'Policemen' burn farmer's house<\/p>\n
BANDUNG: A farmer from Bunisari village, Sagaranten district,
\nSukabumi, some 95 kilometers from here, filed a report on
\nWednesday with the West Java Provincial Legislature about a group
\nof men wearing police Mobile Brigade uniforms who torched his
\nhouse last Friday.<\/p>\n
Karmidi, a 64-year-old father of five, told members of the
\nlegislature's Commission A the uniformed men, who arrived in a
\npolice vehicle, destroyed his house while he was in Bandung to
\nfile a report with the Legal Aid Institute about the arrest of
\ntwo of his neighbors, Herman and Sonip, on March 14. The two were
\narrested for allegedly cutting teakwood trees belonging to
\nstate-owned PT Perhutani.<\/p>\n
\"It was Friday and most of the people were at the mosque for
\nthe noon prayer. My wife saw a group of policemen in a car
\nrandomly firing shots. The villagers ran to save their lives and
\nthen the officers set my house ablaze,\" Karmidi said in tears.<\/p>\n
He said he had no idea why the uniformed men burned down his
\nhouse.<\/p>\n
Locals speculated the attack was in response to Karmidi's
\nprotest against the arrests of Herman and Sonip, who they praised
\nfor their roles in a dispute between village residents and PT
\nPerhutani.<\/p>\n
The villagers claim West Java's PT Perhutani Unit III
\nappropriated teakwood trees they planted on a 2,000-hectare plot
\nof land belonging to the village administration.<\/p>\n
The dispute began in 1963 after the village administration
\nasked for Perhutani's help in managing the land. The villagers
\nwere then obliged to plant teakwood trees, whose seeds were sold
\nby Perhutani.<\/p>\n
\"In the 1990s, when the teakwood trees were ready for cutting,
\nPerhutani prohibited villagers from cutting the trees. We were
\nangry. We planted the trees, but Perhutani wanted to cut them,\"
\nKarmidi said.<\/p>\n
Herman and Sonip, acting as representatives of the villagers,
\nexpressed their anger by cutting seven trees before police
\narrested them. They are now being held at the Sukabumi Police
\nstation. (25\/sur)<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/policemen-burn-farmers-house-1447893297",
"image": ""
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