Police have discovered the bodies of another 118 Madurese migrants, massacred as they attempted to flee Borneo last weekend, writes Miriam Donohoe. The Madurese were killed by a mob of 600 Dayaks on Sunday while they sought shelter. This brings to over 400 the number killed in the last week.
It was reported yesterday that police sent to protect the refugees fled when the attack took place. A group of between 200 and 300 Madurese refugees had gathered at Parenggean in central Kalimantan, and split up due to a lack of vehicles. The Dayaks attacked those who were left behind.
A gunfight broke out yesterday between Indonesian police and soldiers charged with restoring peace to Borneo island.
An unknown number of people were injured in the clash at the central Kalimantan port town of Sampit, about 750km north-east of Jakarta.
"It was a misunderstanding between police and soldiers . . . there were some shooting casualties but at this stage I can't confirm the number," a police spokesman said.
Many of those killed in the last week have been beheaded. The Dayaks ripped the hearts from some corpses.
The Dayak rampage has forced more than 30,000 Madurese from their homes. Some remain trapped on Borneo in squalid refugee camps as they await evacuation. Others have already been taken to Java or their homeland, Madura, just off East Java.
Despite some of the worst bloodshed since he took office 16 months ago, Indonesian President Abdurrahman Wahid has refused to cut short a two-week trip to Africa and the Middle East.