Maryadi/Fitri & Lyndal Meehan, Pontianak – Today is Indonesian Independence Day. In West Kalimantan, thousands of people are expected to mark the day with a mixture of celebration and protest involving all elements of society, including Madurese refugees of sectarian violence which erupted in 1997. Demonstrators also plan to reiterate their demand that Governor Aspar Aswin be removed for corruption.
The day's activities have been coordinated for some time by student and other organisations and the festivities have been launched with the name 'West Kalimantan People's Independence Day Action'. The proceedings began at 8am Thursday at the Digulis statue at the Untan roundabout, Jl. Ahmad Yani, in the capital, Pontianak.
Students, farmers, fishermen, labourers, NGO members, community leaders, youth organisation members, scholars and ordinary people plan to hold hands at the cite in a show of solidarity.
Head of the organising committee, Encep Endan, told Detik on Wednesday night that students had constructed a giant stage at the Digulis Statue as the center of the action. "We received donations to build this stage from students and community members who have supported the student's cause," Encep said.
He said the action was intended so that the people could stress that they have not felt free despite 55 years of independence. For the grand celebration, Encep said, the people would come together for a 'Reflection on Independence' as well as a mass prayer and flower offering, orations by representatives of the people and people's art shows. Each event would focus on such themes as poverty, suppression, ignorance, discrimination, people's welfare, human rights, the environment and anti violence and the military.
The mass prayers and flower offerings would be followed by a longmarch from the Untan roundabout to the West Kalimantan Governor's office where Syarifudin, a student demonstrator, died on 14 June during a demonstration to demand the resignation of West Kalimantan governor, Aspar Aswin.
Encep further explained that at 10pm the action would finish with a mass show of disappointment and frustration at the suppression of the people by local and national leaders.
Meanwhile, the head of the Madurese Student Association in West Kalimantan, Nagian Imawan, told Detik that they would involve a thousand child refugees who had fled from sectarian clashes in Sambas in 1997.
While Kalimantan is an ethnically diverse island, with hundreds of indigenous groups and a large and well-established community of non-indigenous Malays, Madurese only began arriving under the transmigration program of the former regime.
"We are coordinating with our volunteers in the refugee camps to prepare for the action" he said. "All volunteers and refugee children are ready to join with students," Nagian said.