Back to Bloody Square One

After Sampit and Palangkaraya, ethnic clashes between Dayaks and Madurese have reached a new site in Kalimantan—Pangkalan Bun. Two more towns, Ketapang and Sintang, are just waiting their turn.

April 10, 2001

Kalimantan is still burning. A month and a half after ethnic clashes erupted in Sampit in February, the violence has spread east to Palangkaraya and Kuala Kapuas and early last week west to Pangkalanbun. Dayaks have again put on the red headband to signify they are at war and their enemies, once again, are the despised migrants from Madura.

The trouble in Pangkalan Bun started two weeks ago, when the security forces found 132 assembled bombs in

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