV OF TROOPS ON SIDE OF STREET (2 SHOTS) 2.48 19. SV OF SOLDIER HOLDING AUTOMATIC WEAPON 2.52 20. SV SMOKE FROM BURNING HOMES 2.55 21. SV/SLV VARIOUS OF HOUSE ON FIRE (3 SHOTS) 3.11 22. SV DAYAKS SHOUTING "LONG LIVE DAYAKS" ON TRUCK (2 SHOTS) 3.25 23. SLV OF DAYAKS PATROLLING STREET 3.30 24. MCU/SV OF DAYAKS HOLDING TRADITIONAL WEAPONS (2 SHOTS) 3.39 25. MCU DAYAK MAN SHOUTING "LONG LIVE DAYAK" OUTSIDE BURNING HOUSE 3.43 26. SLV/SV OF HOUSE ON FIRE (2 SHOTS) 3.52 27. SLV OF SOLDIER STANDING ON EMPTY STREET 3.56 28. LAS OF ABANDONED THREE-CYCLES LEFT ON THE MIDDLE OF STREET 4.00 29. SLV OF DEAD BODY OUTSIDE HOUSE 4.05 30. CU OF BODY 4.08 31. MCU (Bahasa Indonesia) SAMPIT REGENT, WAHYUDI ANWAR, SAYING: "The number of the dead is considerably high, but I don't have yet the exact number. Many of them are abandoned on the street and today we are planning to hold a mass burial for the unclaimed bodies" 4.35 32. LV OF REFUGEES OUTSIDE GOVERNMENT BUILDING 4.40 33. VARIOUS OF REFUGEES STORMING PICK-UP TRUCK CARRYING FOOD 4.56 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
  • Embargoed: 10th March 2001 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: SAMPIT, CENTRAL KALIMANTAN PROVINCE, BORNEO, INDONESIA
  • Country: Indonesia
  • Reuters ID: LVAAP0DEVXDGQY0UZ3JT98O9QJMU
  • Story Text: Thousands of mainly Madurese refugees have fled to
    escape mobs roaming freely as some 270 people have been
    slaughtered in a week of ethnic bloodshed in the ravaged
    Borneo town of Sampit.



    Thousands of mainly Madurese refugees fled Sampit on
    navy ships on Saturday (February 24) to escape mobs roaming
    freely through the town, which lies 750 km (465 miles)
    northeast of Jakarta.

    Officials in Sampit could not immediately be reached for
    comment on Sunday and it was unclear how many refugees
    remained.

    Raising fears the violence might spread, three homes
    belonging to Madurese were torched in the Central Kalimantan
    capital Palangkaraya on Saturday night, witnesses said. There
    were no reports of any casualties.

    Palangkaraya is a four-hour drive to the east of Sampit.

    On Sunday (February 25) , senior Indonesian officials led
    by the chief security minister were scheduled to visit Sampit
    where 210 people have been slaughtered in a week of ethnic
    bloodshed.

    It will mark the first serious response from the embattled
    government in Jakarta to the violence between indigenous
    Dayaks and immigrants from Madura island off Java that has
    also created an estimated 40,000 refugees.

    A local government official in Palangkaraya, capital of
    Central Kalimantan province, said the delegation was expected
    to fly into the river town of Sampit after midday.

    As well as top security minister Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono,
    the delegation would include military commander Admiral Widodo
    and national police chief Bimantoro, the official told
    Reuters. He gave no more details.

    One local official has said the 2,000 soldiers and police
    in Sampit had not been ordered to disarm spear-carrying Dayaks
    in the town. Military officials have not been available to
    comment.

    Police have arrested about 80 people over the violence,
    including three alleged masterminds, official media has said.

    Witnesses and officials say the Sampit violence began as
    fighting between the long-time rival groups but has since
    shifted into one-sided Dayak attacks on Madurese.

    Some victims have been beheaded and their heads paraded
    through Sampit. Others have been burned to death.

    The grisly Kalimantan massacres have given the political
    enemies of embattled President Abdurrahman Wahid, who left on
    a trip to the Middle East and Africa last week as the violence
    escalated, fresh ammunition to attack the Muslim cleric.

    Wahid has said little about the violence during his trip.

    Vice President Megawati Sukarnoputri, in charge during Wahid's
    two-week absence, has also made few public remarks.

    Long simmering tension between Dayaks and Madurese
    occasionally boils over in Kalimantan, stoked by land disputes
    and competition for jobs.

    In many cases immigrants end up running local commerce.

    Madurese also have a reputation as fierce warriors.

    Hundreds have died in Indonesia's Borneo provinces in the
    past two years in unrest between Dayaks and mainly Madurese.

    Central Kalimantan is a vast region home to just 1.5
    million people and is Indonesia's only Borneo province where
    Dayaks are still in a majority.



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