Andi Jatmiko, Simpang Monterado – Indonesian soldiers fired shots in the air Tuesday to scare off fighters armed with spears, swords and homemade guns who tried to attack another ethnic group on Borneo island.
Hundreds of ethnic Dayak men demanded that the troops hand over terrified Madura immigrants who have been the target of a week of slaughter. At least 200 people have died in an Indonesian region of western Borneo.
Soldiers with automatic rifles fired volleys of gunshots to disperse the mobs in the village of Simpang Monterado, and drove off in a convoy of trucks with a dozen immigrants from the island of Madura who sheltered underneath a tarpaulin.
There were no reports of injuries. Troops detained some Dayak fighters, but released them after confiscating their weapons.
Immigrants from Madura are resented by indigenous people, who view them as troublemakers who have taken away land and jobs. Thousands of Madurese have fled their homes and are staying in government compounds and sports stadiums.
The Indonesian military presence in the troubled region is slight, even though C-130 transport planes ferried hundreds of troops Tuesday to Pontianak, a nearby provincial capital.
Soldiers are outnumbered and have no control in dozens of villages where indigenous Dayak and Malay men patrol on motorcycles and on trucks.
With the reinforcements, there are now about 3,000 troops in Sambas district, where 900,000 people live, 10 percent of them Madurese.
The violence has been marked by ritual savagery: In some areas, gangs of fighters had set Madurese homes on fire and then paraded through the streets carrying the heads of their decapitated victims.
Reporters traveling near Simpang Monterado on Tuesday saw three heads lying in a road. Nearby were two bodies whose livers and hearts had been cut out. No soldiers or police were in sight.
On Monday night, at least one man was injured when soldiers fired shots to clear the road of mobs who tried to block trucks carrying refugees to safety from Singkawang.
An editorial in Tuesday's Jakarta Post said the latest outbreaks of communal violence in Indonesia could jeopardize the country's chances of holding a national election in June. Many see the vote as a potential breakthrough in the country's moves toward democracy after the resignation of authoritarian President Suharto last year.
Recently, about 200 people were killed during weeks of clashes between Muslims and Christians in Ambon island in eastern Indonesia. Fighting also has flared between rival groups in East Timor since the government offered to hold a referendum on the territory's future.