Editorial: Against each other

Chaos on the brink of anarchy colored another day in the republic when protesters in Palangkaraya, Central Kalimantan, forced their way onto the airport’s apron and runway on Friday. Reported to be largely members of the local Dayak tribe, they said they were searching for officials of the Islam Defenders Front (FPI) who were scheduled to inaugurate the organization’s provincial branch in the province.

Following the security breach, the airport management ordered the FPI members to remain on board the airplane, and they were later flown to Banjarmasin, South Kalimantan. On Sunday, the provincial branch of the Indonesian Ulema Council (MUI) stated that the establishment of the Palangkaraya FPI branch had been canceled, citing the opposition of the local Dayak community.

The FPI has demanded a thorough investigation into the blocking of the airport and rejection of only four of their senior leaders on board the plane, pointing their fingers at the governor himself, Teras Narang, and citing the “very close” relationship between the FPI and Muslim Dayaks in the area. They have raised valid questions over why the armed crowd was able to enter the airport up to “about 50 meters” from the Sriwijaya Air flight.

The incident is far from a good promotion for Kalimantan as a whole, where violence erupted barely 13 years ago in neighboring West Kalimantan, in which hundreds of residents were killed and over 100,000 displaced, mostly Madurese migrants from East Java. On a much smaller scale of conflict, in 2010 the Dayak tribe in Tarakan, East Kalimantan, took the blame again for unrest.

Thus residents, who may still be learning to live peacefully despite differences, want no more trouble if they can help it. Residents outside the Dayak community in Central Kalimantan may have quietly supported the airport blockade, however alarming the security breach. And regardless of a conspiracy involving the Central Kalimantan elite, as the FPI accuses, and a clear inability to keep peace and order on the part of security officers, what the FPI may have forgotten is that they might face rejection elsewhere, though not on a similar frontal and massive scale.

However noble its intentions might be against fighting evil and promoting good, the FPI’s vigilante style has brought it a bad name even among those who are not likely on its target list. It is not only the FPI; similar groups have taken on the vigilante role that appeals to some and repels many too.

Whoever is behind such groups, their appeal lies in the heroic notion of being able to make a difference for the social good — even if people aren’t grateful. The appeal stems from the gap in law enforcement that is evident everywhere. And in such a situation, it’s “us against them”, a fertile ground for horizontal conflict as security personnel stand by.

We cringe as scholars describe how Indonesia’s history has been shaped by violence in each struggle for power, as if we’re a bunch of barbarians. But we wouldn’t be surprised either, if the blockade of the Tjilik Riwut Airport is not the last of its kind.