SUMMARY
The outbreak of ethnic violence between Dayak and Madurese is one effect of the large-scale migration program (the so-called transmigration system) implemented by the Government of Indonesia starting in the 1960s. The program, with an original aim to reduce overpopulation on islands such as Java and Madura by encouraging large-scale relocation to other, less-dense areas, led to large scale population shifts and demographic changes in many areas. In some of these areas such as Central and Western Kalimantan, the traditional homeland of the Dayaks, the effects of transmigration were compounded by economic and political marginalization by the central government through measures such as the opening of vast areas of forest to logging companies or agricultural use. This led to a significant accumulation of resentment by the mainly-rural Dayaks against the relatively more prosperous, urban, Madurese immigrants.
Tensions existed between the two communities as early as in the 1980s, but flared only in the late 1990s, as Indonesia faced significant economic and political turmoil. Further, after violence flared, and more-so in 2001, multiple Dayak leaders demanded that the Madurese leave Kalimantan or be killed.
Two bouts of violence between Dayak and Madurese can be discerned, one, taking place in 1997-1999 in Western Kalimantan, and another in Central Kalimantan, in February 2001. In both cases, patterns of violence were fairly similar - starting with relatively small clashes between the two groups, quickly escalating into large-scale fighting. Further, while in the beginning of both bouts of violence, fighting was fairly symmetrical (with both Dayak and Madurese inciting to violence), it quickly degenerated in a series of massacres of the Madurese by the Dayaks. Further, throughout the violence, massacres had a significant level of organization - reports existing of truckloads of Dayaks being brought in to supplement existing forces in an area. Moreover, atrocities were common - reports abounding of actions such as head-hunting of Madurese by the Dayaks, and killings of refugees trying to flee.
Throughout the violence, the Dayakswere overwhelmingly more successful in achieving their goals - both the 1997-1999 and 2001 bouts of violence ending in widespread evacuations of entire Madurese communities from Kalimantan to Madura, Java and Sumatra. The overall effects of violence were significant in altering the ethnic composition of Central and Western Kalimantan - out of 150.000 Madurese present in Central Kalimantan in 2000, only a few thousand remained by 2002. Further, as a result of the violence, over 108.000 Madurese from Central Kalimantan and 50.000 from Western Kalimantan became internally displaced.
The non-state conflict between Dayak and Madurese is first included in UCDP data in 1997, when violence beginning in January of that year resulted in over 25 battle-related deaths.
