Jakarta Post,13 Juni 2012
Thousands of farmers from four districts in Ogan Ilir regency, South
Sumatra, staged a rally in front of local police headquarters on
Wednesday, protesting against what they called the “criminalization” of
farmers struggling for their rights.
The protesters, who are
currently in conflict with state-owned PTPN VII Unit Cinta Manis,
demanded that no farmers should be summoned as witnesses or named as
suspects by the police.
“There is an agreement between the
farmers and PTPN VII to settle the problem together. The farmers are
given the right to mark their land while the sugar company is allowed to
resume operations,” the supervisor for the farmers, Anwar Sadat, said
on Wednesday.
The Ogan Ilir Police on Monday named 14 of the
farmers suspects following recent land marking and the forcible stopping
of the Cinta Manis sugar company operations by locals.
The
naming of farmers as suspects in the case, according to Anwar, was a
form of intimidation. He said the police should have arrested officials
from the company because it was the company that had been using the land
for its business without a license as stipulated in the law.
“We
demand the police be fair and professional,” said Anwar, who is also
director of the South Sumatra Forum for the Environment.
He added
that the police had no reason to name the farmers suspects because the
marking of the disputed land was done in accordance with a
recommendation made at a meeting held at the local legislative council
on June 7, which was also attended by the Ogan Ilir Police chief,
company lawyers and local administration officials.
He also
suggested the police should instead urge the Ogan Ilir and South Sumatra
administrations to settle the dispute as soon as possible by returning
people’s land that had been taken from them in 1982.
Separately,
Ogan Ilir Police chief, Adj. Sr. Comr. Deni Darmapala, said the naming
of the 14 farmers as suspects was based on evidence. The police, he
said, had discovered a number of farmers who marked the disputed land
had no proof of ownership.
Deni also said that according to the
agreement made at the legislative council, residents were only allowed
to mark and secure the region but not mark the land (as in a mark of
ownership).
“However, in the event, they marked the land. Some
even began to cultivate the land, meaning that they assumed control [of
the land],” he said.
He added that in the meeting, it had been
agreed that neither side would violate the law. “Marking and cultivating
land that is not necessarily theirs is violating the law,” Deni said.
Despite being named suspects, following questioning as witnesses in the case, the 14 farmers have so far not been detained.
“We
based our decision on documents at the PTPN, including the business
license [HGU] and certificates of ownership,” Deni said.
A few
weeks earlier, thousands of Sribandung residents occupied the PTPN’s
sugarcane plantation and demanded the company surrender the three
hectares of land they claimed as belonging to them.
They also
blocked the access road to the company’s sugar factory, thus stopping
operations at the factory. Later, residents of 15 other subdistricts
from the three districts of Tanjung Batu, Tanjung Laut and Payaraman
joined the rally.
Responding to the rally, thousands of the
sugar factory’s employees conducted their own protest at the Ogan Ilir
Legislative Council, demanding that the supremacy of law be upheld. They
also demanded that the local administration and police protect the
state’s assets.
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