PEOPLE ASKED TO HELP END TARAKAN CLASHES

By Andi Abdussalam

Jakarta, Sept 29 (ANTARA) - The government has called on the people, including security officers, religious leaders, tribal community chiefs, government officials and the media to help calm down emotions and settle the communal clashes that have caused the death of at least five locals in Tarakan city, East Kalimantan.          "I am saddened by  the occurrence of the community violence in East Kalimantan. I have received a report from the police chief and communicated with the Indonesian Defense Forces (TNI) commander and with the East Kalimantan governor," President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono said on Wednesday.          The president therefore asked that the handling of the case should be carried out seriously to prevent a repetition of the incident that occurred in Sampit, Central Kalimantan, ten years ago, where Dayak natives and ethnic Madurese were involved in a conflict that claimed many lives.          "I hope it will not happen again. The efforts made to handle the incident should be concerted, officers should make concrete efforts by getting down into the field," the president said.          The president asked for concerted efforts by the central government, local government, the TNI and Police. He called on the local communities which were involved in the brawls to restrain. Apart from that the president also asked the media to help the government in settling the conflict by providing balanced reports and avoiding reports that could incite widespread escalations.          Five people were reportedly killed in clashes between two groups of Tarakan (East Kalimantan) residents that began last Sunday night and continued until Wednesday morning.  "Four were killed in the brawls that have been going on from last Sunday until early this Wednesday. So the  death toll of the incident since it broke out on Sunday night has reached five," a police officer who refused to be named said here on Wednesday.           According to several residents, the brawls had quickly spread to other parts of the city.  On Tuesday morning, the clashes occurred in certain  areas in Tarakan city. "At the beginning, the clash took place in a suburb, namely on Jalan Gajah Mada and Jalan Yos Sudarso. But this morning the fighting had spread to Selimut Dalam, closer the city center," Nanda, a resident of  the Selimut Dalam area, said.          One of the rival groups has since Tuesday morning also blocked access to the airport and Juwata seaport.          East Kalimantan Governor Awang Faroek Ishak said the community clashes in Tarakan City were not related to rivals between two certain ethnic groups.  "The residents' clashes were not related to conflict between certain ethnic groups. This is a pure crime," Governor Awang Faroek Ishak said at Samarinda airport when he was to fly to Tarakan Wednesday afternoon.          He was flying to Tarakan together with the chief of Resort Military Command 0901, Aji Suranata Kesuma. "Together with the Resort Military Command 0901 chief and the East Kalimantan Police chief, I will coordinate with the Tarakan local government officials, religious leaders, tribal chiefs and other community figures to prevent the clashes from escalating," the governor said.          The governor said that the community conflict in Tarakan must be settled soon so that the people would return to their daily activities. "I hope this problem would be solved as soon as possible so that the people would regain their normal life and the economy which happened to be disturbed could be revived," he said.          The governor said that he also hoped leaders of the two rival groups would restrain and leave the matter to police. After all, police have held actors in this case so that there was no need to continue the conflict.          Awang also admitted that security officers had taken control of the situation in the Tarakan City. "Security officers, both from police and the military, have taken control of the situation and localized or isolated the two rival groups in two separate locations, one in the Selimut area and the other in Simpang Empat zone," he said.          In the meantime, the National Police Headquarters under the deputy to the police chief for operational affairs (Deops) Insp. Gen. Soenarko, is directly supervising military operations to control the situation in the conflict areas.          "Insp. Gen. Soenarko flew directly to Tarakan today to control the operations in the field," Police Deputy Spokesman Brig. Gen. I Ketut Untung Yoga Ana said.  Soenarko flew with the chairman of the South Sulawesi Family Association (IKSS) to Tarakan in an effort to coordinate efforts to control  situation there,"  he said.          Yoga said that the clashes should be stopped or calmed down because otherwise it would escalate. "The departure (of Soenarko to Tarakan) is to prevent possible further incident ahead and (to collect facts) he would report to the Police chief and the president," he said.           Home Affairs Minister Gamawan Fauzi had earlier reported to President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono over the latest developments of the communal clashes.          The home affairs told reporters before he met with the president on Wednesday that his ministry had sent its Conflict Management director to Tarakan. "I am concerned over the incident. I have called three times the East Kalimantan governor on the phone asking him to make serious efforts," the home minister said.          He said that the condition in Tarakan had actually returned to normal on Tuesday noon but it worsened again and the incident was repeated Tuesday night.          "We were there yesterday when the situation was already calm but it turned out that in some locations which were difficult to control, potential incidents still existed," he said.***1*** (T.A014/A/HAJM/17:58/a014) 29-09-2010 18:04:3