Indonesia: March 3, 2001

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Settlers continued to flee Borneo as some Dayak tribesmen continued to attack settlers they could find. The problem in Borneo has been played out elsewhere in Indonesia. Government attempts to relieve crowding on some islands by encouraging migration to more sparsely populated ones underestimated the corrosive effect of cultural clashes. In most cases, the problems arise when the migrants prove more commercially adept than the natives. Soon, the original inhabitants find themselves the economic, and sometimes political, underclass. These poisonous situations are often resolved violently, as has been seen in Borneo, Irian Jaya and other islands.