3,000 march in peaceful protest of cable installation

JAKARTA (JP): Around 3,000 people from four villages in Bogor regency staged a peaceful protest against the installation of high-voltage cables in their area Saturday.

People from the villages of Cibentang, Ciseeng, Cihohe and Kuripan began the march in the morning, causing a prolonged traffic jam, a resident said.

As of Saturday evening, residents had not dispersed, saying they were waiting for electricians to stop the installation process.

Several were arrested but no violence was reported, a lawyer representing residents, Bismo Pratonggopati, said.

Bismo, a member of the Nusantara Legal Aid Foundation in Bogor, 60 kilometers south of here, said he was surprised the incident happened.

On Friday, he said, he had already asked the Bogor police precinct chief, Lt. Col. Ruslan Riza, to postpone the project before the dispute over compensation was settled.

"The police chief assured me everything would be conducted in a civil way," Bismo said. Ruslan did not explicitly agree to postpone the project, the lawyer added.

Last Monday, a group of youths claiming to represent residents protested in front of the German Embassy. Germany partly financed the project of PT PLN, the state-run electricity company.

The residents staged a sit-in along the 20-kilometer street connecting the Parung district in Bogor and the Rumpin district in Tangerang, during which they chanted prayers.

Last month, residents said they endured the worst clash compared to three earlier encounters with police, when several residents were beaten.

Bismo said the people resisted the installation of the 500- kilovolt cable because it forced them to live under the danger of electric radiation.

More than 100 families live on the 91,800 square meters of land which PT PLN is appropriating for the project.

PLN had agreed to demands to relocate them, but only agreed to pay compensation for their fruit trees, and not for their land and houses.

Bismo said several were arrested apparently for trying to prevent electricians from working on the project.

The lawyer estimated around 300 security officers were deployed to guard 40 cable towers along the four villages.

He said unlike last month, the cable installation was not executed manually. On Saturday, electricians drew the cable from the central electricity control station in Cinere, South Jakarta. He said the method was used because it was less visible to residents, who might disrupt the process.

A resident, Dedy, said the sit-in was joined by more residents at 11 a.m.

Bismo said several residents questioned whether security officials intentionally intended to incite their resentment, given the continued operation of the installation.

Earlier, noted lawyer Luhut Pangaribuan blamed legal inconsistency over the unrest. He said a 1992 decree of the Ministry of Mines and Energy, which excludes compensation for land and properties passed by high-voltage electricity cables, does not recognize the danger of living under high voltage cables. It violates the 1985 law on energy plants, which Luhut said guarantees compensation for land and houses over which electricity cables pass. (07)