Thousands in North Lampung continue protests in land dispute

The Jakarta Post, Bandar Lampung, Tue July 31 2012,


Thousands of residents from 11 villages rallied outside the local office of state-owned plantation firm PT Perkebunan Nusantara (PTPN) VII Bunga Mayang in North Lampung on Monday, demanding the return of hundreds of hectares of farmland.

The demonstrators were met by about 1,000 officers from the Mobile Brigade (Brimob) special operations units of the North Lampung and Way Kanan Police during the protests.

Meanwhile, farmers wielding bamboo sticks also blocked access to the Bunga Mayang sugar mill, the third protest at the mill this month.

“We will continue protesting and blocking the access to the sugar mill until our rights have been returned,” rally coordinator Antoni said on Monday.

The land in question is in the villages of Kotanapal, Sukadana Ilir, Sukadana Udik, Negara Tulangbawang, Tanahabang, Negarabatin, Haduyangratu, Gedungbatin, Ketapang, Karangrejo and Sidodadi.

“PTPN VII has dominated our farmland, spanning hundreds of hectares, for the past 30 years,” Antoni said.

The firm had not employed local residents on the plantations established on the land and had brought in workers from Java instead, Antoni added.

The farmers also visited the office of the North Lampung administration to urge Regent Zainal Abidin to mediate talks with PTPN management in Bandar Lampung.

Zainal said that he would intercede in the dispute. “I promise that I will coordinate with PTPN VII’s directors. I also plan to meet with President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono to report on the current situation,” Zainal said.

“If the land is owned by the farmers, it should be returned to them. I have asked the farmers, who have claimed that their land was dominated by PTPN VII, to gather evidence that proves that the land belongs to them,” Zainal said.

PTPN VII representative Satria Tama said the company would consider the protestors’ demands. “We must discuss this with the company directors in Bandar Lampung. The requests cannot be immediately granted before we carry out an in-depth assessment. Residents must also be able to show their ownership documents,” Satria said.

The incident in Bandar Lampung follows the death of a 12-year-old boy on Sunday in a land dispute between PTPN VII Cinta Manis with local residents of people Ogan Ilir, South Sumatra.

Ifdhal Kasim, the chairman of the National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM), said on Monday that a team had been sent to investigate the death of the boy, identified as Angga bin Dharmawan.

A spokesman for the National Police, Sr. Comr. Agus Rianto, previously said that the boy had been wounded by a sharp object, although officials could not confirm that he had been shot, as no projectile had been discovered during the initial autopsy.

Contacted separately, Hadi Jatmiko from the Indonesian Forum for the Environment (Walhi), said that he hoped that the commission would be serious in its probe. “We found evidence that Brimob members fired real bullets. We retrieved the evidence from the gunshot wound to the shoulder of Jasman, a farmer who was shot and later treated at the Bhayangkara Police Hospital in Palembang, South Sumatra.

The Jakarta Globe, July 31, 2012


President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has instructed a senior minister to investigate Friday’s violence in Limbang Jaya, South Sumatra, his spokesman said on Monday.

Angga bin Darmawan, 12, was reportedly shot and killed by police as they tried to evacuate unarmed protesters from a disputed-land site involving state-owned company PTPN VII.

“The president has instructed the Coordinating Minister for Security [Djoko Suyanto] to follow up [on the report] and formulate the best solution,” presidential spokesman Julian Aldrin Pasha said. “The loss of a life is not something we were hoping for, this is unfortunate.”

Julian said Yudhoyono demanded a full investigation into the case, including police inquiries, to determine if excessive force had been used.

“[The president] also called on all sides to contain themselves because all violence should be avoided,” he said.

The National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM) sent a team to the scene, led by one of its commissioners. The officials began examining the scene and questioning witnesses.

The South Sumatra branch of the Indonesian Forum for the Environment (Walhi), which had been advocating on behalf of locals in the area, is also undertaking a separate investigation

Komnas HAM is also interviewing victims supposedly injured by police fire. The victims have since been taken to a hospital in Palembang, the provincial capital.

The shooting is the latest deadly incident in a series of land-related conflicts between residents and companies since the fall of Suharto in 1998.

Some observers blame the government for the violence, claiming that the disputes have been exacerbated by murky regulations, rampant bribery within the land agency, and the government’s continued reluctance to do anything to fix the problem.

Komnas HAM chairman Ridha Saleh said the agency is also sending teams to East Nusa Tenggara, Southeast Sulawesi and Maluku, saying that land disputes in those provinces also have the potential to turn violent.

Ridha accused police officers of siding with big companies and placing heavily-armed officers from the Mobile Brigade (Brimob) unit on company property to protect it from angry locals.

“The placement of Brimob must be re-evaluated,” he said.

“It is better to assign officers who can engage in dialogue and conduct negotiations. The governors and district heads must become engaged in resolving land disputes.”

Tempo/interactive, Monday, 06 August, 2012


Jakarta: One day toward the end of July, following the late afternoon prayers, Angga Prima, 12, tells his mother that he is going to an internet center located near the Darussalam Mosque, together with three of his friends, to play video games. His family lives in the Limbang Jaya village in Ogan Ilir, South Sumatra. What Angga is unaware of is at the time he does go out to play, hundreds of policemen complete with weapons and bulletproof vests were conducting an extensive sweep through the village, and into homes located in narrow alleyways. These officers were ransacking the homes of Limbang Jaya villagers in search for fertilizer, allegedly stolen from the Cinta Manis sugar factory in Ogan Ilir.

Suddenly gunshots ring out. Bang, Bang, Bang! Angga falls to the ground. A bullet pierces the back of his head, and into his right eye. Further gunshots were responded with screams and cries, and pleas for forgiveness from across the village.

At the time of the incident, Mat Amin was preparing to perform prayers at his home, around a hundred meters from the Darussalam Mosque. The Limbang Jaya village chief then went outside when he saw the roads flooded with men in black. He asked one of the officers armed with an assault weapon who snarled back at him. “Don't question us so much!” Suddenly he heard the repeated beatings of the drum from the mosque.

“Now that is a sign that the safety of our village was being threatened,” he explained. All the villagers rushed outside. Bringing rocks, wooden bats, beams and bricks, they began hurling at the police. More gunshots were heard. “Many villagers were sympathetic because the victim's older brother was also almost shot when he tried to help his brother who was covered in blood,” said Sayuti, an eyewitness.

Witnesses assumed that the initial shots came from weapons carried by four Brimob members who alighted from the truck parked in front of the mosque. There were 16 vehicles in the police motorcade; six were parked on the main village road and the rest remained at the junction leading to the village. The police convoy, carrying some 300 Brimob officers, begged the question as to why such a convoy with that many officers was required for a sweep at that village.

Meanwhile, Angga’s parents are still unaware that their 12-year-old son is long gone.

Sad news.


DK

The Jakarta Globe, August 07, 2012


Six mid-ranking police officers have been named suspects in an internal police investigation of the shooting of civilian protesters at the Cinta Manis sugar plantation in South Sumatra that left a teenager dead and two others wounded late last month.

The officers are being questioned by the National Police’s internal affairs division at the site of the shooting in Ogan Ilir district, National Police spokesman Brig. Gen. Boy Rafli Anwar said on Tuesday.

“Two [of the officers] are commissioners and the rest are adjutant commissioners,” Boy said. “From Brimob [the Mobile Brigade], only the detachment chief [has been named a suspect].”

The officers will go to trial at a police disciplinary tribunal in South Sumatra during the next week, he added.

The police have said that some 120 police officers were being questioned over the shooting on July 27 at the plantation, which has been the source of a land conflict for decades.

Three people from nearby Limbang Jaya village were shot in the clash with the Ogan Ilir Police and the South Sumatra Brimob.

The police say they were patrolling around the plantation before the incident, and when they entered the access road to Limbang Jaya II village, people started throwing stones at them.

The police said they fired warning shots into the air and sprayed tear gas but failed to disband the mob.

Residents later found a 13-year-old boy dead with a gunshot wound. A 40-year-old blacksmith and a 48-year-old housewife were also shot and in critical condition.

The sugar plantation has been a source of tension since state-owned plantation company Perkebunan Nusantara (PTPN) VII forcefully evicted 22 villages in the district to set it up in 1982.

Rights activists say PTPN VII used security forces to pressure residents to give up their farms but failed to provide decent compensation for the land.