By Wednesday, though, the situation had calmed down slightly and relief organizations were preparing to distribute food to those without rations. Indonesian President Abdurrahman Wahid came under attack by opposition leaders for leaving on a two-week trip to the Middle East and North Africa, including a pilgrimage to Mecca in Saudi Arabia, after hearing about the conflict. He refused pleas to return to Indonesia and, in spite of television reports showing headless bodies in the streets and rife burning and looting, claimed reports of the violence's severity were exaggerated. Human rights advocates said the Borneo conflict was initially ignored because the government would rather address problems in states with significant amounts of natural or economic resources. The conflict could be an issue of contention between President Wahid and the Indonesian military.
Military officials resent governmental plans to prosecute soldiers for human rights abuses.
Soldiers are seen as allowing ethnic and religious conflicts to deteriorate to the point that the government will have no choice but to let the military take power. The rivalry between the Dayaks and Madurese goes back fifty years to when Indonesia's first president, Sukarno, began offering residents of densely populated islands like Madura incentives to relocate to empty, largely undeveloped provinces such as Kalimantan. The thousands of Madurese who moved to Kalimantan took control of local markets, transport and government jobs. They clashed with the Dayaks because of their economic success and because of cultural differences. In 1997, clashes between the two ethnic groups in West Kalimantan killed an estimated 3,000 people, mostly Madurese.