Military

DATE=10/27/00

TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT

TITLE=INDONESIA / VIOLENCE (L-ONLY)

NUMBER=2-

BYLINE=PATRICIA NUNAN

DATELINE=JAKARTA

CONTENT=

VOICED AT:

INTRO: Fighting is now in its third day in Indonesia's West Kalimantan province, with at least seven people now dead. As Patricia Nunan reports from Jakarta, police have sent reinforcements to the area to try to end Indonesia's latest outbreak of ethnic conflict.

TEXT: Witnesses report severe ethnic violence in the streets of Pontianak, some 750 kilometers north of the Indonesian capital Jakarta, in the province of West Kalimantan.

Clashes first erupted on Wednesday, between groups of ethnic Malays who are indigenous to the area, and migrants from the island of Madura. Witnesses say the violence was sparked by a minor traffic accident between an ethnic Malay and a Madurese.

Despite the imposition of a night-time curfew, mobs of ethnic Malays have roamed the city, armed with daggers, spears, sickles and swords. Some have set up roadblocks and set fire to roadside stalls.

So far, security personnel have been outnumbered by the ethnic Malays. But some 15 hundred more police were due to arrive in the area on Friday.

Police have deployed an armored vehicle to the city's central market area - where much of the bloodshed has taken place. They have also fired blanks in an effort to keep the mobs apart.

It is the worst outbreak of fighting in Pontianak since early last year, when at least 260 people - mostly Madurese people - died in clashes with the ethnic Malays. Thousands of Madurese have been living in refugee camps outside the city since then.

In the past, the Indonesian government often encouraged peoples from overcrowded parts of the country - like the island of Madura - to resettle in other areas, through its transmigration program. Others choose to leave crowded areas of their own accord.

But with the onset of Indonesia's economic crisis three and a half years ago, incidents of violence between locals and newcomers have been on the rise - partly due to resentments caused by limited economic opportunity.

This year alone, bloodshed between locals and transmigrants has rocked the provinces of Maluku, Central Sulawesi, West Papua and West Kalimantan. (signed)

NEB/HK/PN/GC/PLM