
The Sambas riots were an outbreak of inter-ethnic violence in
Indonesia
Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of over 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo and New Guine ...
, in 1999. The conflict started in the regency of
Sambas,
West Kalimantan
West Kalimantan ( id, Kalimantan Barat) is a province of Indonesia. It is one of five Indonesian provinces comprising Kalimantan, the Indonesian part of the island of Borneo. Its capital city is Pontianak. The province has an area of 147,307& ...
Province. The conflict involved
Malay allying with the indigenous
Dayak people
The Dayak (; older spelling: Dajak) or Dyak or Dayuh are one of the native groups of Borneo. It is a loose term for over 200 riverine and hill-dwelling ethnic groups, located principally in the central and southern interior of Borneo, each ...
in order to massacre the migrant
Madurese from the island of
Madura
Madura Island is an Indonesian island off the northeastern coast of Java. The island comprises an area of approximately (administratively 5,379.33 km2 including various smaller islands to the east, southeast and north that are administrat ...
.
Background
The Sambas riots in 1999 were not an isolated incident, as there had been previous incidents of violence between the Dayaks and the Madurese. The last major conflict occurred between December 1996 and January 1997, and resulted in more than 600 deaths.
The Madurese first arrived in
Borneo
Borneo (; id, Kalimantan) is the List of islands by area, third-largest island in the world and the largest in Asia. At the geographic centre of Maritime Southeast Asia, in relation to major Indonesian islands, it is located north of Java Isl ...
in 1930 under the
transmigration program
The transmigration program ( id, , from Dutch, ''transmigratie'') was an initiative of the Dutch colonial government and later continued by the Indonesian government to move landless people from densely populated areas of Indonesia to less p ...
initiated by the Dutch colonial administration, and continued by the Indonesian government.
Massacres
Malays
Malays may refer to:
* Malay race, a racial category encompassing peoples of Southeast Asia and sometimes the Pacific Islands
** Overseas Malays, people of Malay race ancestry living outside Malay archipelago home areas
** Cape Malays, a communit ...
and
Dayaks
The Dayak (; older spelling: Dajak) or Dyak or Dayuh are one of the native groups of Borneo. It is a loose term for over 200 riverine and hill-dwelling ethnic groups, located principally in the central and southern interior of Borneo, each wi ...
united to massacre
Madurese in Sambas district. Madurese were mutilated, raped, and killed by the Malays and Dayaks and 3,000 of them died in the massacres, with the Indonesian government doing little to stop the violence. Malays and Dayaks attacked Indonesian troops sent to stop the riots.
Further massacres
In 2001, Dayaks launched another massacre of several hundred Madurese in the
Sampit conflict
The Sampit conflict was an outbreak of inter-ethnic violence in Indonesia, beginning in February 2001 and lasting through the year. The conflict started in the town of Sampit, Central Kalimantan, and spread throughout the province, including the ...
.
See also
*
Transmigration program
The transmigration program ( id, , from Dutch, ''transmigratie'') was an initiative of the Dutch colonial government and later continued by the Indonesian government to move landless people from densely populated areas of Indonesia to less p ...
*
Sampit conflict
The Sampit conflict was an outbreak of inter-ethnic violence in Indonesia, beginning in February 2001 and lasting through the year. The conflict started in the town of Sampit, Central Kalimantan, and spread throughout the province, including the ...
*
2010 Tarakan riot, a much smaller scale
riot
A riot is a form of civil disorder commonly characterized by a group lashing out in a violent public disturbance against authority, property, or people.
Riots typically involve destruction of property, public or private. The property target ...
between
Dayak Tidung and
Bugis people
The Bugis people (pronounced ), also known as Buginese, are an ethnicity—the most numerous of the three major linguistic and ethnic groups of South Sulawesi (the others being Makassar and Toraja), in the south-western province of Sulawesi ...
in
Tarakan
Tarakan is an island and the largest city of the Indonesian province of North Kalimantan. The island city is located in northern Borneo, midway along the coast of the province. The city boundaries are co-extensive with the island (including a cou ...
*
Fall of Suharto
Suharto resigned as President of Indonesia on 21 May 1998 following the collapse of support for his 32-year long presidency. Vice President B. J. Habibie took over the presidency.
Suharto's grip on power weakened following severe economic and ...
References
External links
Tempo - Mereka Lari ke MalaysiaReformasi dan Persatuan Nasional: 1998 to 2001PERANG SAMPIT MADURA
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sambas Riots
1999 in Indonesia
Kalimantan
Riots and civil disorder in Indonesia
Headhunting
Ethnic riots
1999 riots
Ethnic conflicts in Indonesia