Rights team returns to Bulukumba for probe<\/p>\n
Andi Hajramurni, The Jakarta Post, Makassar, South Sulawesi<\/p>\n
A National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM) team arrived
\nback in Makassar, South Sulawesi, on Tuesday to further
\ninvestigate reports of human rights violations in Bulukumba
\nregency, where at least two protesters were shot to death in
\nJuly.<\/p>\n
The team, which includes Hasballah M. Saad and M.M. Billah, is
\nscheduled to return to Bulukumba for three days of
\ninvestigations.<\/p>\n
Their previous inquiry found strong indications of human
\nrights abuses when police fired shots at some 1,000 villagers who
\nwere demonstrating on July 21 in a protest against decades of the
\nalleged occupation of their ancestral lands by rubber plantation
\nfirm PT London Sumatra (Lonsum) in Bulukumba.<\/p>\n
The police claimed two people were killed, but non-
\ngovernmental organizations put the death toll at five. Dozens of
\nothers were injured.<\/p>\n
Billah said they would be gathering additional data to prove
\nwhether the alleged human rights violations blamed on the police
\ncould be categorized as a serious crime or perhaps accidental.<\/p>\n
The team is also seeking to mediate in finding a solution to
\nthe land dispute between Lonsum and local villagers, he told
\njournalists after a meeting with South Sulawesi Governor Amin
\nSyam in Makassar.<\/p>\n
Billah said the team would also meet with people to answer
\nquestions about the principles of human rights so as to prevent
\nthem from becoming victims in the future.<\/p>\n
He and Hasballah said several witnesses and suspects had told
\nthem that not only did the police fire shots at the protesters,
\nbut also other villagers who were merely watching on the
\nsidelines of the demonstration.<\/p>\n
After the incident, most of the male residents in at least two
\nvillages near the PT Lonsum-controlled area fled to a nearby
\nforest to hide from security personnel.<\/p>\n
Bulukumba police chief Adj. Sr. Comr. Tigor Situmorang, his
\ndeputy Comr. Gatot Budiwiono and nine other police officers had
\nbeen questioned in connection with the deadly shooting.<\/p>\n
It was not clear whether the 11 officers had been named
\nsuspects, although South Sulawesi Police chief Jusuf Manggabarani
\nsaid the examination found security procedure violations as Tigor
\nand Gatot did not brief their officers before deploying them to
\nquell the protesters.<\/p>\n
"Apart from that, the weapons used by the police also had
\ncertain weaknesses or are substandard," Jusuf claimed without
\nelaborating.<\/p>\n
Even after the shooting, the Bulukumba Police arrested at
\nleast 29 people as suspects in the violent protest at the Lonsum
\nplantation.<\/p>\n
The suspects included several NGO activists and a member of
\nthe Bulukumba Elections Commission (KPU), Iwan Salassa.<\/p>\n
Tigor had said his office was searching for 26 more suspects
\nfor their alleged role in the unrest.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/rights-team-returns-to-bulukumba-for-probe-1447893297",
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
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