150 shrimp farmers rally against Brimob intimidation

150 shrimp farmers rally against Brimob intimidation

JAKARTA (JP): About 150 shrimp farmers from the region's
largest integrated shrimp firm PT Dipasena Citra Darmaja in
Lampung, southern Sumatra, staged a rally at the National Police
Headquarters here on Friday over intimidation from some local
Mobile Brigade police personnel in the area.

The local farmers claimed that the personnel from the elite
unit had been violently forcing them to sell their shrimp to the
company.

"The police personnel would stop us on our way to sell our
shrimp outside the firm and literally walk us to the company
where we had to sell our shrimp for prices that were only about
50 to 60 percent of the prices at the local markets," coordinator
of the rally, Afrizal, told reporters.

Afrizal said that many farmers were forced to do push-ups if
they were known to sell shrimp outside the company, which has
been being embroiled in a conflict with its local shrimp farmers
since last year.

He also said that some farmers were forced to sell their
shrimp at gun point.

"We already met with the Lampung Police chief but he said that
he never assigned those police personnel to the firm, but he did
nothing to help us," Afrizal said.

"We, therefore, demand that the National Police retract the
mobile police personnel from the firm."

Afrizal said that during a visit to the shrimp firm on July
14, President Abdurrahman Wahid instructed that local farmers
were free to use the shrimp ponds and free to sell the shrimp to
any party while waiting for the conflict to be resolved.

Afrizal said that when the firm's 16,250 hectares was opened
in 1989, every local farmer was given two 40 by 50 meter shrimp
ponds which was to be theirs within about six to eight years.

Every farmer who used the ponds initially owed the firm Rp 135
million which they could pay in installments every time they sell
their shrimp to the company, Afrizal said.

They were 9,032 local shrimp farmers in the area, he added.

"We found some documents belonging to the company which said
that in the first eight years, every farmer should produce 25
tons of shrimp which not only paid our debts but earned us
another Rp 100 million to Rp 150 million," Afrizal said.

"But instead the management recently announced that every
farmer has a debt of some Rp 500 million. I don't know how they
came up with that figure," Afrizal added.

No officials from the company could be reached for
confirmation on Friday.

Dipasena is among the assets owned by Syamsul Nursalim, former
owner of the now defunct Bank BDNI.

Sjamsul, owner of the Gadjah Tunggal Group, is one of the
country's most prominent businessmen and largest debtors to the
government.

In a controversial statement made on Thursday, President
Abdurrahman said that he had asked prosecutors to delay legal
proceedings against Syamsul and two other debtors in the country,
namely Marimutu Sinivasan who is chairman of the Texmaco Group
and Prajogo Pangestu, chairman of the Barito Pacific Group.

The three businessmen head conglomerates that owe billions of
dollars in bad debts to the Indonesian Bank Restructuring Agency
(IBRA). (jaw)